Evaluation versus Research

Several times during our conversations about data collection, the issue of whether what we're doing is in line with "research methodologies." Such issues as validity, reliability, "control groups," correlations, etc. have come up. Below is a short comparison between research and evaluation. I admit I "borrowed" it from an online source, but it does a good job of showing, in a brief way, the differences. Our goal with the TAACCCT grants is to provide information on what's working, how various activities are successful, which ones might need some revision, what is sustainable and scalable and providing data to the US Department of Labor. Please let me know what you think.

Research vs Evaluation
 

Research and evaluation are important tools in the hands of researchers and educators to gain insight into new domains and to assess the efficacy and efficiency of a specific program or methodology. There are many similarities and overlapping between research and evaluation, to suggest they are almost interchangeable. However, there are many differences also in their form, purpose, and content that is made use of by experts to achieve different goals. Let us take a closer look.

Research

Research is a systematic, logical, and rational activity that is undertaken by scientists and experts in humanities to gain knowledge and insight in various fields of studies. This body of knowledge is later used to develop applications and tools that make our life better and richer.

Research can be undertaken to prove hypothesis, theorems, works of earlier experts, or it can be undertaken to establish new theories and facts. Whether basic or applied, research is always helpful in expanding human knowledge. It is not that research can be done only in science subjects. On the contrary, much of the research and development work in the world is today being carried out in humanities and behavioral sciences to enrich and better human lives. The basic purpose behind all research is to expand human knowledge.

Evaluation

Evaluation is the procedure that aims at improving the performance or efficiency of individuals, groups, programs, policies and even governments around the world. Evaluation means a judgment or assessment. Any evaluation tool is so designed so as to answer questions pertaining to efficacy and efficiency of a system or an individual. It is only through unbiased evaluation that we come to know if a program is effective or ineffective.

Evaluation as a tool serves the purpose of knowing about how well a person or program is doing and what needs to be done to improve efficacy and efficiency. Evaluation of a program or policy can help the management to come up with solutions to the problems so that the performance levels can be improved.

What is the difference between Research and Evaluation?
• Evaluation is done to judge or assess the performance of a person, machine, program or a policy while research is done to gain knowledge in a particular field
• Evaluation makes judgment and assessment that is helpful for decision makers so that they can implement changes to improve efficacy and efficiency
• Research and evaluation both enhance our knowledge, but evaluation leads to changes that cause improvement whereas research is mostly undertaken to prove something
• Research is undertaken to generalize the findings from a small sample to a large section of the population. On the other hand, evaluation is done in particular situations and circumstances, and its findings are applicable for that situation only.

Read more: http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-research-and-vs-evaluation/#ixzz3ELF0ddRZ

Designing for Scalable Educational Improvement

The following concepts are gleaned from an article in Scaling Up Success (2005, John Wiley & Sons, Inc) by Chris Dede, James P. Honan and Laurence C. Peters. Please think about them as you progress through the last years of your grant.

1. Educational improvement must be an ongoing systems-level activity, especially if it is to be scaled up.

2. Educational improvement must occur at multiple levels, with alignment across levels.

3. Collaborations and partnerships are critical to educational improvement, but they are hard work.

4. Educational improvement efforts need to be studied and documented, so that they can contribute to the development of a systematic knowledge base about efforts to innovate, scale up innovations, and then sustain them.

5. The core of educational improvement is building human capacity for effective performance at all levels of the educational system, but especially at those levels most proximal to students.

6. Change is initiated, sustained, and carried through systems by people.

7. Social structures such as learning communities, practitioners' networks, and study groups can facilitate change.

8. Educational practitioners need opportunities to learn with understanding, so that they grasp the principles of educational improvement efforts and not just the practices and procedures.

9. Inquiry-based approaches to professional development build knowledge that makes sense.

10. Changes in thinking and practice come about through hard work in a context that provides opportunities to try out changes in the classroom and to receive feedback and coaching.

How does these concepts and ideas apply to your project? What do you need to be doing in order to implement these thoughts? These challenges can provide the framework for ongoing dialogue among your staff and with partners.

Sustainability, Scaling and Evaluation Capacity Building

Over the next several months, I will be addressing three issues in this blog:

• Sustainability of successful services, resources & activities
• Bringing those successful elements to scale to meet the needs of the individual community college and their students
• Embedding evaluation capacity building in the the culture of the community college related to elements of Project IMPACT

In the past posts, I have added information about evaluation capacity building and sustainability. This post will discuss scaling, defined as "adapting a locally successful innovation to a wide variety of settings while retaining it effectiveness" (C. Dede et al, Scaling Up Success). Bloom defines it as "the process of closing the gap between the real and ideal conditions as they pertain to particular needs or problems" (P. Bloom, Scaling Your Social Venture). Sutton has a more poetic way of looking at scaling: "Scaling requires the wherewithal to hound yourself and others with questions about what it takes to link the never-ending now - the perpetual present tense that every person is trapped in - to the sweet dreams you hope to realize later" (R. Sutton, Scaling Up Excellence).

Bloom suggests that seven questions about organizational capabilities should be considered carefully (SCALERS):

• Staffing: Can you become effective at recruiting, training, organizing, managing, and retaining the additional employees, managers, volunteers and board members need to support scaling?
• Communicating: Can you become effective at configuring and delivering messages that persuade potential donors, employees, volunteers, partners, regulators and beneficiaries about the value of what you do?
• Alliance-Building: Can you become effective at forming partnerships and alliances with other parties and organizations that will allow you to leverage their resources and capabilities in addition to your own?
• Lobbying: Can you become effective at advocating with influential people and public policy makers for the changes you seek?
• Earnings-Generation: Can you develop a business model that will allow you to be financially sustainable?
• Replicating: Can you become effective at developing systems and procedures that facilitate replicating or repeating your successful interventions?
• Stimulating Market Forces: Can you become effective at using market incentives to encourage others to donate, buy, invest, volunteer, or otherwise behave in ways that benefit your venture?

As Project IMPACT moves into its third year, please consider the above seven questions - keep them in the back (or the front) of your mind. The grant money ends in a little over two years. What do you want to bring to scale and how will you accomplish it?