Glossary
Accountability: The responsibility of program managers and
staff to provide evidence to stakeholders and funding agencies
that a program is effective and in conformance with its coverage,
service, legal, and fiscal requirements.
Accuracy: The extent to which an evaluation is truthful or valid
in what it says about a program, project, or material.
Activities: The actual events or actions that take place as a part
of the program.
Attitudes: People's biases, inclinations, or tendencies that
influence their response to situations, activities, people, or
program goals.
Baseline information: Data gathered on the target population
before a tobacco control program begins.
Capacity: The resources (e.g., competent staff, appropriate data-collection
systems, sufficient funding) to conduct an evaluation.
Case study: An intensive, detailed description and analysis of a
single project or program in the context of its environment.
Competency: The knowledge and experience needed to conduct
surveillance and evaluation.
Cross-sectional data: Observations collected at one point in
time.
Data: Documented information or evidence of any kind.
Data analysis: The process of systematically applying statistical
and logical techniques to describe, summarize, and compare
data.
Data-collection instrument: A form or set of forms used to
collect information for an evaluation (e.g., questionnaires,
interview guides, intake forms, participation logs, attendance
records). It may be developed specifically for an evaluation or
modified from existing instruments.
Data-collection plan: A written document describing the
specific procedures to be used to gather the evaluation data. The
document describes who collects the information, when and
where it is collected, and how it is obtained.
Database: A collection of information that has been
systematically organized for easy access and analysis. Databases
typically are computerized.
Dissemination: The process of communicating either the
procedures or the lessons learned from an evaluation in a timely,
unbiased, and consistent manner.
Executive summary: A nontechnical summary statement
designed to provide a quick overview of the full-length report
on which it is based.
Experimental designs: In evaluation, methods that involve
randomly assigning people in the target population to one of
two or more groups in order to eliminate the effects of history
and maturation. The program's effects are measured by
comparing the change in one group or set of groups with the
change in another group or set of groups.
Evaluation plan: A written document describing the overall
approach or design that will be used to guide an evaluation. It
includes what will be done, how it will be done, who will do it,
when it will done, why the evaluation is being conducted, and
how the findings will likely be used.
Feasibility: The extent to which resources allow an evaluation to
be conducted.
Focus group: A group of people selected for their relevance to
an evaluation that is engaged by a trained facilitator in a series
of discussions designed for sharing insights, ideas, and
observations on a topic of concern.
Indicator: A specific, observable, and measurable characteristic
or change that shows the progress a program is making toward
achieving a specified outcome.
Infrastructure: All the components necessary to conduct an
evaluation (e.g., experienced staff, adequate funding).
Inputs: Resources that go into a program.
Logic model: A systematic and visual way to present the
perceived relationships among the resources you have to operate
the program, the activities you plan to do, and the changes or
results you hope to achieve.
Longitudinal data: Observations collected over a period of
time; the sample (instances or cases) may or may not be the
same each time but the population remains constant.
Objectives: Statements describing the results to be achieved and
the manner in which these results will be achieved.
Outputs: The direct products of program activities; immediate
measures of what the program did.
Outcomes: The results of program operations or activities; the
effects triggered by the program. (For example, increased
knowledge, changed attitudes or beliefs, reduced tobacco use,
reduced tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.)
Outcome evaluation: the systematic collection of information
to assess the impact of a program, present conclusions about the
merit or worth of a program, and make recommendations about
future program direction or improvement.
Posttest: A test or measurement taken after services or activities
have ended. It is compared with the results of a pretest to show
evidence of the effects or changes resulting from the services or
activities being evaluated.
Pretest: A test or measurement taken before services or activities
begin. It is compared with the results of a posttest to show
evidence of the effects of the services or activities being
evaluated. A pretest can be used to obtain baseline data.
Process evaluation: The systematic collection of information to
document and assess how a program was implemented and
operates.
Program evaluation: The systematic collection of information
about the activities, characteristics, and outcomes of programs
to make judgments about the program, improve program
effectiveness, and/or inform decisions about future program
development.
Program goal: A statement of the overall mission or purpose(s)
of the program.
Propriety: The extent to which the evaluation has been
conducted in a manner that evidences uncompromising
adherence to the highest principles and ideals (including
professional ethics, civil law, moral code, and contractual
agreements).
Qualitative methods: Ways of collecting information on the
knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the target
population. In general, information gathered using qualitative
methods is not given a numerical value.
Quasi-experimental design: In evaluation, methods that do not
involve randomly assigning members of the target population
either to an intervention or to a comparison group.
Resources: Assets available and anticipated for operations. They
include people, equipment, facilities, and other things used to
plan, implement, and evaluate public programs whether or not
paid for directly by public funds.
Sample: A subset of people in a particular population.
Sampling frame: Complete list of all people or households in
the target population.
Stakeholder: People or organizations who are invested in the
program or who are interested in the results of the evaluation or
what will be done with results of the evaluation.
Standard: A principle commonly agreed to by experts in the
conduct and use of an evaluation for the measure of the value or
quality of an evaluation (e.g., accuracy, feasibility, propriety,
utility).
Surveillance: The ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and
interpretation of data (e.g., regarding agent/hazard, risk factor,
exposure, health event) essential to the planning, implementation,
and evaluation of public health practice, closely
integrated with the timely dissemination of these data to those
responsible for prevention and control.
Survey: A quantitative (nonexperimental) method of collecting
information on the target population at one point in time.
Surveys may be conducted by interview (in person or by
telephone) or by questionnaire.
Utility: The extent to which an evaluation produces and
disseminates reports that inform relevant audiences and have
beneficial impact on their work.
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