Defining Community
For comprehensive community initiatives, the evaluation needs to clearly define what is meant by community. A “community” may be defined by geography, culture or other delineation.
The document highlights the differing views held about the evaluation of comprehensive community initiatives, including their goals and expectations, study design and methodology, data collection and management as well as the interpretation, presentation and use of results. The summary also details the importance of defining the community and including the cultural context for these efforts.
Comprehensive community initiatives require evaluators to use a variety of tools and methods to capture change within a complex environment. These include surveys, qualitative approaches, administrative data and other existing datasets. The evaluation itself may evolve over time rather than stay fixed.