Evaluation and Measurable Outcomes

Terminology

Goal: What you hope to achieve and/or accomplish. 
Outcome: A benefit to users of a service or product - a high level result
Output: A measure of the volume of a program's activity, (e.g., meals served, number of clients tested, etc.) - focus on Outcomes not Outputs. Basic number counting. 
Indicator: Observable and measurable (generally numeric) behavior 
Benchmark: Something that serves as a standard by which others may be measured or judged. Maybe historical, geographical, i.e. county, etc.
Target: Threshold of success - e.g., 80% of clients will be able to... 
Accomplishments: How your results compare to your targets - What actually happened.

Examples of measurable goals/objectives:

Increase our facility's capacity to serve an additional 35 youth which represents a 25% increase as compared to last year.
Increase accessibility of our facility by 33% in 2008 for people with disabilities which is 75 more people as compared to 2007.
Our annual giving program will increase by 20% or $100,000 in 2008.
Our actual enrollment during the next 12 months will increase by 36 clients/participants or 30% as compared to the previous 12 month period.
Increase annual food distribution by 192,000 lbs. annually representing an overall 17% increase as compared to last year.

Examples of how success can be measured:

"Success will be measured by achievement of the stated program objectives as detailed previously and documented annually in an independent program evaluation performed by Ms. Val Smith of eVal Consultants Inc.®, a nationally recognized consultant in the field of strategic community development."
"The quarterly customer satisfaction surveys will reflect an average overall increase in score of 10 percentage points for each quarter beginning June 2008." 
"The number of clients served will increase by 15% during the 12 month project period." 
"At least 90% of participants will demonstrate a 70% or above comprehension on seven of the nine evaluation component categories."

Measurable outcomes and evaluations are essential for a successful project. Development of appropriate outcomes and evaluation processes requires forethought, planning and good project structures. We require qualitative AND quantitative data.

Outcomes need to be achievable and tied to the project. They must also be measurable. Decide what you are going to measure and how you are going to measure it. The measurable data collected must be expressed as a number, percentage, or other quantifiable unit of measurement.  

IT IS IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE OUTPUTS AND OUTCOMES IN YOUR APPLICATION

Outputs are what you do, but not what the impact this has. This is quantitative data, general number counting. Often organizations provide us with a lot of outcomes, but neglect to measure the outputs. It is important to measure both. 

e.g. we circulate X books per year, we serve X persons per month/year.

Question to answer: Is there an increase/decrease in numbers? 

Outcomes describe what the intended impact of a service is. This is the qualitative data, the higher level impacts.

e.g., Change in the reading level as measured by testing.

Question to answer: What is the impact on the issue being addressed?

WHAT TO MEASURE

SMCF asks for specific information. Your challenge is to define what aspect of the service/product is important or unknown. Aspects to measure include:

Outputs (Quantitative)	Outcomes (Qualitative)
How Much	How Well
How Many	How Valuable
How Economical	How Reliable
How Prompt	How Courteous
How Accurate	How Fast
How Responsive	How we respond

HOW TO DEVELOP GOOD OUTCOMES FOR YOUR PROJECT

Analyse and clarify what your project needs to measure. Be specific and define what need you are attempting to address and make your outputs meaningful and achievable.

If you can't define what it is you need to learn about your program or process, or what learning or development aspect is present, then you certainly can't measure it.

Questions that may help you get started with clarifying what you are assessing include:

What do I want to assess?
What measurements will help our project improve?
What measurements will demonstrate our accomplishments?
Are we just measuring what is easy, or are we measuring what is meaningful?

OUTCOMES MUST BE MEASURABLE

You must be able to provide evidence that the outcome was or was not achieved. When writing down your outcomes use verbs that specify the trait, ability, behavior, or habit in mind that you wish to assess. Specific verbs will clearly identify the sort of actions that will occur during the project. Useful and therefore more likely to be tied to measurable actions verbs include:

create
compose
calculate
build
develop
perform

Think about how these can be measured with quantitative or qualitative data. If the traits you have used cannot be measured you will need to re-examine your project and identify actions that can be.

THE INTENDED OUTCOME MUST MEASURE SOMETHING USEFUL AND MEANINGFUL

If the assessment is meaningful for your organization and project then it is more likely to be done and done to a high standard. Think about how to structure your assessment so that it touches on questions people care about and contributes to your organization. If your assessment can be incorporated into existing structures and passions it is more likely to be an assessment that is creditable, builds organizational knowledge and feeds into continual improvement practices.

The language used to define outcomes is important. We look closely at this area as it demonstrates the measurable value of your project and defines specific activities that need to be pursued. This language should be easy to understand otherwise it will not be possible to correctly measure or evaluate the project.

SEE ALL POLICIES AND GUIDANCE PAGES

Diversity Statement
Matching Grants Policy
Grants & Gifts to Religious Affiliated Groups
Grants & Gifts to Educational Groups
Fiscal Sponsorship Guidance
Capital Campaign Guidance
Evaluation & Measurable Outcomes