ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to encourage ongoing, high quality evaluations of specialized camp programs. It describes the difference between evaluation and research, offers insight as to why ethics and evidence-based practice are important and discusses the various types of evaluation. Evaluation is an area that often is low on the priority list for people running programs. Evaluation using numerical comparisons with statistical analysis is not common in evaluation of camp programs. However, this method of evaluation is necessary for measuring behavioral changes and important concepts in reducing debilitating grief symptoms, increasing positive emotional and cognitive growth, and addressing mental health challenges such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In designing program evaluations, the organization needs to understand the limitations of the design of the study and control for these limitations as much as possible. Bias on the part of evaluators is a serious threat to the validity of any level of camp research.
