How exactly does your program work? Look at your logic model. A logic model isn’t some obscure “thing” that takes a ton of time and work to put together – it’s a basic illustration of how exactly your program works. Specifically, a logic model sets out how an intervention, such as social media, is intended to produce particular results. Above is a logic model I put together for a youth-serving program.
A logic model usually consists of four things:
- Inputs - The ingredients for your program (staff, money, space, etc).
- Activities - The things that happen in your program (don’t confuse this with outputs!). For example, fathers attend parenting classes is an activity.
- Outputs - The direct products of program activities, for example: the number of parenting classes you hold for fathers, the number of fathers served, etc. Outputs are not the end goal – they lead to the end goal (or outcome) and often do not explain or indicate the actual impact on those you serve.
- Outcomes - The actual impacts or benefits for those your program(s) serve, for example: fathers pay more child support, fathers gained knowledge in early childhood learning (knowledge/skills, behaviors, values, etc). It is the outcome, not the output, that your program/organization strives to accomplish.
Hopefully, you already have a logic model for your program – but if you don’t, take some time to put one together. This will be a critical tool in designing your evaluation. Also, funders love seeing these in grant applications!
Want to see more examples? Check out Evaluation Samples Week for ideas.
Next, 30 Days to Quality Evaluation: Developing your guiding evaluation questions.
