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Finding the Solution

Add It Up:

Needs + Solution â†’ Results/Outcomes

Program developers start with audience needs and then picture results--how the audience would be changed--as they plan the solution to bring about those outcomes.

Need: A want, deficit, or condition that is common to a group of individuals.

Solution: A program that will bring about changed behaviors, knowledge, skills, attitudes, life condition, or status in the target audience and that is designed with audience considerations in mind.

Outcomes: The change or improvement in the audience that will show your program has succeeded. Specifically, outcomes are changes in behaviors, knowledge, skills, attitudes, life condition, or status.

Now itâ€™s your turn to test your knowledge with an example.

Dig Deeper

Remember that there may be many different kinds of outcomes shown by your audience. The â€œContinuum of Program Outcomesâ€ listed below shows the order in which changes in individuals (that is, outcomes) occur, starting at the top with the quickest and easiest.

The most difficult changes are at the bottom of the list. Weâ€™ll suggest how to choose outcomes that fit the time Plan of your program in our Module C: Evaluate.

Awareness of service
Participation/Use of service
Satisfaction with service
Perceptions/Feelings
Attitudes/Values
Community connections/Social networks
Knowledge
Skills
Behavior
Condition/Status

(Rhea Joyce Rubin (2004)

Does the solution fit the need?

Pick the best solution for the audience need - the one that is most likely to lead to the desired result.

Need: Student Bird Watchers working on badges need to identity five local birds.
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Desired Outcome: Student Bird Watchers can identity local birds by name on a fieldtrip.

Solution A: Student Bird Watcher selects and checks out bird-watching books from library.

Solution B: Student Bird Watcher reads bird-related nursery rhymes to pre-schoolers.

Solution C: Student Bird Watching group reviews bird guides for a list of local birds and observes bird feeders at a â€œbackyard zooâ€ with the regional extension agent.

Answer

Looking at the whole situation

Hereâ€™s where the creative miracle occurs by mixing lots of what you know about your particular situation:

what are your audience considerations
what resources are available
how does fulfilling the audienceâ€™s need relate to your institutionâ€™s mission
which partners can help

Usually a solution or two will occur to youâ€”or maybe already has.

Coach

Follow your instincts here. Brainstorm and list as many ideas as you can without censoring yourself. Get input from other people.

Turning a solution into a program

Outcomes Based Planning and Evaluation planners build a program to meet the needs of a specific audience with solutions their institution can provide. To accomplish this, they sometimes work in collaboration with others.

A program consists of:

Activities and services leading towards intended outcomes
A definite beginning and end (generally)
Plans to change the target audience in attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, skills, life status or condition.

Dig Deeper

Tips for Choosing a Program to Show Outcomes:

Choose a program whose impact you want to know and be able to report.
Choose a program with a concrete, clearly-defined audience. Examples of clearly-defined audiences for which outcome measurement is possible: "fifth-grade teachers and students in the Calamahari School District," or "migrant workers with low literacy skills in Monterey, Dakota." Examples of audiences nearly impossible to evaluate (or to reach): â€œAll citizens of the Stateâ€ or â€œweb users.â€
Choose a program that intends to create outcomesâ€“knowledge, skills, attitudes, or behaviors for participants. For example, Born to Read programs hope to create in the parents of young children a behavior (frequent reading to young children) and a belief (early reading experiences support child development and later academic success). Don't choose a program that will simply provide each library in the State with hardware, information content, or other materials resource or a better database for a museum exhibit. (For our purposes, "access" is a good thing, but not an outcome.)
Choose a program that is designed to provide several contacts with each participant over time, as in a staff technology training program or a literacy program. An institutional infrastructure program (for example, computer purchases) or a state-wide electronic database or Inter-Library Loan program is not normally a good candidate for Outcomes Based Planning and Evaluation â€”unless you can identify the end users and measure changes in them.

Library example: Finding the solution

Solutions address audience needs by finding a way to remedy a problem or fill a gap.

Which of the following proposals for the Riverton Library (Kentucky) Memoir Program address the audience need for improving their writing and thinking of themselves as part of a community of writers?

Proposal 1: Bi-monthly meetings with group facilitator for review and critique of anecdotal memoirs.

Proposal 2: Meet with three Kentucky writers of autobiography to discuss writing strategies and techniques.

Proposal 3: Read the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines