Writing the Evaluation Design for Your Grant Application

Your Evaluation Design informs the reviewers how you plan to review and evaluate the status of your project both during the project work and after project completion.

• The Evaluation Design can be conducted by the Principal investigator or by another member of the research study team, and should include an evaluation schedule and a communication plan to disseminate results and feedback to the research team.
• There are two components of evaluation designs to consider for your project:
  • Product Evaluation
    • Results that can be credited to your project, such as manufactured goods or an approved item for consumption, that immediately recognize that the project has fulfilled its desired objectives.
  • Process Evaluation
    • Results as to how well the project and various specific aims were conducted in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and consistency. There may not be a specific product associated with this process, but requirements should be set for when the project is closed to evaluate the overall success of the project.
• Questions you should answer in this section include:
  • Does the granting agency require specific evaluation techniques?
  • How you will determine if the practice gap was addressed for the target group?
  • How will you quantify change expected from this project in target audience?
  • How will you determine if target audience was fully engaged in the project?
  • How do you plan for the project outcomes to be broadly disseminated?
• Consider the following elements:
  • Evaluation Schedule that:
    • Assesses initial and ongoing project activities or assesses the quality and success of a project in reaching stated goals
    • Begins during project development and continues through implementation
  • Feedback should:
    • Provide new and sometimes unanticipated insights into improving the outcomes of the project
    • Involve review by the principal investigator, the steering or governance committee, and either an internal or external evaluator (depending on grant requirements)
  • At Project Close, your evaluation plan should:
    • Provide a thorough description that allows the scientific community to understand how the project was completed, evaluated and ultimately deemed a success or failure.