Scenario Eight

During the last conversation between the evaluation consultant, Judy Hallowell, and the Grandview staff, Luis asked, "Well, how do we conduct research?" Judy surprised many in the group by asking if they thought they were going to be involved in research or in evaluation. Especially after their long discussion about "number crunching," a number of staff members said, "Well, of course we are doing research." Others asked, "How do we really know if we're doing research or evaluation?" Actually, these questions gave Judy the perfect opportunity to make some important distinctions between evaluation and research. Once again, she asked the committee to form small working and discussion groups. In this format, they were more likely to explore the ideas that Judy felt they should delve into. She asked the groups to think about and discuss what they felt was their main intent in doing the evaluation. From a far corner of the room came a voice, "To get the grant money, of course." After the laughter subsided, all agreed that although obtaining those resources was important, they probably had a more encompassing intent. Just to get the conversations started in the groups, Judy threw out this question: "What is it that you and all your stakeholders want to know the most aboutprogram processes, outcomes of program processes, or ramifications of the program?" With that intriguing question, the groups began their discussions.

What are the differences between evaluation and research and what are the kinds of sampling?