Evaluation Primer

Evaluation overview

Evaluation is a systematic yet flexible approach to learning about and improving the value of programmes, policies, and interventions. Evaluation is critical to improving the quality and delivery of safer gambling programmes.

Good evaluation is more than just an activity to complete periodically; it is a way of embedding a culture of curiosity and learning to improve the impact of our safer gambling activities. Stakeholders drive the purpose and intended use of the evaluation, and an evaluation design is selected to meet those needs. A “good” evaluation design is one that will generate credible, defensible, and usable findings to inform future programming or policy decisions, and can vary significantly from one setting to another.

Benefits of evaluation

Evaluation activities aim to:¹

1. Measure change created by a programme, including unintended consequences.
2. Make sense of the context that surrounds a programme, and how these circumstances influence the programme's outcomes for different stakeholders.
3. Contribute to the evidence-base about what works and how resources should be allocated to maximise benefits.
4. Create a culture of critical thinking that builds in systematic ways of understanding problems and testing solutions.

Conducting evaluations of programmes, policies, and services on a regular basis is critical to strengthening interventions, improving resource allocation, and demonstrating accountability.^2,3

Evaluation steps

There are five main steps to complete an evaluation:   

1. Set the stage: Engage stakeholders to clarify the purpose and intended use of the evaluation.
2. Measure what matters: Design an evaluation that is proportionate, feasible, and will provide stakeholders with meaningful insight to inform decision making.
3. Implement to understand: Leverage resources and expertise to conduct the evaluation, with contingency planning for bumps experienced along the way.
4. Analyse to learn: Use collected data to help answer the original evaluation questions and, make connections for implications related to programme design and delivery.
5. Sustain and manage change: Create programme and organisation level changes to improve outcomes for intended beneficiaries based on evaluation findings, while acknowledging that change can be difficult.

When not to evaluate

As important as evaluation is, there are several instances in which evaluation should not be done. For example, an evaluation should not be completed when the findings of an evaluability assessment indicates the intervention is not ready to be evaluated or there is not genuine commitment from stakeholders to use the findings (positive or negative) to inform decision making.^4,5

Additional resources

For more information on evaluation, visit the resource below or contact evaluation@greo.ca to see how GREO can help.

• Evaluation Protocol (GambleAware)