Understanding the Role and Demand for Program Evaluators

While program evaluation is often seen as a relatively new practice, its roots go way back – social evaluation has been documented as early as 2200 BC. Although it’s taken different forms over time, it consistently uses a mix of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This interdisciplinary approach draws from fields like sociology, psychology, economics, social work, and political science.

We spoke with The Chang School’s Program Director of Community Services, Sherry Yuan Hunter about program evaluation and the new Certificate in Program Evaluation available this Fall term. We also spoke with Fiona Deller, President, Fiona Deller and Associates, who helped design the program and was Chief Strategy and Operations Officer at research institute Future Skills Centre.

What is a Program Evaluator?

A program evaluator is a highly-skilled professional who is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of programs and services. They gather and analyze information to assess the impact of programs, make recommendations for improvement, and provide feedback to program managers. They look at a range of factors, including costs, impacts, potential improvements, alternatives, unforeseen consequences, and whether the program’s goals are appropriate.

Importance of Program Evaluation

Program evaluators play an integral role in any organization’s success by providing objective and unbiased evaluations of programs, services, and activities to ensure that they are meeting their goals and objectives. While they are employed in private and public sector organizations, it’s crucial when public money is being used as organizations need to ensure that it’s being spent wisely. This can be done by asking whether the program is achieving its goals and whether it’s the best use of resources in terms of time and money. In private organizations, program evaluations play a role in determining whether an organization’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and financial compliance are being met.

Required Skills and Qualifications

In order to be a successful evaluator, you will need a combination of analytics and communication skills, coupled with expertise in evaluation methodologies. A relevant educational background, like a degree in public administration, social sciences, or economics is also beneficial.

“People with backgrounds where you have a lot of research methodology like economics or sociology have the skill set to be a program evaluator. While they’re not exactly the same, you tend to see a lot of people who are getting into program evaluation come from those backgrounds,” says Fiona.

Sherry also mentions the research component to the desired skill set of those looking to make a career as a program evaluator.

“Program evaluation is applied research at its best,” says Sherry. “It’s about using all your qualitative and quantitative research skills to tackle real-life situations. You figure out the right questions to ask, how to find the answers, and how to present those answers to people who care.”

Sherry also adds that evaluators need to be adept communicators in order to create meaningful change.

“As an evaluator, you might have to share information that you know will be hard for people to hear, and honing your communication skills before those times will help you remain objective while being sensitive to the needs of the client and interested parties.”

With a broad range of skills and knowledge, program evaluation is suited to people from a wide variety of professional backgrounds.

“Experience in most any other field can be transferable to program evaluation as long as you’re willing to learn, work with people, be open to what the data is telling you, and be confident about explaining what you’ve learned so that other people can benefit from the analysis,” says Sherry.

While the above skills are more tangible, Fiona also points out that creativity and other more intangible skills are also required in this field.

“Program evaluation is really a creative field,” she says. “You need to be really interested in problem-solving and critical thinking as well as attention to detail.”

Why Is There an Increasing Demand for Program Evaluators?

The demand for program evaluators is being driven by increased accountability and transparency in terms of government and nonprofit sectors’ need for accountability. There’s also a greater emphasis on the importance of transparency in program funding and outcomes.

Another contributing factor is the increased focus on evidence-based decision-making with regards to the need for data-driven decisions in policy and program development and the rise of evidence-based practices in various fields.

Lastly, growth in social programs and initiatives is also increasing demand for program evaluation as it relates to the expansion of social programs requiring evaluation and the importance of measuring program impact and effectiveness.

“In the last five to 10 years, there has been a trend towards requiring that evaluation be a part of the funding envelope. That used to be governments and government agencies as well as philanthropic organizations that would fund programs and program development. They would require financial compliance audits,” says Fiona.

“Now, what you’re seeing more of is the requirement to evaluate effectiveness, learning, and continuous improvement. That’s being built into government funding, which is why there’s a need for more evaluators as well as people, even if they aren’t doing evaluation themselves, to understand it so they can effectively manage and oversee evaluators.”

Sectors Where Program Evaluators are in Demand

Some of the key sectors where program evaluators are in demand are as follows:

• Government: federal, state, and local government programs and policy implementation and assessment
• Nonprofit organizations: program funding and grant requirements and measuring program outcomes and impact
• Healthcare: evaluating public health programs and assessing the effectiveness of healthcare interventions
• Education: school and district program evaluations and higher education program assessments
• Corporate sector: evaluating corporate social responsibility initiatives and assessing training and development programs

It’s clear that there’s a growing demand for program evaluators in the market across most, if not all industries. This growth will only continue to expand in the future as the importance of ongoing professional development for evaluators increases.