OTIS Evaluation Guide (PDF) - California Department of Public Health

How will the results be disseminated?
Dissemination of your results—this is the best part. This is where people get to learn about your great accomplishments
and outstanding results. Here are some factors that may help you decide how to disseminate your results:
• If you use a scientifically sound evaluation design for your program, we suggest you write an article
and/or abstract and submit it to a peer-review journal. A formal statistical analysis must be presented
in your article. This is the highest level of recognition of your program and the best way to help others
learn from your experiences.
• Written documentation allows for wide dissemination of your results. A resource listed in the Resources
section of this Guide can help you prepare a thorough report: Tell Your Story: Guidelines for Preparing
a Complete High-Quality Final Evaluation Report.
• You can also present your results at a tobacco-related or other health-related conference or meeting
such as the National Conference on Tobacco or Health or the TCS Project Directors’ Meetings. Both presentation
and poster sessions are available and would be an excellent place to present your results.
• If you want to share your experience with colleagues in California, you can post an abstract
describing your results on PARTNERS.
• If your results have potential impacts on local policy and social norms, you can put them in the
newspaper or other media.
What if any limitations or challenges do you foresee with the evaluation?
Conducting program evaluation is never easy. Just like day-to-day life experiences, money can run out faster
than expected, while progress may come more slowly than you had hoped. For example, the policy you want
to evaluate might never be enacted. If you have some uncertainties regarding the outcome data collection
plan, you should answer this question and think of a back-up plan.
OTIS Evaluation Guide • March 2007
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