Are you thinking about evaluating a program but are stuck with no baseline data? While this common situation is far from ideal, there are ways around it. Respected evaluator Jane Davidson shares a few tips on what to do if you are in this situation:
- Go to the people who were around early on when the program was launched. By doing this, you learn about the program’s pre-implementation situation, why it needed to be improved, and (if you’re lucky) why this particular initiative is the right approach.
- Don’t discount the use of qualitative descriptions
- Don’t forget to ask folks in the community
- Build questions into your data collection tools to learn about life before the program
Keep these helpful tips in mind for the next time you are stuck without baseline data. To read Davidson’s full blog post, you can view it here.
Questions? Comments? Contact [email protected]
Elayne Vlahaki, MPH
Program Manager
BC HIV/HCV Evaluation Advisory Group