Steps to Quality Improvement > Planning > Planning for Evaluation

For any QI initiative, evaluating the entire project after it is implemented is essential to deciding on the next steps. Because conducting an evaluation can be a significant undertaking, the best time to plan for it is during the planning stage, when the QI team can determine what results to expect, how results will be evaluated and what data will support an informative evaluation. Planning early for evaluation enables the project team to obtain needed data.

Any evaluator will find it difficult to assess a project at its conclusion if data are unavailable or inappropriate for evaluation. Conducting an evaluation early allows the QI team to document changes as the project progresses and to capture information most important to the evaluation. It is important to identify which measures will be used to evaluate the program and what data will be needed.