To evaluate exactly what changes have occurred, you’ll need to collect relevant information before and after the project, program and activity. In fact, it’s best to try and collect this information at regular intervals).

This means working with young people to figure out where they’re at currently and where they want to be.

An example of this could be using rating scales to get young people to score their skill development at the start of a workshop. You could keep checking in with them as the workshop goes on to see how they rate their development, to see if they feel they are benefitting from the program.   

Other types of evaluation you can use include: 

  • Surveys: paper-based or online.
  • Interviews:
    • Structured interviews, where the interviewer only asks questions decided in advance.
    • Semi-structured interviews, where the interviewer asks some questions decided in advance and some questions decided during the interview.
    • Unstructured interviews, where the interviewer only asks questions decided during the interview.
    • Group interviews. These can also be structured, semi-structured or unstructured.
  • Focus groups: small or large group discussions.
  • Observation: watching what happens with a particular group or activity.

Evaluation really aims to get valuable feedback from young people through these methods.