The "CSE Program Evaluation Kit" is a series of nine books intended to assist people conducting program evaluations. This volume, fifth in the kit, discusses the role and importance of implementation evaluation and presents methods for designing, using, and reporting the results using assessment instruments to describe accurately how a program looks in operation. Step-by-step guides are provided for program records, observations, and self-reports. The following chapters are included: (1) "Assessing Program Implementation: An Overview"; (2) "Initial Planning: Deciding What To Measure"; (3) "Planning for Data Collection"; (4) "Methods for Assessing Program Implementation: Program Records"; (5) "Methods for Assessing Program Implementation: Questionnaires and Interviews"; (6)"Methods for Assessing Program Implementation: Observations"; and (7) "Summarizing, Analyzing, and Reporting Your Data." An appendix contains questions for an implementation evaluation. (Contains 8 tables, 15 figures, and 10 references.) (SLD)

Abstract: A major task of the program evaluator is to describe how a program looks in operation and whether implementation in practice matches what was planned. Few evaluation reports describe sufficiently those program processes which allow participants to achieve objectives. Skills for describing program implementation and designing measurement instruments for support of such descriptions are presented in this 4th volume of a series on program evaluation. Components of the detailed implementation report include the context and characteristics of the program (setting and participants) and program materials and activities. Data collection methods measuring program implementation involve the use of existing measures or the construction of new ones. Hints on sampling strategies, data summary and analysis, record-keeping, observation systems, and self-reports are given. A final chapter discusses the reliability and validity of implementation measures, factors indicative of their quality.

With insightful discussion of program evaluation and the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control, this book presents a set of clear-cut recommendations to help ensure that the substantial resources devoted to the fight against AIDS will be used most effectively. This expanded edition of Evaluating AIDS Prevention Programs covers evaluation strategies and outcome measurements, including a realistic review of the factors that make evaluation of AIDS programs particularly difficult. Randomized field experiments are examined, focusing on the use of alternative treatments rather than placebo controls. The book also reviews nonexperimental techniques, including a critical examination of evaluation methods that are observational rather than experimentalâ€"a necessity when randomized experiments are infeasible.

The program evaluator has the job of scrutinizing and discribing an educational and administrative program so that people may work out ways to improve it and/Or judge its quality as is. Program evaluation almost always demands gathering and digesting information about pro- gram status and sharing it with the program's planners, staff or fun- ders. This book deals with the task of describing a program's imple- mentation - how the program looks in operation.