Step 6

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Step 6#

Evaluation Plan#

  • See Chapter 10 of the texbook on Step 6.

Step 6 of IM focuses on developing a plan to evaluate the program. This step ensures that planners assess not only whether the program achieved its intended effects, but also whether it was implemented as intended. Two types of evaluations are emphasized: effect evaluation and process evaluation. Effect evaluation is aimed at determining whether a program has effectively achieved its intended goals and outcomes. This includes assessing improvements in areas such as health outcomes, quality of life, behaviors, environmental conditions, and specific program components like determinants, performance objectives, and change objectives. The matrix of change objectives serve as the basis for the effect evaluation. For example, this might include determining whether participants increased their physical activity as a result of the intervention.

On the other hand, process evaluation focuses on how the program was delivered. It looks at whether the activities and strategies were implemented as planned, how many participants were reached, and the quality and fidelity of the delivery. The implementation plan serves as a guide for planning the process evaluation. For instance, process evaluation might ask whether all planned sessions were delivered, whether facilitators followed the curriculum, and what barriers were encountered during implementation. IM Step 1 and Step 2 inform the effect evaluation, while IM Steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 inform the process evaluation.

Step 6 involves several key tasks:

  • Review the logic model of change, matrices, and implementation plan to guide process and effect evaluation

  • Develop process evaluation questions and identify measures

  • Develop effect evaluation questions, select a design, and identify measures

  • Pilot test the intervention and finalize evaluation plan

  • Plan when and how to report evaluation findings

The final outcome of Step 6 is an evaluation plan that outlines the evaluation questions, study design, indicators and measures, timeline for data collection, study protocol, required resources, and a strategy for reporting results to stakeholders.

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