This section details the quality and types of evidence in process evaluation.

There is a big difference between simply doing something and doing it well. For example:

• We updated the website and lots of people have visited it.
  • 'Could visitors find what they were looking for?'
• Our non-teaching staff all updated their first aid training.
  • 'Was the training any good?'
  • 'Do they remember anything from it?'
• We appointed an instructional leader to support a new program.
  • 'Has the instructional leader developed strong working relationships with our teachers?'
  • 'Are the teachers clear on what they are supposed to be doing differently?'

Quality and types of evidence

We can make a judgement about the quality of a process based on different types of evidence, depending on the context. Three common approaches are:

• direct feedback from participants about their experience, perhaps through:
  • a survey
  • qualitative debrief or reflection exercises, for example interviews, focus groups or feedback games.

  Follow the link below to read more about the strengths and weaknesses of different data types.

• comparison of actual practice with recommended practice or a set of standards. For example:
  • observing lessons and comparing teaching practices with expectations
  • document analysis to identify how program activities are being recorded or for monitoring professional learning plans
  • documenting processes and practices in a way that shows adherence to requirements, for example departmental policy, or descriptions of practice such as the School Excellence Framework (Version 2, July 2017).