U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Can a Workbook Work? Examining Whether a Practitioner Evaluation Toolkit Can Promote Instrumental Use

NCJ Number
249613
Journal
Evaluation and Program Planning Volume: 52 Dated: October 2015 Pages: 107-117
Author(s)
R. Campbell; S. M. Townsend; J. Shaw; N. Karim; J. Markowitz
Date Published
October 2015
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Since there has been limited research to date on whether a practitioner toolkit fosters the successful design, implementation, and use of evaluation findings, the current study conducted a multi-site project that developed a practitioner evaluation toolkit and then studied the extent to which the toolkit and accompanying technical assistance were effective in promoting successful completion of local-level evaluations and fostering instrumental use of the findings (i.e., whether programs directly used their findings to improve practice, see Patton, 2008).
Abstract
In large-scale, multi-site contexts, developing and disseminating practitioner-oriented evaluation toolkits are an increasingly common strategy for building evaluation capacity. Toolkits explain the evaluation process, present evaluation design choices, and offer step-by-step guidance to practitioners. In the current project, forensic nurse practitioners from six geographically dispersed service programs completed methodologically rigorous evaluations; and all six programs used the findings to create programmatic and community-level changes to improve local practice. Implications for evaluation capacity-building are discussed. (Publisher abstract modified)