ABSTRACT
The measurement of outcomes is probably the most challenging task in evaluation. Although difficult to measure, reductions or impacts upon inequalities in health and social need should be seen as the gold standard for success in an inequality intervention (see case study, Chapter 13). An evaluation that seeks to establish a link between an intervention and its outcomes is said to be a ‘summative evaluation’, purely because it sums up the effects of the change. You must remember that health outcomes in any intervention may not just be a result of that particular intervention but may also be attributed to wider social changes and policies.
