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Evaluation Questions

This Library Guide includes a selection of open access materials on evaluation questions from a variety of authors, organizations, and settings.

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About the Evaluation Questions Library Guide

Authors: Hallie Udelson, Lori Wingate, and Goldie MacDonald.

This Library Guide includes a selection of open access materials on evaluation questions from a variety of authors, organizations, and settings. Evaluation questions define what will be addressed in a program evaluation. They provide the focus and establish boundaries for the inquiry. [1] A prominent evaluation theorist and practitioner explained, “clarification of and discrimination between the various types of questions which evaluations undertake to answer is absolutely fundamental to getting a useful answer at all.” [2]

The authors completed a detailed literature search and careful review of approximately 100 candidate items; each item below meets predetermined criteria of merit, relevance, and accessibility. This Library Guide includes materials in four categories as follows: Introduction to Evaluation Questions; How to Develop or Use Evaluation Questions; Evaluation Questions Linked to Evaluation Approaches, Designs, or Criteria; and Discussion of Evaluation Questions in Specific Contexts.

[1] Wingate L, Schroeter D. Evaluation questions checklist for program evaluation. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University; 2016.

[2] Scriven, M. The Logic of Evaluation. Port Reyes, CA: Edge Press; 1980.

Author Affiliations and Disclaimer

Author affiliations:

Hallie Udelson is an Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Fellow in the Division of Scientific Education and Professional Development; Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, USA.

Lori Wingate is the Director of Research at The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, USA.

Goldie MacDonald is the Associate Director for Evaluation in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, USA .

Disclaimer:

The findings and conclusions in this guide are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Introduction to Evaluation Questions
How to Develop and Use Evaluation Questions
Evaluation Questions Linked to Evaluation Approaches, Designs, or Criteria
  • United States General Accounting Office. Types of designCdc-pdfExternal. In: Designing Evaluations. Gaithersburg, MD: United States General Accounting Office. Item GAO/PEMD-10.1.4. 1991:30-69.
  • International Program for Development Evaluation. Evaluation questionsCdc-pdfExternal. In: International Program for Development Evaluation Training Handbook. International Program for Development Evaluation; 2007:225-251.
  • EuropeAid Co-operation Office Joint Evaluation Unit. Evaluation questionsCdc-pdfExternal. In: Evaluation Methods for the European Union’s External Assistance. Methodological Bases for Evaluation; vol 1. Luxemburg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities; 2006:43-65.
Discussion of Evaluation Questions in Specific Contexts
Page last reviewed: January 31, 2019
Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention