Education and evaluation are inter-related processes. Evaluation is as old as the process of education itself. Education in its wider sense implies not only acquisition of knowledge, but also development of abilities, skills, personality qualities which are important in individual’s personal and social life. The function of evaluation in education is to provide a systematic assessment of the development of these qualities as an outcome of educational endeavour. Since population education is also an educational process aiming at inculcating rational attitude and responsible behaviour among the learners towards population and development issues and helping them to take informed decisions, role of evaluation is of utmost importance. Without the benefit of evaluation, one is unable to determine how well the programme has achieved its goal. Evaluation also serves as the basis for the improvement of the way activities are carried out. Evaluation is also an effort at discovering whether certain activities have led to desired effects or outcomes.

Meaning of Evaluation

Evaluation in education means describing something, in terms of selected attributes and judging the degree of acceptability or suitability of that which has been described. The something which is described can be any aspect of the educational scene.

In broadest sense, the term evaluation is defined as a systematic assessment of the value or worth of ‘something’. This ‘something’ could be a programme or a segment of a programme, a technique or strategy used, educational materials or a situation prevalent in a particular community. It is also defined as the collection and use of information to make decisions about an educational programme like population education programme. Principles of evaluation in population education are essentially principles of evaluation in education. It is true that evaluation in population education is difficult because population education aims at effecting behavioural changes in the affective domain to a greater degree. It has cognitive component only to the extent that is needed to bring attitudinal changes.

What do we evaluate?

Effort, effect, adequacy, efficiency and process are the five major aspects that must be assessed in order to ascertain success or failure of population education programme.

When programme implementers evaluate effort , they try to measure the quantity as well as the quality of available resources. This type of evaluation is called input evaluation. It involves taking of all available resources, both human and material (personnel, money, educational tools, methods or techniques), and of the activities generated by these resources. The number of qualified personnel, logistics required for programme operation, the number of educational materials distributed to the target audience the kind and number of activities conducted, etc. are some of the features considered in input evaluation.

In evaluating effect, the main concern is to measure the results or the outcomes of the efforts made in terms of intended objectives. In other words, programme evaluators want to know the extent to which their objectives have been achieved. This type of evaluation is referred to as impact or outcome evaluation.

In evaluating adequacy, the effectiveness of the programme in relation to the population, it is intended to serve, is determined. This type of evaluation is otherwise known as potency effectiveness. An index of adequacy can be computed by multiplying the rate of effectiveness of the number of people exposed to the programme. The rate of effectiveness is defined as the proportion of the target population that has been reached by the programme. For example, if a population education programme operating in a particular school reaches 100 out of a total of 1000 school children, the rate of effectiveness of the programme is 10 per cent. In as much as only 100 students were covered, the programme effect or impact will actually be felt by only 10 per cent. To make the index meaningful, it should be compared with a pre-determined level of satisfaction.

In evaluating efficiency, programme administrators make a cost-benefit or cost effectiveness analysis whenever possible. They study the benefits derived from the educational activity in relation to the costing of all programme activities. It is called realized effectiveness.

In process evaluation, the evaluator is interested to know how and why a programme works or does not work, or how the different programme inputs can be used to arrive at desired results.

Types of Evaluation

Evaluation is a continuous process, which can begin even before the initiation of a programme and has no end as long as the programme is in existence. Evaluation can be of the following types: ,

i) Pre-Prograrnme Evaluation

Pre-programme evaluation provides base line information on knowledge, attitudes, skills, etc. of the learner. Such evaluation provides information on what are the needs of learners, what are their strengths and weaknesses. In population education, it tells the implementers the areas to be emphasized and the areas not to be emphasized.

ii) In-Programme or Formative Evaluation

Basic purpose of evaluation here is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the programme during the process of implementation and to suggest ways and means of improving the strengths and reducing its weaknesses through the use of appropriate strategies. In formative evaluation various aspects of population education programme like curriculum and materials, teaching-learning process, teacher training, programme management or programme effects can be evaluated.

iii) Post-Programme or Summative Evaluation

It is the evaluation of the outcome of a programme both on a short-term and on a long-term basis. Post evaluation determines whether programme objectives have been achieved, and whether learners have measurable gains in knowledge, attitude and skills.

Formative evaluation aims at evaluating inputs, effectiveness, and process whereas summative evaluation or post-programme evaluation aims at evaluating the outcome, impact or effectiveness at the end of the programme.

Substantive Aspects of Evaluation

The problem focused and future oriented nature of population education programme makes it necessary to focus its evaluation on higher level cognitive in addition to the simple recall and interpretation of population concepts and statistics. Major substantive aspects of evaluation in the population education programme at various levels include the following:

In curriculum and material development, evaluation be done of:

- relevance of curriculum to the needs of learners

- suitability of curriculum for the age, ability and experience of leamer

- coverage of population related topics

- coverage of cognitive, affective and skills domains;

- extent and nature of learners’ participation; and

- teaching methodology.

