In this exercise we assume that you are debating whether you should evaluate an existing service. The purpose of the activity is to help you become more aware of your own thoughts and reservations about conducting an evaluation of your services. This is a planning exercise with no right or wrong answers. The information you provide is not shared with anyone else and is considered confidential.
This survey is divided into the following sections:
Fill out the information in each section as requested. Then at the end of the form supply your name and contact information, and submit the form. You will receive a confirmation message from us shortly.
Evaluation takes time and money. To maintain independence, evaluation of impact of your service is best done by independent groups of investigators. Other evaluations, e.g. market studies, studies of patient satisfaction with your service, can be done in house. No matter who does the evaluation it still requires much planning, data collection, analysis and reporting. These activities could compete with your ability to focus your funds and time on organizing and improving the service. Sometimes evaluations are not done because the impact of the services are known or can be deduced from experience of others. The following questions attempt to understand why you may be ambivalent about conducting an evaluation of your services.
What reservations do you have about conducting an evaluation of your service?
Is there sufficient evidence in the literature that suggests what you are doing will work and work well for patients of different backgrounds: Yes No I am not sure
If you think about it, evaluation could have many benefits. It could tell you and your clients that the service is effective in changing lives. It can tell you how to improve, and everyone needs to improve. It can help you convince third party payers to pay for your service. In this section, we ask you a number of questions about what the implications of not evaluating might be for you and your organization.
Would it help your efforts to market your service if you knew more about people who are currently using your service and how they feel about it? Describe to me how survey of your clients can help you improve the service or improve the way it is marketed:
Would patients who use your service, ask for the evaluation of the service?
By the time patients come to the service, they have already evaluated our reputation. Yes, it is helpful to have data that can point out to the consumers that we are different. This is especially so when there is news coverage of unique events.
Would your efforts to market the service to third party payers be hurt if you do not have data that the service works (meaning it saves money, improves access or improves quality of health services)?
Yes No Not sure
Inside your organization, would your career be affected if you do not have data that what you did was reasonable?
I have a lot of support from different managers. As long as the service makes money, we will be fine. People around the company are already or may in the future question the utility of our service. I am not sure.
What might go wrong if you fail to evaluate the service? Think through next six months to next 2 years. Describe a situation where you would say "Oops, I wished I had evaluated the impact of our service."
Think harder. Is there some opportunity missed or negative consequences that may happen to you or to your organization as a consequence of failing to evaluate your service:
This is the last section of our survey of your needs. Keep in mind that the purpose of the survey was to help you gain insight into your own thoughts.
Now that you have gotten this far how do you feel about evaluation and the type of questions that it should address?
No need for evaluation. If so please click here to proceed. Evaluate market, including characteristics and size of patient groups attracted. Evaluate patients' satisfaction with service. Evaluate impact of site on patients' health status and life styles. Do other types of evaluations.
Do you feel you know what you are doing or would you like help on how to evaluate your service?
I have the experience and/or training in conducting evaluations. I do not need any other help. I know what I am doing but would like to talk it over with others. I would like to see examples and follow a structured guide for design of the evaluation
Did this interview help you think through the need for evaluation of your service?
Yes I had made up my mind No, not very informative Not sure
Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions in the survey.
This survey was designed to help you think through the consequences of not conducting an evaluation. Please enter your contact information below so that we can contact you regarding your responses.
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Copyright © 1997 Farrokh Alemi. All rights reserved. Revised: May 03, 2015.
