Another Kind of Evaluation

Not all evaluation needs to involve numbers.A focused and systematic approach to qualitative evaluation is presented together with a discussion of its possible application by Extension staff.The press for accountability, threatened reductions in government funding for all programs, and the increased desire of professionals to demonstrate the usefulness of services they perform have prompted a great interest in Extension for evaluation methods to assess needs, demonstrate program impact on targeted audiences, and document needed improvements.One approach of great interest is the collection and use of qualitative data.This article compares qualitative and quantitative data, identifies common qualitative methods, describes a step-by-step process for gathering and analyzing qualitative data, and discusses two applications of the process to Extension.... This article compares qualitative and quantitative data, identifies common qualitative methods, describes a step-by-step process for gathering and analyzing qualitative data, and discusses two applications of the process to Extension.