Principles Of Evaluation, Types, Ethics, And Methods - Essay On Diabetes Awareness Among Aboriginals.

Understand and explain the principles of evaluation, including types, ethics and potential evaluation methods

Develop knowledge of how to conduct an evaluation of processes (M5), impacts and outcomes (M6) of a program.Also understand concepts of effective evaluation reporting and dissemination

Impact indicators of the program

This is a campaign that focusses on the creation of awareness on diabetes among the Aboriginals’ people of Playford area. The campaign intends to educate about healthy eating to reduce chances of getting diabetes. The healthy eating involves the reduction of high calorie foods and the importance of physical activities on reducing the risk of diabetes. The awareness also aimed at ensuring that the people do involve the physicians in their health and diabetes issues as well as increasing the enthusiasm of physicians to be involved in diabetes issues.

These refers to the factors that show a change or achievement through the programme (chalmers brother, 2015). The first impact indicator was through a survey.the survey showed an increase in the number of questions asked by the audience about how to eat healthy. The questions were based on how to eat in a way that will help prevent diabetes. The survey showed that there was an increase in the questions asked about healthy eating, when compared to the period before introduction of the programme. This indicated that the people had embraced the healthy eating education and were ready to adhere to the healthy eating tips.

The number of people involved in physical exercises is also an indicator. A survey on the people of Playford who participated in physical activities when the programme was introduced, showed that there were more people willing to partake in physical activities. This indicated the success of the programme in teaching the Aboriginals people on how efficient physical activities are in reducing chances of getting diabetes (bolman, 2013).

Moreover, the Aboriginals people collected contact and address information of physicians that were close to them for the purpose of enquiries about diabetes. Through conducting a census on the Aboriginals people, the result was that there was an increase in the number of individuals with physician contacts. The contacts were to be used for the purpose of consulting on diabetes. This when compared to other communities that a census was also done on, showed that the community without the diabetes programme did not care about consulting physicians about diabetes. This indicated an improvement on the Aboriginals people after the programme in that they were aware of the need to consult physicians about diabetes (ferrell, 2017).

This refers to the methods that were used to collect data for the project.dat collection is important for the evaluation of the programme (kotler, 1988). The programme aimed at educating the people on healthy eating. The data was collected through the questions asked by the individuals and their feedback on the effectiveness of the objective.

The other objective of the programme was to educate on healthy eating and to reduce the consumption of high calorie food. The data for this was collected through the number of the people present at the cooking sessions. The numbers of audiences participating was collected as data for the programme.

The third objective of the programme was to educate on physical activities. Physical activities reduce the chance of diabetes. The data for this objective was collected through the number of people present and participating in physical activities.

Data collection methods

The fourth objective was to provide the Aboriginals people of the Playford area with contacts for physicians. The data for this was collected through the offline and online searches for physicians by Aboriginals people. The other method is by collecting the details of physicians willing to participate in the programme and also getting the feedback from the physicians on the programme (robert j. anderson, 2015).

The evaluation will be done by external evaluators who will be hired for the programme evaluation. The external evaluators are perfect for this job because they are able to bring their evaluation expertise as well as give good results. The reason for choosing external evaluators is to avoid biasness in reporting that could accrue when reporting is done by internal evaluators.

This refers to the tools that are used to establish whether the project has been successful (jane newell brown, 2012). The methods are drawn from scientific research methods and are favourable for the successful evaluation of the programme success. Observation is one of the methods that were used to evaluate the programme. This is the technique where there is a case study of many communities to identify the outcomes of a programme. The aboriginal people were put in pool of communities whereby all the communities were researched on with the aim of identifying the reductions in diabetic individuals. The aboriginal people showed a reduced number of diabetes among themselves compared to other communities which did not have the programme. The aboriginal people were healthier compared to the other communities, which was shown through observation.

The other method is quasi experimental method which compares two or more groups that are not the same. The Aboriginals people are to be compared with their neighbouring communities that were not exposed to the programme. The results should be that the Aboriginals people were healthier and safer from developing diabetes symptoms. Their physical conditions and their access to medical services should be better compared to the other community that was not exposed to the programme. The quasi method is a method that insists on identifying how different from the rest is the group that has been exposed to a certain phenomenon (warrick, 2016).

The evaluation requires resources so as to make it successful. The resources required for the evaluation are such finances. The finances are needed so as to cater for the expenses arising through the evaluation activity (scruton, 2017). The evaluation requires the hiring of researchers who are qualified so as to give a detailed report of the success of the programme. The researchers require to be paid and provided with the resource they need such food and places to sleep as well as transport money as they are required to visit the places. Funds are thus required in the required amount so as to avoid shortages which could result to the stoppage of the evaluation and thus poor results given (je, 1999). 

Additionally, the evaluation requires researchers. They are important for their expertise in the evaluation. Research experts are able to identify the results of a programme and how well it has influenced the people it was meant. The researchers are important in communicating a conclusive report on the extent to which the programme fulfilled its objectives and how much the people have changed their lives. This will be in terms of reduced diabetes patients as well as healthy lifestyle among the people (kotler, 1988).

