Evaluation Research – Basic Principles And Methods

Whether you are a student looking to plan a unique research plan or want to conduct research for business purposes, evaluation research can help you in both tasks. This article will provide you with basic level information about the principles and methods important to conduct evaluation method of research. Let’s start the discussion by overviewing some basic definitions and principles, then move towards different methods to perform them.

Evaluation Research: A Brief Introduction

Evaluation research is a form of systematic inquiry that is essential to arrive at some assessment or appraisal of a program, practice, or activity, especially for the purpose of making an informed decision. It is a common method that different organizations use to know more about the services, products, and processes before launching or implementing them. Apart from this, medical students can use this evaluation method to know whether a new treatment can give the best outcomes. Likewise, marketing researchers can use this method to gain confidence that people will like a particular service or product.

It uses a number of social research methods, such as qualitative as well as quantitative methods, for investigation. To put it simply, it is the method that helps researchers understand how useful a particular activity, phenomenon, or event will be as a whole. It determines what will work and which points need further improvement for making a flawless plan. The following section will present brief information about its basic working principles and methods; however, for searching for a detailed step-by-step process for writing a dissertation, you can seek dissertation help online.

Basic Principles Of Evaluation Research:

Starting from the basic principle, an evaluation method of research must be of high quality, no matter to whom you are evaluating. Such research can be conducted by using a number of methods, and a broad spectrum of goals that can underpin particular objectives, even though the quality of the research is the foremost thing to focus on throughout the process. Furthermore, the following are eight rules that can help you meet the international research standards:

1. The method of evaluation of an activity or program must be in line with the objectives of your own research project.
2. The evaluation must take into consideration the intended effects of the research. That may be academic, societal, economic, or a combination of any of these.
3. The diversity between different disciplines must not be neglected while conducting evaluation research for achieving certain goals.
4. No matter which method of evolution you choose, the weightage of research must be calculated by taking the simplicity of the procedure versus the complexity of the procedure used to conduct research.
5. The evaluation parameters must be predetermined and formed by the mutual consensus of all stakeholders.
6. For evaluation, research must include a sufficient number of experts that have the calibre to adequately assess the research’s quality.
7. The evaluation can be conducted by choosing small evaluation indicators or a holistic approach for peer reviews.
8. All committees, students, or organisations must put all the above-mentioned principles into practice while conducting evaluation research.

Methods To Conduct Evaluation Research:

Basically, evaluation research can be of two types summative as well as formative. The summative evaluation itself is quantitative; however, it can be a part of qualitative research. The summative evaluation help determines how a design will perform, while the formative is used in the early stages of implementation of a process to see the point that needs further improvements. Thus, even the formative and summative evaluation can be broadly categorized into qualitative or quantitative methods:

Quantitative Methods:

Quantitative methods of evaluation help in measuring anything tangible by answering the different aspects like ‘how many, ‘what to explore’, ‘what were the outcomes’, and ‘what was the cost’. Surveys, questionnaires, and polls are the most prominent methods of collecting quantitative data for conducting evaluation research. Surveys can be constructed by any user-friendly online tool and distributed using phones, emails, and WhatsApp. However, the face-to-face questionnaire is also a reliable method of evaluation that is known for avoiding all potential biases associated with other methods of evaluation.

Surveys, questionnaires, and polls will only collect quantitative information if they contain fixed-end questions. Thus, for analyzing this quantitative data, any statistical analysis tool or technique can be used to make a final decision.

Qualitative Methods:

Qualitative methods of study are usually useful if the quantitative method fails to solve the problem. It gives intangible values to solve a research problem. It usually takes the following aspects under consideration:

1. What is the best thing about the process?
2. How satisfied are the services?
3. What means will you need to adopt to improve experiences?

The most reliable methods to collect data for qualitative evaluations are observations, case studies, interviews, and focus groups. These tools help researchers extract useful insights by examining, contrasting, comparing, and observing patterns in the collected data. Theming and coding are also essential to analyze the qualitative data collected by any of these methods.

Observations explain the behaviour and social context in the evaluation method of research. This method can give valuable insights only if a researcher wants to read the body language of participants directly. Surveys and interviews help in evaluation by asking open questions and exploring feelings, experiences, and opinions. A case study is a secondary method of evaluation that aims to make a decision based on the already reported data. Lastly, a focus group helps a researcher to gather all field experts under one roof to get resolved a problem.

Final Thoughts:

In a nutshell, evaluation research is a widely used method of research that provides researchers with the opportunity to collect data for making a decision about a particular product, service, and event. On one side, it helps businessmen to find ways to increase revenue. On the other hand, it helps medical researchers in predicting the possible outcome of an intervention or treatment. In short, this method of research can be applied to solve a broad spectrum of problems. However, to maintain research quality standards, you must conduct research by selecting the best method and following all basic principles.

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