Assessing Program Performance

Establishing the "Activities-Outcomes" Connection: Evaluation Experiments

Pre-Experimental (Pre-Post) Design

The pre-post design measures program outcomes by comparing perceptions or behaviors at the end of the program (post) to some baseline, usually the same elements measured at prior to the start of the program (pre). If program participants change in the expected direction, then the outcomes are said to have been achieved.

The difficulty with this design is that it is not possible to attribute any observed changes to the program itself, as opposed to other factors that might have produced the changes. In other words, it is impossible to conclude that the program activities caused the observed outcomes.

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The Before-and-After Design (General Accounting Office)

Pre- and Post-Test Scores (National Institute of Justice, p. 4.8)

Threats to Validity (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)

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