Perhaps you are wondering:
“Why spend so much time on logic models when all I need to do is…evaluate?” “…measure outcomes and tell my story.”

First: Expending evaluation resources on a poorly designed program is a poor use of resources. “You can’t do ‘good’ evaluation if you have a poorly planned program.” (Beverly Anderson Parsons in WKKF, 2001, p. 4) Logic models can help improve program design so that evaluation is more useful and effective.

Second: Expending evaluation resources on programs that are not ready to be evaluated or aren’t being implemented is also a waste of resources. Logic models can help determine if a program is ready, what data will be useful and when data collection is most timely.

Third: In order to organize an evaluation to reasonably test the program theory, you need a clear depiction of the theoretical base (Weiss, 1998). A logic model provides that description.

Select each of the question marks to learn more about the five areas of evaluation that we will look at in this section.

The rest of this section will explore these five areas in more detail. They are key aspects of a comprehensive evaluation plan.

Print the Evaluation Plan Worksheet and use Page 1 as a guide as you proceed through this section.

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