Ideally, evaluation should be incorporated into your regular program planning cycle. There are times, however, when conducting a program evaluation may not be advisable. Consider the following issues:
- My program keeps changing. When a program is generally unpredictable or in the midst of change, it can be very difficult to assess. Wait until the program’s goals and activities are clear and consistently carried out.
- My program is too new. When a program hasn’t been in existence long enough to produce results, it’s hard to evaluate. Consider if it’s reasonable to expect results from your program, given its maturity level.
- Disagreement on goals. Lack of consensus about program goals makes it difficult to know what you’re evaluating. In this case, it’s best to meet with stakeholders and clarify the program’s purpose. If an important stakeholder refuses to address critical issues that are central to your evaluation, you should reconsider conducting an evaluation. Ignoring important issues will result in a "weak" evaluation.
- Designed to promote success. Although successful practices or processes may be an important outcome of an evaluation, you don’t want to make “success stories” the goal of your evaluation. This will bias your approach and findings. Seek to learn what did and didn’t work so that you can increase your program’s effectiveness.
- The findings won’t be used. Program evaluations should provide information that can and will be used. Don’t invest time and money in a perfunctory program evaluation if you know that the findings are unlikely to be used. Some program decisions are actually policy issues that don’t require a formal program evaluation.