Small-Scale Evaluation in Health: A Practical Guide

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
List of figures......Page 7
List of case studies......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
About this book......Page 11
Author biographies......Page 12
What do we mean by small-scale evaluation?......Page 14
Why evaluate?......Page 15
What shapes an evaluation?......Page 18
What evaluation can and cannot do......Page 19
Who should do the evaluation?......Page 20
Summary......Page 21
Further reading......Page 23
Why do a search of the literature?......Page 24
Thinking about the topic......Page 26
Doing the search......Page 28
Examining the results of the search......Page 30
Feeding the search findings into the evaluation plan......Page 31
Vancouver (author-number) style......Page 33
Summary......Page 34
Further reading......Page 36
Purpose of the evaluation......Page 37
Evaluating from within?......Page 38
Types of evaluation – what are we trying to find out?......Page 39
Is something effective?......Page 45
Issues to consider when designing the evaluation......Page 46
Making sure the data are valid: bias......Page 47
Making sure the data are representative and generalisable: sampling......Page 48
Summary......Page 51
Further reading......Page 53
Why plan?......Page 54
How do we go about planning?......Page 55
Walking through our plan......Page 57
Title......Page 58
Evaluation team......Page 59
Background......Page 60
Evaluation aim and objectives......Page 61
Evaluation design/methods......Page 62
Timescales......Page 66
References......Page 68
Common pitfalls......Page 69
Summary......Page 70
Further reading......Page 72
Ethics......Page 73
Science......Page 74
Finance......Page 75
Basic requirements for ethics......Page 76
Types of studies needing approval......Page 77
The patient information sheet......Page 81
Consent for children and adults unable to give consent......Page 82
Applying for approval......Page 83
Summary......Page 84
Using existing information......Page 87
Clinical notes......Page 90
Video/audio recordings......Page 91
Collecting new data......Page 92
Interviews......Page 93
Dos and dont’s of interview schedule design......Page 95
Observing practice......Page 96
Questionnaires......Page 98
Other methods......Page 106
Data collection specific to evaluation of costs......Page 107
Summary......Page 109
Further reading......Page 113
Variation......Page 114
Samples......Page 115
Frequency curves......Page 117
Measures of average......Page 120
Measures of variation......Page 121
Sampling variation......Page 122
95 per cent confidence interval......Page 123
Sample size......Page 126
Summary......Page 130
Further reading......Page 132
Recording and keeping qualitative data......Page 133
What is a spreadsheet and what is a database?......Page 136
Setting up a spreadsheet/database......Page 138
Summary......Page 140
Further reading......Page 143
The first step in analysing data is to describe the sample......Page 144
Structured interviews......Page 145
Semi-structured interviews......Page 146
Focus groups......Page 148
The planning stage of the evaluation......Page 149
The basics......Page 151
T-test......Page 153
Correlation......Page 156
Chi-squared test......Page 161
Spearman’s rank order correlation......Page 163
Analysis of costs......Page 167
In summary......Page 168
Further reading......Page 170
Involving the evaluation team in interpreting findings......Page 172
Qualitative findings......Page 173
Cause and association......Page 174
Observation without a control group......Page 176
Interpretation based on evidence......Page 177
Tables......Page 178
Graphs......Page 179
Practise your tables and graphs......Page 181
Further reading......Page 183
Basic things to think about before writing the report......Page 184
Writing up......Page 185
Body of the report......Page 186
Presentation and style......Page 188
Dissemination: writing for publication......Page 189
Summary......Page 190
Further reading......Page 192
Appendix I: Example of an evaluation report......Page 195
Appendix II: Answers to case study questions......Page 203
Glossary......Page 208
Index......Page 211