How to Evaluate
When evaluating a particular project, we recommend that you consider:
- Outputs – what the project delivered, the activities undertaken (for example number of community engagement events delivered in a week of action).
- Outcomes – the impact that the delivery had on the target business (for example reduction of a certain crime type in a particular area).
Measuring the outputs enables the partnership to change their project management practices according to lessons learned. Clearly defining the problem will help you to clarify what to measure. The evaluation simply needs to have measurement tools in place to track these elements. Outcomes of a project involve the impact that the project had. This might include on performance indicators, but may also include some indirect benefits. The project will have been chosen because of a priority identified through the strategic assessment, which is the starting point against which to measure outcomes.
When evaluating, some initial questions may include:
- Did the project meet the objectives defined? If no, what were some of the reasons for the change?
- Did the project produce the agreed deliverables? If not, what were the reasons?
- Did the project deliver these outputs on time, including meeting any key milestones that were agreed? If not, what were the reasons for the delays?
- Did the project team engage effectively with stakeholders to ensure successful delivery? If not, how could this be improved?
- What was the total cost of the project? How was this cost met?
- Was the anticipated amount of resource used? Were additional resources required?
- What tangible impact did the project have on quantitative performance? Was this the anticipated impact?
There are three broad approaches to evaluations that would be beneficial to a partnership:
- Impact evaluation - This shows whether or not a project has met it objectives in terms of changing or reducing the problem identified. Also known as Outcome Evaluation and often referred to by the short hand of ‘what works?’.
- Process Evaluation – to help to answer the question ‘how did it work?’ This may involve consideration of who was involved and how the project was rolled out.
- Economic evaluation – to help to answer the question ‘was it worth it?’ This may involve consideration of costs of the project against the savings brought. Resources such as people, buildings and time as well as money can be considered.
Undertaking these different types of evaluation will help to answer the overall question: ‘what works best in what circumstances?’ which complements the problem-oriented approach to crime reduction.
