U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Program Evaluation and Analysis: A
Technical Guide for State and Local Governments. Washington, DC: Prepared for the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development by Public Technology, Inc.; 1978.
pp.15-16.
Step 4 - Establishing Evaluation Criteria
Once objectives have been adopted, evaluation criteria can be formulated. Evaluation
criteria are used directly to measure progress toward objectives. They are like
corollaries to the objectives that answer the question. How can we measure progress toward
this objective? The analyst will frequently find that there is more than one evaluation
criterion for measuring progress toward each objective. As a general rule, it is always
better to have too many criteria than not enough.
Evaluation criteria should be established with several factors in mind:
Criteria should be service- or people-oriented;
Criteria should reflect explicit performance targets;
Criteria should nor be subjective;
Criteria should indicate relative accomplishment or degrees;
Criteria should cover all important attributes or aspects of the program; and
Criteria should be acceptable to workers supervisors, and managers.
Evaluation criteria should be identified without initial concern about how or whether they
can be measured. There are often ways to at least partially measure the more qualitative
or subjective criteria by using ratings rankings and other procedures. For example, at
first glance citizen perception may appear difficult or impossible to measure, but a
sample survey can usually supply the needed data. Citizen perceptions are important
criteria for virtually every government program since they measure the degree of public
satisfaction with government service delivery. Appendix A to this technical Guide contains
further material on surveys. Figure 8 presents several examples of evaluation criteria
incorporating the above principles.
Figure 8. EVALUATIN CRITERIA. This example shows evaluation criteria for
the objectives developed in Figure 5. The criteria adhere to the guidelines presented in
Step 4.
| GOAL: Reduction in incidence of fires Objectives: 1. 50% increase in public awareness of fire dangers this year. Criteria a. Number of fire safety demonstrations performed. b. Public response to fire safety questionnaire. c. Number of fire hazards reported by the public. 2. Cause of all fires occurring this year determined by January 15, 197_ Criterion: a. Percentage of fires for which causes were determined. 3. Fire safety standards met by all new structures built during 197_ Criteria a. Percentages of new building plans reviewed for fire safety features. b. Percentage of completed structures inspected for fire code compliance. GOAL: Economic opportunities for persons who have not enjoyed economic equality. Objectives: 1. Entrepreneurial opportunities for 10 first-time business owners this year. Criterion: a. Number of businesses started by first-time owners. 2. Two hundred net new jobs with earnings of $5,000/year. Criteria a. Number of jobs with earnings of $5,000/year or more. b. Demographic distribution of earned income. 3. Five new minority-owned and operated businesses this year. Criterion: a. Number of minority-owned and operated business. |
As used here, there is no right or wrong value for criteria. Fire deaths per 1,000 population can be compared with figures from other jurisdictions and national averages, but no accepted standard exists. Evaluation criteria are intended only as quantifiable indicators upon which to base judgments; the criteria themselves do not provide any answers. Thus, in order to make criteria useful from a management perspective, the jurisdiction must set performance targets for each one.
Unless such targets are currently being set as part of the management process, first-time evaluations will have to depend more on value judgments than will later evaluations. Part of the analyst's job should be to establish performance targets for each evaluation criterion in coorporation with program agency personnel, so that these personnel will have more precise direction and management will have more specific performance indicators.