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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The information on these pages is intended as general information only. It should not be used as specific guidance for the conduct of an evaluation. The Planning and Evaluation Service is grateful to Mr. S. Dietz, Vice President of Westat, Inc. for his assistance in developing answers to some questions. Main FAQ page | General | Evaluation Methods | Focus Group | Questionnaire Design

go to GENERAL questions What distinguishes an effective evaluation from a less effective evaluation? What are the key questions an evaluation must address? Why does it seem that evaluation results are frequently negative rather than positive? Why do evaluations seem to take so long and cost so much? go to EVALUATION METHOD questions How do I know if I should use a survey or a focus group for the evaluation I am conducting? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of administering surveys one-on-one; that is, having an interviewer conduct a survey? What are the strengths and weaknesses of telephone surveys? You probably could tell I was going to ask this as well. What are the advantages and disadvantages of mail surveys? Can you comment on fax surveys? I've done a mail only survey and received fewer responses than I expected. How do I know if I have enough responses? How do I get a good response rate on the survey? What do I do if I have a large survey and can't afford to do follow-up activities for all the non-respondents? go to FOCUS GROUP questions Is there any "best " way to select members of a focus group? How many focus groups are needed? I am setting up a series of focus groups and my boss has offered to serve as a moderator for some of the groups. She suggested that she moderate the group of her staff. Is this a good idea? Help! I know how to write up a regular report summarizing a survey or summarizing a literature review, but how do I write up a focus group report? How should I present the data from a focus group? Is it possible to quantify focus group results? go to QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN questions Am I better off asking respondents for ratings (very good, good, poor, very poor,) or for rankings (first, second, third, etc.)? How do I write good questions for a survey I am designing? What kinds of questions are best?

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	this page was last updated at 10/16/00 (msa)