Catherine (Brehm) Rain on Grasshopper Moments: The Kung-Fu Masters of Process Evaluation

I’m Catherine (Brehm) Rain of Rain and Brehm Consulting Group, Inc., an independent research and evaluation firm in Rockledge, Florida. I specialize in Process Evaluation, which answers the questions Who, What, When, Where and How in support of the Outcome Evaluation. Field evaluations occur in chaotic environments where change is a constant. Documenting and managing change using process methods help inform and explain outcomes.

Lesson Learned: If you don’t know what or how events influenced a program, chances are you won’t be able to explain the reasons for its success or failure.

Lesson Learned: I’m a technology fan, but I’m also pretty old-school. Like Caine in the legendary TV show Kung Fu, I frequently conjure up the process evaluation ‘masters’ of the 1980s and ‘90s to strengthen the foundation of my practice and to regenerate those early ‘Grasshopper’ moments of my career.

Old-school? Or enticingly relevant? You decide, Grasshopper! I share a few with you.

Hot Tip:  Process evaluation ensures you answer questions of fidelity (to the grant, program and evaluation plan): did you do what you set out to with respect to needs, population, setting, intervention and delivery? When these questions are answered, a feedback loop is established so that necessary modifications to the program or the evaluation can be made along the way.

Rad Resource: Workbook for Designing a Process Evaluation, produced by the State of Georgia, contains hands-on tools and walk-through mechanics for creating a process evaluation. The strategies incorporate the research of several early masters, including three I routinely follow:  Freeman, Hawkins and Lipsey.

Hot Tip: Life is a journey—and so is a long-term evaluation. Stuff happens. However, it is often in the chaotic that we find the nugget of truth, the unknown need, or a new direction to better serve constituents. A well-documented process evaluation assists programs to ‘turn on a dime’, adapt to changing environments and issues, and maximize outcome potential.

Rad Resource:  Principles and Tools for Evaluating Community-Based Prevention and Health Promotion Programs by Robert Goodman includes content on the FORECAST Model designed by two of my favorites (Goodman & Wandersman), which enables users to plot anticipated activities against resultant deviations or modifications in program and evaluation.

Hot Tip:  If you short shrift process evaluation, you may end up with Type III error primarily because the program you evaluated is not the program you thought you evaluated!

Rad Resource: Process Evaluation for Public Health Research and Evaluations: An Overview by Linnan and Steckler discusses Type III error avoidance as a function of process evaluation. As well, the authors discuss the historical evolution of process evaluation by several masters including but not limited to Cook, Glanz and Pirie.

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