Data Collection for Life House Agency Program

Part1
How do you plan to collect evaluation data for the Life House agency program you selected? Inventories, questionnaires, direct observations, interviews, indexes, and rating scales are a few of the measurement instruments, or tools, that can be used to collect data.
Selecting a particular instrument takes careful consideration. An instrument must be appropriate for the age, reading level, language, and culture of the program participants. If the instrument is quantitative (characterized by numbers), it must be reliable (measure what it is intended to measure) and valid (measure the same way each time it is used). If the instrument is qualitative (characterized by words), it must elicit important and detailed information about the participants’ experience with the program. You should be able to find psychometric information about an existing instrument in the literature. Note, however, that in the future if you were to develop your own instrument, you would need to take into consideration the establishment of its validity.
For this Discussion, you will select an existing measurement instrument that you plan to use to measure the outcome from your outcome evaluation. You will use the results of your Discussion—including feedback from your Instructor and colleagues—to inform part of your Final Project next week.
To prepare:
• Read Chapters 15 and 17 of the course text. (attached)
• Review your outcome evaluation Assignment from Week 8. You will select a measurement instrument to measure the outcome in your Discussion this week. (Attached)
• Review Walden’s Test Databases website in the Learning Resources this week.
o Tests and Measures – Tests and Measures – Academic Guides at Walden University
• Search for and select at least two additional empirical sources to inform your selection of a measurement instrument. One of your sources should provide an example of the instrument used in research.
• Select a measurement instrument for the outcome you want to evaluate for your Life House program. For example:
o Questionnaire
o Scale
o Index
o Inventory

Post to your Discussion and address the following:
• Provide a comprehensive description of the instrument you selected to measure your outcome, including:
o Its origin
o The number of items
o Dimensions (if applicable)
o Sub-scales (if applicable)
• Provide psychometric information found in the literature related to the reliability and validity of this instrument.
• Explain why you selected this measurement instrument over other possible instruments.
• What are the potential limitations of your selected instrument?
• How do the limitations impact your evaluation?

Part 2
Communication with stakeholders begins with the first contact and initial consideration of the project.
As the process of developing the program evaluation proposal continues, there should be ongoing communication with and from stakeholders. When you have completed a program evaluation, it is important to be able to share the key components and findings of the evaluation with stakeholders, and to do so in a manner that fits the audience. Presentation of the program evaluation allows development of a collaborative, community-based product.
For this Discussion, you will consider how to present results to stakeholders. Specifically, you will focus on how to communicate results regardless of the outlook—positive or negative—in a way that connects with the specific audience.
To prepare:
• Read Chapter 21 of the course text. (attached)
• Consider the various communication formats available to you:
o Live presentations
o Recorded presentations
o Executive reports
o Email messaging
o Social media
o Graphics, posters, and brochures
Post to your Discussion and address the following:
• Why is timing important when delivering your communications?
• Identify two different stakeholders at Life House who might require different types of communications. What different communication strategies would you use to deliver results? Explain your choices.
Extra Credit
Recommend alternative communication strategies for the stakeholders