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
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