Building Evaluation Capability in the Public Health Workforce
| Published date | 01 September 2012 |
| Author | Pauline Dickinson,Jeffery Adams |
| Date | 01 September 2012 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X1201200204 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
28 Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2012
Building evaluation capability in the public
health workforce
Are evaluation training workshops eective and what else is needed?
Building evaluation capability and capacity is a complex task
involving enhancing and building technical skills and working
closely with individuals and groups to ensure evaluation
learning is embedded in organisational philosophy and
practice. In this article, we present the evaluation ndings of the
‘Easy Evaluation’ initiative, which provides evaluation training
workshops and organisational coaching and support, in order to
address our central question: Are evaluation training workshops
eective and what else is needed?
The ndings are organised in line with three levels of
Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model: trainee reactions,
learning and behaviour. The ‘reaction’ and ‘learning’ data indicate
that workshops were found to be eective in developing
positive responses and enhancing trainee learning for most
participants. Evaluation data relating to ‘behaviour’ indicated
that just over half the training participants, at least three months
following the training, were implementing evaluation activities.
In summary, to build sustainable evaluation practice within
organisations, training needs to be supplemented with other
evaluation capacity-building strategies.
Introduction
In many areas of human service delivery there is an increasing demand for
accountability and evidence that programs are achieving their intended outcomes.
While many organisations use external evaluators, it increasingly common for
organisations to undertake internal evaluations, particularly of smaller scale
programs (Smith 2010; Stevenson et al. 2002). Internal evaluations require a skilled
and capable workforce. One common response to building workforce capability is
to oer evaluation training workshops to ‘enhance knowledge, skills and confidence
to enable participants to develop adequate evaluations of their own programs’
(Taylor-Powell & Boyd 2008, p. 59). Another approach is to work closely with
individuals and groups over time within their organisations, to ensure evaluation
learning is shared and practised. This kind of ‘learning organisation’ approach
has been adopted by Stevenson and colleagues (2002), who suggest capacity needs
to be built at an organisational level rather than exclusively at a program level, by
engaging in cycles of continuous quality improvement.
A comprehensive definition of evaluation capacity building (ECB) is oered
by Preskill and Boyle (2008). This refers to teaching individuals, groups and
organisations to develop understanding about ‘eective, useful, and professional
evaluation practice’ and the ‘ultimate goal of ECB is sustainable evaluation
Pauline Dickinson
Jeery Adams
Pauline Dickinson is a researcher and the
evaluation team leader at the SHORE and
Whariki Research Centre, School of Public
Health, Massey University, Auckland.
Email: <p.m.dickinson@massey.ac.nz>
Jeery Adams is an evaluator and researcher
at SHORE and Whariki Research Centre,
School of Public Health, Massey University,
Auckland. Email: <j.b.adams@massey.ac.nz>
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2012, pp. 28–39
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