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the Editor: To tell him if a link is not workingKeep me posted: A plea for practical evaluation
by
George I. Balch, Ph.D. Marketing Department & Prevention Research Center, University of Illinois-Chicago and Sharyn M. Sutton, Ph.D. Center for Nutrition Policy & Promotion
U.S. Department of Agriculture
A slightly edited version appears in: Social Marketing: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives. (Eds.) Marvin E. Goldberg, Martin Fishbein and Susan E. Middlestadt, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997, pp. 61-74
Headings:
Why evaluate?
A primer of traditional evaluation
Updating traditional evaluation for social marketing
Some common and critical obstancles to doing practical evaluation
How do commercial marketers erally evaluate?
What should social marketers do?
Conclusions
Refernces
14 pages in all
First paragraph:
The root purpose of evaluating is to see what, if anything, we can do better than what we are doing or have done. It is inherently practical. This paper will contend that, despite the very practical intent of evaluation efforts in social marketing, the evaluations designed and conducted are often not useful. At times, they stand in the way of evaluation efforts that would be useful. At times, summative evaluations -- with the randomized controlled experiment as the gold standard -- impede the development and management of social marketing programs. As a result, program results suffer from inappropriate evaluation related actions or through the opportunity cost of missed program improvements. We propose that social marketers apply the kind of practical marketing research perspective and procedures to their programs that commercial marketers apply to theirs.
Full text in MS Word at http://www.mande.co.uk/docs/balchandsutton.doc
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