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Chapter 1
Chapter1gavemeanoverviewofwhatanevaluationisanddiscussedthemainparts: objectives,dataandanalysis.Ofthosethreeparts,itbecamecleartomethattheobjectivesare farandawaythemostimportantpartofanyevaluation.Withoutaclearobjective,howcanyou knowhowtostructurealloftheothercomponentsofanevaluation?
Chapter 2
Chapter2discussedthereasonstoperformanevaluation,thebenefitsanddrawbacksofdoing one,andthefactorsthatinfluencethesuccessoftheevaluation.Ithinkitiscrucialthatthe reasonfordoinganevaluationiswelldefinedandunderstoodbystakeholders.Ifthereason behindanevaluationisknown,itcanhelpshapetheevaluationsobjectives.
Chapter 3
Chapter3coverstheevaluationprogramcycle,thephasesoftheevaluation,andthetypesof monitoringactivitiesthatareongoingduringanevaluation.Thischapterreallyhighlightedthe differencesbetweenformativeandsummativeevaluationforme.Iunderstoodwhattheywerein aclassroomcontext,butIdidnotunderstandhowtheycouldbeappliedtoanevaluationbefore readingthischapter.Theformativeevaluationservesasacheckpointorevenbaselineanalysis andthesummativeevaluationoccursneartheendoftheevaluationperiodtodetermineifthe objectivesweremet.
Chapter 4
Chapter4discussedtheEvaluatorsProgramDescription,whichisadocumentcreatedbythe evaluatorasastartingpointfordiscussingtheprogramtobeevaluatedwiththeappropriate stakeholders.Itcanhelpbuildrapportwiththeindividualsinvolved,whichisacrucialstepinthe evaluationprocessbecausehavingaworkingrelationshipwithstakeholdersmakestheentire processrunmoresmoothly.
Chapter 5
ThemostimportantthingIgainedfromchapter5wasthedifferentmodelsforevaluation: discrepancy,goalfree,transaction,anddecisionmaking.Byreadingaboutthedifferenttypes,I wasabletodiscernthatmyevaluationprojectisadiscrepancymodelbecauseIwillbe comparingaproducttotheneedsoftheendusers
Chapter 6
Chapter6waspartlyareviewforme.Iunderstoodthedifferencesbetweenqualitativeand quantitativedata,butIdidnotknowaboutallofthedifferentlevelsofdata:nominal,ordinal, interval,andratio.IdontanticipateusingthisformyevaluationprojectbecauseitisunlikelythatI willbedoingawholelotwithdifferentdatatypes,butitisgoodinformationtohavenonetheless.
Chapter 7
Chapter7wasanotherchapteraboutdata,butthistimeitdiscusseddatamanipulationand analysis.Ittalkedaboutthedifferencesbetweenmean,medianandmode,whichtookmeback tomyseventhgrademathclass.Itwasagreatrefresherforme.TypicallywhenImanipulate dataitisinadatabaseusingSQL,sounderstandingthattherearewaystomathematically manipulateandanalyzedatawasagreatreminder.
Chapter 8
Chapter8discussedthedifferencebetweenevaluationandresearch.Istillamfuzzyonwhat researchis,butIdefinitelyunderstandwhatevaluationisandthatmyprojectisanevaluation project,notaresearchproject.Imfranklynotsurewhytheyevenincludedthischapterinthe book,itseemsalittleoutofplace.Itisunlikelythatsomeonedoingaresearchprojectwould purchasethisbookandwanttoreadaboutresearchprojectswhentheycouldgetanyoneofa numberofbooksmorefocusedonthesubject.
Chapter 9
Chapter9wasinvaluablenowthatmyevaluationprojectiscomingupsoon.Iwassohappyto seethedifferentcomponentsoftheevaluationreportlaidoutandexplainedinmoredetail.This hasputmymindateaseandIfeelmorereadythanevertofinalizeitandsubmititforgrading.
Internet Readings
Iamgoingtofocusmyinternetreadingssummaryontheweek10readingsregardingsampling:
http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/Samplingguide.pdf http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/workshops/res_methd/sampling/sa mpling_01.html%20