Data Collection

Other Considerations

A number of other important issues should be considered in developing a data collection strategy for evaluation. These issues include:

Sampling
For very large initiatives, including all participants may not be desirable or feasible. In such cases, a sample, or subgroup, should be included in the evaluation. Ideally, the sample should be selected randomly; that is, program participants should be selected entirely by chance. Program participants selected nonrandomly, based on particular characteristics, are not representative of the entire group, and evaluation findings based on the sample may therefore not apply to the entire group.

Human Subjects
All evaluations that involve program participants or their records are subject to rules governing the treatment of human subjects in research. A certified human subjects review committee must review evaluations. This process helps to ensure participants' safety and the confidentiality of the information collected about them.

Informed Consent
Evaluations must obtain the consent of participants to be included in the assessment. Participants must voluntarily sign consent forms that inform them of the purpose of the evaluation, what data will be collected and reported, and to what degree these data will be confidential.

Learn More...

Common Errors in Evaluation (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)

Designing the Sample or Population for Data Collection (U.S. General Accounting Office)

Informed Consent, Follow-up Arrangements, and Confidentiality/Data Security (The Urban Institute)

Protection of Human Subjects Regulation (National Institute of Justice)

Who Should Be Surveyed? (U.S. Department of Education)

CONTINUE to "Reporting and Using Evaluation Results"

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