The evaluation of curriculum and material development is largely formative evaluation.

- mastery of cognitive skills i.e. abilities to recall and interpret information, facts, ideas and concepts and to analyze, synthesize and draw conclusion from them.

- mastery of knowledge and understanding relating to interrelationships between population and sustainable development, health education and population etc.

- acquisition of attitudes and values with respect to population phenomena vis-a-vis quality of life of individual and social life.

- mastery of teaching skills of teachers for teaching and organizing activities in the classroom and outside the classroom in population education.

Major aspects of evaluation at the learners level include:

- ability to recall informative facts processes and ideas

- ability to interpret and comprehend information presented in tabulated, graphical or diagrammatic form

- ability to analyze, synthesize and draw conclusion from information and situations

- acquisition of attitude and values with respect to population and development process of growing up and drug abuse.

Different levels of evaluation are inter-linked with each other. For example, the awareness of a particular feature of adolescence education such as the problem of HIV/AIDS is related with the level of concern or commitment to improve the situation. A deeper understanding of the modes of transmission, consequences of HIV/AIDS infection and of creation of awareness and formation of attitude for prevention occur simultaneously. At the same time, students and teachers need to acquire abilities to plan and implement instructions to attain the objectives. In such situation both cognitive and affective aspects as well as teaching skills should be evaluated in an integrated manner.

Planning Evaluation

For planning evaluation activity, the following aspects should be taken into consideration:

1. Identification of programme goals and objectives

The first step in the evaluation process is the identification of programme goals and objectives. What are we expected to produce at the end of a programme activity?

Very often, one finds it difficult to make evaluation of any teaching endeavour simply because one does not know what the teaching activity is intended for. Sometimes, programmes are formulated and implemented without definite and specific objectives. Teaching techniques are selected and used without thinking of what they are supposed to achieve.

The programme objectives to be evaluated must, therefore, be stated in behavioural terms. By evaluation, the changes that have taken place in behaviour will be ascertained.

2. Examine programme activities and implementation procedures

It is imperative to know not only the programme objectives or activity specific objectives but also the activities and the manner of execution of these activities to help the learners to achieve the programme objectives. Evaluation is not confined to the assessment of the results of the teaching learning activities, it also involves an examination of the means adopted to reach the end.

3. Indicators of Evaluation

One of the most critical tasks of an evaluator of population education programmes is to determine the indicators. An indicator is a measure to judge the performance and or effectiveness of the programme. To do so, the indicator must have a reference point or objective against which the measures can be judged. Some of the indicators can be of quantitative nature like the number of lessons included, number of materials produced, number of teachers and other functionaries trained. Some indicators are related to the measure of knowledge, attitudes and to the behaviour of learners. These indicators help determine the extent of change taken place in learners’ knowledge, attitude skills, understanding, values, beliefs, habits and practices as a result of the programme activities. These are measures according to the major themes identified in population education. For example if as a result of population education activities, the learner is able to explain the consequences of rapid population growth on the environment, then the evaluator can presume that the activities have helped to bring out change in the knowledge of the learner. Similarly, following indicators can be used to evaluate the impact of the programme:

i) Relevance to the over all objectives of the programme.

ii) Easy to use in terms of collecting and analysing data

iii) Effectiveness

iv) Privacy of the respondents

v) Support and approval of all those concerned with evaluation.

4. Standard Techniques/Instruments of evaluation

After defining the objectives of evaluation, the next step is to determine the standard techniques and types of instruments with the help of which one can reveal whether programme objectives have been achieved. Students - teachers will learn more if evaluation is made systematic and specific through the use of standardized forms and instruments. In developing these instruments the following should be considered important

i) what is to be looked at, examined or assessed

ii) what types of information should be collected - opinions/reactions or a mixture of the two

iii) whether to cover all or only one or two aspects of an intended out come (cognitive, affective or teaching skills)

iv) what research design is to be used. For example

- one group post-test design in which post test results are compared

- One group pre and post test design in which the pretest measure provide the base line and comparison can be made between the two points i.e. before intervention and after intervention.

- Pre-test/Post test control group design. In this evaluation is undertaken by including a treatment group (exposed to some intervention) and a control Group (unexposed to the intervention). A number of instruments are available to gather information. The type of instrument used for evaluation depends largely upon the purpose of evaluation. Some of the more common measure or instruments are as follows:

(a) Instruments for Evaluating Cognitive abilities in Population Education

i) Self Administered Questionnaire

The questionnaire is perhaps the most commonly used instrument in data collection. Questionnaire often takes the form of a self- administered instrument that is given to students to fill up. It is also possible that the same instrument is sent by mail. The questinnaire is useful in dealing with relatively straightforward items, especially those answerable with a ‘yes’, ‘no’ or multiple choice items.

ii) Structured or unstructured interview schedules

In sensitive topics such as those dealing with personal or family matters, it is better to collect data through interviews. Interview schedule may also be used where the researchers can probe, repeat or modify the questions to adjust to situation. The interview schedule can be structured if the interviewer follows a specific set of questions that are listed in the schedule. It is called unstructured when the interviewer follows no set questions and maintains flexibility and openers in the wording and flow of questions. To maintain a fruitful interview, the researcher must be a very good listener and willing to make adjustment in terms of both content and pace.

iii) Interpretative exercise

An interpretative exercise consists of a series of objective type items based on a common set of data. Factual data presented in the form of charts, maps graphs and case studies can be used. This type of interpretative exercise can be used to assess the ability of the learner to interpret and analyze age structure, dependency ratio, school age population, etc.

iv) Essay Type Question

Essay type questions are most appropriate for evaluating higher level abilities to produce, organize and express ideas.

v) Scenarios

This technique is appropriate for the evaluation of cognitive abilities and affective outcomes. It involves the presentation of highly specific situations in which the participants are asked to make decisions or to express their intentions to act in a given situation. Scenarios may be presented verbally, in the written form or in a pictorial form.

(b) Instruments for evaluating affective outcomes

For measuring affective outcomes a wide variety of instruments can be used such as

1. Rating Scale: A rating scale is the most usual form of a measuring instrument. It consists of presenting a series of statements expressing attitudes, beliefs, feelings relating to population issues and asking the learner to indicate the degree of agreement or disagreement with these statements. The instruments may take various forms such as a check list, numerical rating scale or a combination of these.

2. Likert scale: These are statements in which the respondents are to indicate agreement or disagreement or if one is undecided or neutral. Five point likert scale involves a range of responses from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ with undecided as the middle point.

3. Alternative-response items: These are the items which give the respondent only two options to choose from.

4. Open ended questions: These are direct questions for which responses are to be written by the respondent. This type of items are used when qualitative information is to be collected.

5. Sentence completion items: These are unfinished statements which the respondent is asked to complete. The beginning phrase should stimulate the respondent to think.

6. Ranking items: These consists of a set of homogeneous items which the respondent is asked to rank according to a specified criterion.

7. Role Play : Role playing is the acting out of a social situation in which two or more individuals act specific roles assigned to them. It usually lasts for a period of 10-1 5 minutes. One advantage of role playing is that in role play situation people say things which they would rarely express in ordinary circumstances. Thus it helps bring out underlying motives and attitudes which may not be normally expressed by student/teachers.

(c) Instruments for evaluating teaching skills

Classroom interaction, observation, peer group evaluation technique can be used for evaluating teaching skills.

5. Data Collection

The next step in the evaluation process is the collection of desired information. In the collection of data, there are two important things - the sources of information and the method of collecting the data. Sources of data can be primary or secondary. Primary sources include the original documents i.e. the first reporting of facts while secondary sources are facts from primary sources.

The data collection methods include sampling and data collection techniques. Sampling refers to the gathering of information from a representative population instead of the whole population under study. There are a number of ways through which a representative sample can be obtained. These are simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, systematic - random sampling cluster, multi-stage and purposive sampling, etc. The size of the sample depends on many things such as the nature of the analysis to be performed, the desired precision, the number of variables and the availability of funds.

After the identification of the sample size, one or more instruments discussed can be made use of depending upon the objectives of the evaluation.

6. Analysis and Interpretation

The last step in the evaluation process is the analysis and interpretation of data collected. For meaningful interpretation, mass data need to be reduced to meaningful number by using various statistical devices like averages, mean, percentage, correlation regression etc. For materials evaluation, relevance, suitability for age, needs of learners and sequencing are also to be seen.

Problems Related to Evaluation

The term evaluation is misunderstood many times – Some people avoid their project being evaluated as they consider evaluation as a fault-finding exercise. There are at least two major problems associated with evaluation of programmes.

i) Problem of Identification of Objectives

One of the difficulties, which the evaluators are facing, is regarding objectives of population education. Different people perceive different objectives and some times there is no agreement. Another problem associated with these objectives is that the behavioural results of these objectives are not immediately evident. Evaluation of behaviour, thus requires extended follow-up and time series studies.

In population education the most common indicators used are knowledge and attitude as the available proxy for behaviour. However, researchers have shown quite a low correlation of knowledge and attitude with behaviour. For example, simply asking the question, "how many children would you like to have" does not present a decision of an individual. However, now along with knowledge and attitude the indicators of ‘intent to act’ are also used to predict the behaviour in population education.

ii) Problem of Evaluation Design and Instrument

There are certain technical problems associated with evaluation such as sampling, standardized instruments for measuring knowledge, attitudes and decisions, data-analysis. Evaluation results can be better if controlled group design is used. But it is very difficult to conduct evaluation in population education with controlled experiments as there are many extraneous factors working in the community which are beyond any control. One, therefore, cannot know to what extent the changing indices represent successful or unsuccessful programme activities.

In Population Education, the ultimate measure of effectiveness is behaviour. There is need to have better instruments and predictor of future behaviour. A combination of conventional techniques and situational techniques may help in yielding better results.