Design an evaluation that fits your program
This is the whole journey in order, with a resource at every step. Start at the top or jump to the part you need. Each step is a choice, not a requirement, so take what fits and leave the rest.
You decide what to measure, choosing the signals that matter to your mission, your funders, and your community, and adding depth only as your capacity grows.
The framework centres a link-worker pathway: identify, refer, connect, and follow up. Link working here means a set of activities rather than a single job title. A named link worker may carry it, or a care team may share it in embedded and integrated-care models. The same steps apply either way.
These steps are best worked through with the people they affect, not alone at a desk. Co-design is a core ethic of this work. Use the tools here to record decisions a group makes together, and spread the work across a few short sessions rather than one sitting. Open the co-design & facilitation guide →
Clarify what you want to learn
Before choosing measures, get clear on what your program does and what you expect to change. A short program-theory exercise turns a vague hope into two or three answerable questions, and points you to the domains that matter most.
Describe your site
Record the structure your evaluation sits inside: who hosts and funds the program, who it serves, and how people are referred. This is Domain 1.1, and it makes every later result interpretable. Completing it once saves repeated explanation and lets your results be compared fairly.
Choose your domains
Browse the ten domains with full definitions and pick the ones that match your questions. Most programs include reach and access, at least one wellbeing or connectedness domain, and subjective experience for stories. Your choice carries into the next step.
Choose your indicators
Within the domains you chose, pick the indicators you will actually collect. Each is tagged as a validated scale, a simple indicator, or a qualitative method, with a measurement-burden estimate. Preview the questions, then carry your selection into the builder.
Build your evaluation tools
Assemble an intake and follow-up form from your indicators, set 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up timing, and add space for stories. Download a Word document you can edit and print, or save it to reuse.
Plan your systems-level evaluation
Numbers describe what changed; interviews explain how and why. If you want to understand partnerships, implementation, and sustainability, build a semi-structured interview guide for the stakeholders you can reach.
Choose a study design
Decide how you will collect data and what design will let you make a credible claim about change. The design builder turns a few answers into a one-page summary with strengths, limits, and an analysis plan; the methods guides cover platforms and pre-post testing.
Set timing, consent & data handling
Decide when you will measure, and plan consent and data protection before you collect anything. Intake plus a six-month follow-up detects change better than short intervals for an older population. The consent resource is a checklist grounded in TCPS 2.
Collect, make sense of it, and share
Report the share of participants who improved, stayed stable, or declined, and pair those figures with selected stories. The analysis guide walks through simple descriptives, interpreting change, and bringing numbers and lived experience together for funders and partners.