Research and evaluation helps organizations to better serve their clients. These activities provide important information to guide program decisions.
Being engaged in research and evaluation means participating in a culture of learning. It doesn’t always mean setting up a formal research project, but it means ensuring that we are always evaluating our approaches and learning from them. It means assimilating knowledge from others and also generating new knowledge. The more integrated your research and evaluation activity is with your program planning, the more useful it will be to you.
Some of the following are additional benefits of research and evaluation:
- Provides information to support quality improvement
- Develop quality indicators that serve as flags for potential areas of improvement
- Identify areas for quality improvement initiatives
- Provides information on programs and services
- Evaluate effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility
- Describe client population, services Needs assessment and identifying gaps
- Builds knowledge
- Investigate causal links and risk factors
- Contribute to broader body of knowledge outside of your organization
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