How are logic models and program theories used in evaluation?
Orienting Questions
1. What are the key concepts of the objectives-oriented evaluation approach and how has this approach influenced evaluation? How is this approach used today?
2. How are logic models and program theories used in evaluation?
3. How does theory-based evaluation differ from objectives-oriented evaluation? What are the central concepts of theory-based evaluation?
4. What are some of the strengths and limitations of the major program-oriented evaluation approaches?
5. What is “goal-free evaluation”? What does it teach us about conducting evaluation?
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Today many approaches to evaluation begin their focus with learning more about some key features of the program to be evaluated. These features then serve to help the evaluator decide which questions should be addressed. The most promi- nent program-oriented approaches are the objectives-oriented approach and approaches that make use of logic models or program theory. In fact, theory-based evaluation is one of the most rapidly growing areas of evaluation (Weiss, 1995; Donaldson, 2007). Many government funding agencies and foundations require logic models, a variant of program theory, for program planning, evaluation, and research. Both logic models and program theory have evolved to help evaluators gain a better understanding of the rationale or reasoning behind the program’s intended effects; this represents a great improvement over the more traditional objectives-oriented evaluation, which focused only on stated program outcomes.
154 Part II • Alternative Approaches to Program Evaluation
In this chapter, we will cover the original program-oriented evaluation approach—objectives-oriented evaluation—which continues to be used frequently today. We will then describe theory-oriented approaches and their cousin, logic models, and their applications today in helping evaluators make the critical choices of what to evaluate.