CPE CPE Utilization-Focused Evaluation & Decision Making 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Summative evaluation is primarily used to:
- Improve a program during implementation
- Make judgments about a program's overall effectiveness or worth for accountability and decisions about continuation (Correct answer)
- Train new evaluation staff
- Develop the program's initial logic model
Correct answer: Make judgments about a program's overall effectiveness or worth for accountability and decisions about continuation
Summative evaluation assesses a completed or mature program's effectiveness, efficiency, and value, often informing decisions about funding, continuation, or replication.
Question 2: A CPE is asked to assess whether a program should be replicated in other states. This is an example of a:
- Formative evaluation question
- Summative evaluation question focused on scalability and effectiveness (Correct answer)
- Process monitoring question
- Needs assessment question
Correct answer: Summative evaluation question focused on scalability and effectiveness
Questions about replication require summative evidence of effectiveness and contextual factors that support or limit scale-up.
Question 3: Which of the following is a key decision-support role of a CPE during program reviews?
- Making final program funding decisions on behalf of the agency
- Providing evidence-based findings and recommendations while respecting decision-makers' authority (Correct answer)
- Eliminating underperforming programs without stakeholder input
- Designing the program's budget allocation
Correct answer: Providing evidence-based findings and recommendations while respecting decision-makers' authority
A CPE informs decisions with evidence and recommendations but does not make final funding or programmatic decisions, which remain the authority of agency leadership.
Question 4: When findings from an evaluation are NOT used, a CPE should FIRST examine:
- Whether to abandon the evaluation profession
- Whether the evaluation questions and design were aligned with the actual information needs of decision-makers (Correct answer)
- Whether to rewrite the entire report from scratch
- Whether to increase the report's length and technical detail
Correct answer: Whether the evaluation questions and design were aligned with the actual information needs of decision-makers
Non-use most commonly results from a misalignment between the evaluation's focus and what decision-makers actually needed, pointing to an upstream design problem.
Question 5: In utilization-focused evaluation, an 'evaluation matrix' is used to:
- Score evaluators' performance
- Organize evaluation questions, indicators, data sources, and methods in a single planning document (Correct answer)
- Determine participant eligibility
- Calculate cost-benefit ratios
Correct answer: Organize evaluation questions, indicators, data sources, and methods in a single planning document
An evaluation matrix aligns key questions with measurable indicators, data sources, and collection methods, ensuring the evaluation design is coherent and comprehensive.
Question 6: Which type of evaluation question asks 'Is this program reaching the people it is intended to serve?'
- Impact question
- Cost-effectiveness question
- Coverage or reach question (Correct answer)
- Attribution question
Correct answer: Coverage or reach question
Coverage or reach questions assess whether the program is accessing and serving its target population as intended.
CPE CPE Utilization-Focused Evaluation & Decision Making 2
Summative evaluation is primarily used to: