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

Chapter 2
Understanding How the Evaluation
Plan is Entered Into OTIS, Version 2
In this chapter:
• The basic structure of the OTIS evaluation section
• The five types of evaluation plans
• How to identify the appropriate type of evaluation plan for your objectives
• Several examples that illustrate different types of evaluation plans
Why did we start the evaluation guide with instructions for writing good objectives? Objectives are the
cornerstone of the evaluation plan and drive the evaluation information to be entered into OTIS. This chapter
illustrates how the nature of the objective determines the framework on which the evaluation plan is built.
Each objective has its own unique evaluation needs. The OTIS evaluation format recognizes these unique
needs and uses a series of questions at critical decision points to help you enter the appropriate evaluation
information for each objective.
A. Basic Structure of the OTIS evaluation section:
1. Components of the Evaluation Section
OTIS begins the process of having you enter information regarding your evaluation plan starting with your
objectives, completing the evaluation plan one objective at a time. You will be asked to provide information in
three inter-related components of the OTIS evaluation section. Let’s take a look at how it starts.
• Begin with the OTIS Main Page
• Click on “Plan” to reach the “Scope of Work” page
• Click on “Objective” and scroll down past “Interventions” to “Evaluation.”
The first screen is Figure 1, which includes three components: Evaluation Design, Evaluation Activity
Plan, and Evaluation Report.
• The Evaluation Design section asks for information about the proposed outcome of the objective to
determine the appropriate evaluation Plan Type and related study design for outcome data collection.
• The Evaluation Activity Plan asks you to describe how, where, and when the evaluation activities will occur,
who the responsible personnel are, and what deliverables are involved for completing each evaluation
activity. In addition, you will also be asked to enter in tracking measures and the percent effort for deliverables.
The Evaluation Activity Plan will be discussed in Chapter 4, “Developing the Evaluation Plan.”
• The Evaluation Report asks for information about the analysis and how the evaluation results will be
disseminated. The Evaluation Report, which will be discussed in Chapter 6, represents a compilation of the
data collected and analyses from all outcome and/or process evaluation activities conducted.
OTIS Evaluation Guide • March 2007
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