Additional Resources
General evaluation techniques and tools.
Looking for more information on evaluation techniques? The resources here provide additional information on evaluations, but they are not EE specific. Note, the list of resources here is not comprehensive. Instead, they are a selection of resources on topics that MEERA does not deal with elsewhere, or only touches upon in brief.
General Resources (5)
These resources are mostly web sites that provide networking opportunities, tools for conducting an evaluation, and sample evaluations. They should be helpful to evaluators across fields.
Networking
American Evaluation Association
The AEA is a professional association of evaluators dedicated to the application and exploration of evaluation. AEA has several topic interest groups, including ones on Environmental Program Evaluation and K-12 Educational Evaluation. AEA also sponsors an active listserv, Evaltalk.
Tools
Evaluation Center
Western Michigan University
The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University offers several tools and resources for evaluators. These include glossaries of evaluation terms, checklists (i.e. lists of criteria to consider) for a variety of evaluation components, and several listservs for those interested in learning more about evaluation.
Tools, Searchable Database
Informal Science
There are three main sections to this site: knowledge, evaluation, and community. The Knowledge database allows users to search through citations and synopses of journal articles, theses, and dissertations of informal science education evaluations. The Evaluation section of the site provides resources to help users learn more about evaluation, find an evaluator, and connect to other evaluation sites as well as a searchable database of informal science evaluations . Finally, the Community section lists networking resources for those interested in informal learning.
Tools
Innovation Network
Visitors who register at the site (for free) gain access to Point K, a collection of web-based tools for planning evaluations, developing logic models, and creating surveys. Registered users are asked step-by-step questions about their program's goals, resources, intended outputs and outcomes. Point K then transforms that information to print-ready evaluation plans and logic models.
Tools Guidance
The Program Development and Evaluation Unit, University of Wisconsin Extension
University of Wisconsin Extension
This site provides downloadable publications to assist evaluators in the planning, implementation, analysis and reporting stages of evaluation. UW-Extension also offers professional development opportunities in evaluation. Be sure to check out the Quick Tips on topics such as using comparison groups, getting a good response rate, collecting data, retrospective post-then-pre test designs, and writing evaluation reports. The site's information on logic models is some of the best available in the evaluation community.
Environment Related Resources (3)
The resources in this section are similar to those in the general resources category, but they target evaluators of programs related to the environment (EE or otherwise).
Instruments Searchable Database
EPA Public Involvement – Feedback and Evaluation
Environmental Protection Agency
This section of the EPA’s Public Involvement site features questionnaires used in various public participation settings as well as a database of nearly forty evaluations conducted of EPA public involvement activities.
Instruments Searchable Database
Place-based Education Evaluation Collaborative
PEEC is a partnership between several nonprofit organizations concerned with place-based education. The Tools section of the site provides actual instruments used by the partners in their evaluations as well as links to resources on other websites. To see examples of actual evaluations, look at the Reports section.
Tools Guidance Searchable Database
Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE)
This site features resources to assist educators and developers in providing quality Earth system science curricula and programs. The Evaluation and Assessment portion of the site features the Evaluation Toolkit, a searchable database of articles, reports, and resources related to planning and implementing Earth system science evaluations.
Data Analysis Tools (3)
There are many free data analysis tools available on the web. The resources presented in this section present a select group of tools for the user that cannot afford to purchase/learn a major statistical package such as SPSS or SAS.
Tools
Open Stat
Open Stat is a free software package for performing statistical analyses. It is relatively simple to use and you can paste in data from Microsoft Excel. There are some quirks in the functionality, but it supports a variety of simple to complex analysis procedures (Frequencies, T-Test, ANOVA, Multiple Regression, Factor Analysis, etc).
Tools
AM by AIR
This software package was designed for "analyzing data from complex samples, especially large-scale assessments." It has many functionalities, from simple statistics such as frequencies, to more complex procedures such as regression and complex weighting schemes. Users can import data from a variety of sources (e.g., Excel, SPSS, etc) and output can be displayed in a text file or a web browser. The user interface is not immediately intuitive and would work best for users who are experienced with a variety of statistical techniques.
Guidance
Using Excel for Analyzing Survey Questionaires
University of Wisconsin-Extension
This guide, provided by University of Wisconsin-Extension, is helpful for those unfamiliar with data analysis. It provides step-by-step instructions for using Microsoft Excel to: Create a database of responses, Code data, Display frequencies and percentages, Calculate average(mean), range, standard deviation, etc., and Create crosstabulations/pivot tables.
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