ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of commonly asked evaluation questions and their associated hypotheses. It continues with an explanation of how to select and justify the questions and the evidence of effectiveness, quality, and value. The chapter gives examples of evaluation questions that focus on programs, participants, outcomes, impact, and costs. It emphasizes the importance of selecting a comprehensive and meaningful set of questions because the answers to the questions constitute evidence of effectiveness, quality, and value. The chapter also explains the relationship between evidence that is based on statistical significance and evidence based on an effect size that confers practical or clinical meaning. Information in the chapter is given on the sources of practical or clinical significance, which include experts and consumers, large databases, and the research literature. The chapter also discusses the relationships among evaluation questions and hypotheses; evidence of effectiveness, quality, value; and the independent and dependent variables. Their connection is illustrated in a special reporting form: The QEV or Questions, Evidence, Variables Report.