Evaluation methods

Moreover, there is the need for marketing resources. This are the resources that are to be used to reach the people so as to ensure that they are well aware of the programme. Marketing is important in making sure that the Aboriginals people are well sensitized of the existence of the campaign. therefore, the marketing resources are important so that the programme is sure to reach many people and to be well embraced by the individuals.

The evaluation methods are very favourable to the programme. They result to an all-round evaluation of the programme from the way it is implemented to how the programme achieves its objectives (marone, 2013). The evaluation methods give a clear report of the improvements to be done on the programme to make it more efficient and effective for to achieve the goals set, the programme evaluation methods are appropriate to the programme because of the fact that they are in line with the financial ability of the programme. The programme has a set finance requirement that should not be exceeded to avoid overspending on the programme. This thus calls for such methods that are cheap and ensures that the financial requirements are not surpassed. Therefore, the methods are appropriate for the evaluation due to the need on ensuring that the finances are kept in check. Moreover, the methods are appropriate because of the way they are able to report conclusively and give a report that is understandable to the non-experts without having to do so many explanations or having special expertise. Therefore, they are good for this programme because of how they empower the information users to interpreted the results of the programme easily. Therefore, the methods serve the programme favourably and thus are important and should be implemented in to the programme.

Stakeholders refer to the persons or the factors that are affected by the survey either directly or indirectly (steckerl, 2013). Stakeholder involvement in evaluation is Important because they give a clear response of how the programme has influenced them. With this feedback the programme can be assessed to see if it has reached its set objectives or the weaknesses identified and corrected. The Aboriginals people community is part of the stakeholders that are involved in the evaluation. This are the people who are directly affected by the programme and therefore provide a good source of getting answers to questions about the programme effectiveness. They can be involved through interviewing them so that they can answer questions about the programme. The stakeholders to can be involved as part of the researchers to get to evaluate the programme through observing the changes that have happened in the community since the programme was started. The neighbouring communities are also part of the stakeholders who can be involved in the evaluation. The neighbouring community can evaluate through giving a report of the differences that they observe between them and the community that was exposed to the programme (mordecai lee, 2012).

These refers to the setbacks that could be suffered when doing the evaluation exercise (nicolas bacon, 2010). The lack of sufficient funds is one major challenge that could be suffered during the evaluation. This is a major challenge because it could result to the stoppage of the whole activity. Funds are important because of the need to pay for various thongs such as fees for the expert researchers and also to cater for other expenses that are incurred during the evaluation. The best way to address the finance issue is through sourcing funds from well-wishers and sponsors. This is properly done after coming up with a good financial requirement projection and then asking for that amount from the well-wishers. Loans can also be a good source of the added funds needed for the evaluation.

Resources for evaluation

The other challenge that could be incurred is the lack of cooperation from the aboriginal’s town square people. This could be in the form of failure to give information to the evaluators. This is a major hitch to the evaluation because without information then no evaluation can take place. The best way to address this issue is by informing the Aboriginals people that the evaluation is for their own importance. That is by giving information, then the programme can be evaluated and where there are inefficiencies in the programme could be corrected making the programme better for the aboriginal’s people. The Aboriginals people could also be enlightened on the importance of cooperating with evaluators by being assured that it is a sign of giving back to the programme developers (nigel slack, 2007).

The research could also be faced by the challenge of lack of expert evaluators. Lack of expert evaluators is a problem because of the consequent lack of a good report. Poor reports are not helpful; because they do not show the extent to which the programme has been efficient or inefficient. The best way to address this issue is by hiring the best evaluators. This is done through thorough search for the evaluators and doing interviews to ensure that they have the experience required for the evaluation. This is important to ensure that only evaluators who are conversant with the task are involved in the evaluation for its success and good reporting (noe, 2014).

The evaluation report needs to be disseminated to various interested stake holders so as to inform them of the progress of the programme as well as the success. The stakeholders such as funders will be communicated to through meetings. The meetings with the funders and the programme evaluators. The reason for choosing meeting to communicate to the funders is so as to explain to them how the funds were used. This involves presentation of financial reports and they require the financial report preparing team to be present so that they can explain the various items on the financial reports.

Moreover, there are the clients to the programme. This are mostly the community which is the Aboriginals people of Playford area. The best way to communicate with them is through visuals. This include the use of presentations such as videos that present the report. The reason for choosing this method is so as to be able to present the report to the clients in a way that they are able to quickly understand. The clients will require a more authentic presentation so that they quickly understand the report (chalmers brother, 2015).

Other service providers such as the suppliers also require communication. The best way to communicate is through one on one. This is the best method to use with the other service providers such as suppliers so as to be able to explain exactly the kind of service that is required from them to avoid confusion (chalmers brother, 2015). 

Conclusion

The programme aimed at increasing the awareness among the aboriginal’s people on the need to eat healthy food, all this under the campaign of creating awareness. The campaign was to be implemented through education on healthy eating and on other healthy living standards that help prevent diabetes. The Aboriginals people of Playford responded well to the programme and involved in the activities of the programme such as attending presentations and also giving feedback about the programme. 

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