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Group Projects

1. Divide students into groups of 4 -5. Task them with learning and revising the professor evaluations they complete each semester. Have them read the existing form and consider its strengths and weaknesses. Then have them follow the four questions described in this chapter, answering each in turn. Given this analysis as well as that gained from their personal experience as a user of this evaluation, have them rewrite the evaluation. In their final report, they should also include a justification for their changes, as well as how they believe their evaluations will improve the evaluation process, classes, and life at their home university.
    
2. Separate students into groups and have each pick a major federal agency or organization that runs social programs (e.g., Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture, Center for Disease Control) and locate their webpage.  Have students search for “program evaluation” within that webpage (not all agencies have a convenience “search” choice, so students may need to be a little creative).  Can the groups find any evidence of evaluation research?  Have each group present the type of evaluation research they can find on the Internet.
    
3. Have students identify clubs that to which they belong or are familiar with that receive all or most of their funding from the university. Do a cost-benefit analysis of these clubs, identifying if this club should continue to receive its current level of funding from the university (aka do benefits outweigh costs). While we do not expect them to be unbiased, they should be told that all the information they gather should be replicable (lying isn’t cool). Student clubs were chosen because, while costs are straightforward and easy to identify, benefits are less blatantly tangible, which will give students the type of challenge they should anticipate when doing evaluations in a social work context.
    
4. The Stakeholder Game:  Pick a social program with many potential stakeholders. Some ideas:  Head-Start, DARE, music/art in elementary schools, or tort reform.  Have the class as a whole brainstorm to develop a list of potential stakeholders.  Divide class into groups that represent each one of those stakeholder groups, including one group which represents the decision-making group (e.g., funding agency, legislator, etc.).  Allow each group sufficient time to prepare their position on the program.  Have each present their position.  Let the decision-makers decide and explain the reasons for their decision.  It’s not a bad idea to have individual students write up their reactions to this exercise; the frustration that some will feel is a good way to address how funding and politics can frustrate a researcher!
    
5. Designing programs:  Ask student groups to identify a social problem and propose a program that could help solve this problem. It is often interesting to provide them with a budget (or an unlimited budget).  They should very specifically define the goals of their program using the Logic Model.  Ask them to develop evaluation research that will allow them to “test” the success of the program.  Student groups should submit proposals, which you (or a group of students) can “fund” or “reject” based on their work.   

Mini-Projects

1.  Is college education cost effective?
Consider your college education as a sort of program that is designed to produce a desired outcome.  Is it cost-effective?  This exercise is far from accurate in determining this, but may make you feel better about being a poor college student. 

1. Write down three jobs that you had prior to entering college, or if you haven’t had three jobs, write down three jobs that you could have had prior to entering college.
2. Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (http://www.bls.gov/) and locate the most recent National Compensation Survey.
3. Look up the hourly wages of the three jobs noted in Step 1 (or jobs that most closely resemble those jobs).  Multiply the hourly wages by 2080 (40 hours per week x 52 weeks per year) to estimate your annual earnings.  
4. Write down three jobs that you would like to hold once you have completed your education.  Look up the hourly wages of these jobs.  Multiply the hourly wages by 2080 to estimate your annual earnings.
5. Using your own bills, or estimates provided by your own school, estimate the cost of a college degree (include four years or more if appropriate, housing, meals, interest on student loans, etc.).  If necessary, also add the cost of additional training (e.g., graduate school, professional school, certification) required for each job specified in Step 4.  (Costs for additional training can be approximated by using catalogs for different schools, etc. on the Internet.)
6. 6.Subtract the annual income in Step 3 from the annual income in Step 4.  In theory, this should be the annual wage benefit of having a college degree.
7. Divide the cost of your education by the annual wage benefit found in Step 6.  This is an estimate of how many years it will take to make up the cost of your education given the discrepancy in wages.
8. Write a brief cost-effectiveness report in which you evaluate the efficiency of your own college education. 

2. Goals-Oriented Design Decisions 
The goal of this project to help students better understand the strategy involved in making design decisions. This project consists of two parts. Primarily, students will work with a partner. Their job is to create various grant opportunities that are stipulated on the organizations completing evaluations. These grants should be middle to high stakes and should target different types of organizations.  List various criteria for the evaluations to be considered viable for consideration for the grant.

These partners should now exchange these ‘calls for grant applications’ with other partners. Individually, each partner should try to write a type of evaluation that makes the organization eligible for as many grants as possible. In doing this process, the students should consider how to maximize their work, as time, money, and expertise are limited resources in every organization.

3.  Evaluation Research in Academic Journals 
This exercise allows students to see how social workers present evaluation research to their peers. 

1. Select a topic that involves some sort of social service program to resolve, alleviate, or promote.  (Examples include:  child safety, educational retention, racial/ethnic tolerance, criminal behaviors).  Locate three social work journal articles that evaluate a program designed around this topic. 
2. For each article, describe the program, paying special attention to how they measure outcomes.
3. Given the data presented in each article, does the frequency of desired outcomes justify the continuation of the program?  Explain your answer fully. 
4. For each article, propose at least one other way to measure the outcome, such that a future program might be able to improve upon the current one.  Explain how measuring outcomes in the way that you propose would be an improvement.

4.  Program Personnel and Evaluation 
For this project, you will need to contact a social worker who works with a social program. 

1. Contact your informant.  Explain that you are learning about how programs are evaluated in class and ask if he or would consent to an interview in which he or she talks about the program.  Remember to offer that you will be willing to forward a copy of your report to the informant when you have finished.  Set a date for the interview.
2. Prepare a list of open-ended questions that cover the details of the program and how it is evaluated internally and/or externally. 
3. On the date of the interview, make sure to show up on time and be professional!  If possible, ask your informant if they would consent to be tape recorded.  If not, you will have to write jottings and try to reconstruct the interview immediately afterwards.
4. Conduct the interview.  When completed, ask the person if they could recommend one other person that you could interview about the program.  Take down this person’s contact information and thank your informant graciously.
5. Write up field notes in as much detail as possible (try to record all that you observed) soon after leaving the setting. 
6. Repeat steps 1-5, modifying your questions as appropriate.  Continue until you have three to five informants.
7. Write a brief report in which you describe the process of evaluation already being conducted for the program.  Propose another way to evaluate the program that is not currently being conducted, explaining why your proposal would improve evaluation of the program.
8. Remember to return a copy of your report to your informants, if they so request. 

5.  Evaluation Research in a Diverse Society

1. Identify a regional area; a city, a town, or a county would be preferable.
2. Skim media, social work, and academic resources to identify evaluations being completed of social work organizations and agencies within this region. Reach out to contacts in the area if necessary.
3. Who are these evaluations targeted towards? Who are the organizations geared to help?
4. Identify if the answers to the two questions in 3 accurately and/or completely address the diversity present in the county (race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, religion).
5. Note one interesting and pertinent missing group from these programs and evaluations.
6. Consider how current work could be expanded or mimicked in order to better bring in all who are in need.