Evaluation Lecture

Evaluation

• Campaign evaluation
• Systematic application of research procedures to understand the conceptualization, design, implementation, and utility of interventions

• 3 functions:
– Determine degree objectives were reached
– Help planners/scholars understand why it worked
– Provide information relevant for planning future campaigns

Campaign Evaluation Challenges

• Unpredictability
• Wider environment/context of the campaign
• Lack of a control group

Stages of Evaluation

1. Formative Evaluation
• Activities that define concepts and strategies, gather data on intervention strategies, learn about audience, test message strategies, etc.
• Variables: comprehensibility, appeal, attractiveness, clarity

2. Process Evaluation
• Activities conducted to measure degree of program implementation to determine whether program was delivered as intended
• Variables: number distributed, number of times aired, exposure, etc.

3. Impact Evaluation
• Measures a campaign’s immediate effectiveness
• Variables: access, recall, change to psychological variables

4. Outcome Evaluation
• Measures a campaign’s more long-term effects
• Variables: behavior change, mortality, environmental change, policy change

5. Summative Evaluation
• Distribution of the campaign’s findings back into the knowledge base/literature

Interpersonal Communication

• Characteristics of who talks to or influences whom within the context of campaigns