Evaluation: Different Yet Related to Needs Assessment

Needs assessment and evaluation are related but not the same. Let’s take a look at how they are related, how they are different, and how both are key to successful planning and doing: Planning is proactive; it seeks to define and achieve a useful future.

•   Evaluation is reactive; it finds what worked and what did not.

•   Evaluation compares results with intentions.

•   Evaluation is after-the-fact. Needs assessment and planning is before-the-fact.

•   Evaluation data should be used ONLY for fixing and improving, NEVER for blaming.

•   The basics of evaluation are not complex, but you might think so from the literature and all of the “cult followings” and rituals.

•   Evaluation data—comparing ...

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