Chapter 15
Evaluating CD programs. Evaluation can prove effectiveness and improve implementation of
programs.
Evaluation raises several issues to consider. Who will be involved? What is the evaluation
process trying to achieve? Who is the audience? How will the evaluation be designed? How
will the data be sued?
There are several different methods used to evaluate CD programs. Comparative methods are
used often to assess impacts. The comparative method of difference compares successful and
nonsuccessful cases that look similar in most respects. Identifying the key difference is
essential to assessing the cause. Comparative methods using the method of agreement focus
on cases that are successful but have much different characteristics. The goal is to find a
commonality among these cases.
Probably the most common method used to evaluate community development programs is the
Ch. 15
1. What skills are most important for a community-development practitioner? What type of
training or education would prepare practitioners for developing these skills?
2. Given the social and economic changes that we have experienced over the past few decades,
how will the work of community-development practitioners change over the next decade?
3. (a) What are the basic elements of regionalism? (b) How does this regional approach differ