Running Head: Task 5

Task 5
Jessica Shank
Old Dominion University

Task 5
The stakeholders in my evaluation are most likely going to be the employees and
volunteers of the Disability Resource Center. I have been working with Kim Lett who is the

program coordinator and deputy director. Kim Lett will be involved in my evaluation the other
stake holders that will be involved are other directors and staff of the Disability Resource Center.
I am also hoping that the day I conduct my interview there will be volunteers available to
interview.
The type of study I will be doing is and empowerment evaluation and it relates to my
study because the study is to help inform the public about the Disability Resource Center.
Empowerment evaluations strive to help communities learn how to help themselves and
determine what services the community needs and what services are available to them. With my
evaluation I hope to show my services are available through the Disability Resource Center. I
also hope to show if certain services are not available why they are not available whether it be
because of restrictions, the Disability Resource Centers grants do not permit it or the area does
not have a demographic for that certain service (Posavac, 2011).
My evaluation questions are is there any part of the population that you want your
programs to help but cannot because of restrictions? Do you feel that any of your programs have
reached their maximum potential, why or why not? I am asking these question because I am
evaluating what the organization really does and any restrictions it might have that stops them
from helping certain parts of the population. Some members of the community may feel that the
organization does not want to help but I want to show that they might not be able to help because
of laws or restrictions not because they do not want to help.

Task 5
The data collection I plan to use is interviews and observations. Interviews are used
when respondents are less likely to respond to written surveys. The advantages with interview

are the opportunities for follow up questions. Observations are usually done at the beginning of
the evaluation. Observation include watching the participants that you will later interview and
different activities that are going on in the organization (Posavac, 2011).
My research method will be qualitative. A qualitative evaluation is a goal-free evaluation
rather than a goal based evaluation. A qualitative I will qualitative research method because this
will be a data-gathering evaluation. I plan for my evaluation to gather information to explain
with the Disability Resource Center really does and what their restrictions they face. Also, with
a qualitative evaluation a greater emphasis is placed or really understanding the experience of the
different stakeholders. That is one of the things I strive to do in my evaluation is to really
understand what the stakeholders do and what restrictions they feel they face in the organization
(Posavac, 2011).

Task 5

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Resources
Posavac, E. J. (2011). Program Evaluation Methods adn Case Studies. Upper Saddle River:
Pearson Education .