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Program theory & Importance in Program Evaluation

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Program theories can be important to program evaluation for several reasons. Program theories often assist evaluators and agency stakeholders with discovering support or explanation for program outcomes, what works and what doesn't. Stated simply, program theory is the theory that drives (directs and supports interpretation of the evaluation research findings) program evaluation. Thus, having a sound program theory or using a sound program theory is consistent with doing good research.

What is program theory?

What is the role of the theory in program evaluations?

What are the presumed and actual effects of the theory on the evaluation process?
Utilize additional literature to assist you in your knowledge and understanding of the concept and use additional sources for citations within your paper. The assignment should have a minimum of five sources.

Write a 3- to 4-page paper in a Microsoft Word document about the program theory in which you need to include the following components. These 3 pages will be included in my overall draft at the end.

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Solution Summary

The topic of program theory and program evaluation is discussed. In particular, what a program theory is defined and the role of theory in program evaluations - its actual effects in social research - is discussed. References are listed for the purpose of expansion. a word version of the solution is also attached for easy download and printing.

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Program Theory & Program Evaluation

What is program theory? To understand program theory, we must first learn about program evaluations. Program evaluations are those set of activities undertaken by private and public agencies to test and analyze the effectiveness and efficiency as well as relevance of policies, projects and programs (ACF, 2010). These are very important undertakings as organizations and the government must know if the policies or the projects they have to solve certain social issues or to achieve particular outcomes are at all working. Consider for example a government-funded feeding program for the homeless. Once rolled out, a program evaluation has to be carried out periodically to test if the goals are achieved, if it is efficient and relevant to the target population that the program was designed for. If, for example, issues are found in relation to the way the program is run, say it does not reach the homeless population that it is supposed to benefit, and then the program must be redesigned and corrected. This is why program evaluations are important because it allows for the assessment necessary so that a program, project or policy can maintain its relevance and effectiveness. It is part of efficient management of resources so that time, effort and materials do not go to waste.

To go even further, one needs to understand what policies, projects and programs are. It seems pretty straightforward. Policies are the positions of organizations and the standard and legislated positions of the government ...

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