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Module C > Outputs 

Outputs

We use the term “output” to describe a direct program product—either from an activity or a service. Program outputs are typically measured in numbers in order to assess the program’s productiveness. In fact, sometimes outputs are called “counts.”  They don’t indicate any outcomes (that is, changes in the audiences) but do keep track of the necessary building blocks of a program:  how many people attend, how much staff time is required. 

Participants served (for example, 45 fifth graders) 
Participants completed (98% attended 90% of the sessions)
Materials developed (workbook, reading lists website)
Materials used (6 gallons of paint, 3 15-pound bags of birdseed)
Workshops given (7) 
Supplies consumed (5 reams of paper & a gross of pastels) 
Consultants’ hours (21) 
Web site hits (73,000)

In your own Logical Planning Model, you won’t know these exact numbers (“five reams of paper”) at the beginning, but you will want to keep track of them for your report (discussed in module E). 

Measuring outputs

Notice that we’ve been talking about measuring what we do (activities and services) as output, not as outcomes. (The next module shows how to evaluate outcomes.) It’s important to account for outputs, but just showing that we do something doesn’t prove that we’ve made a change in the target audience.

Outputs can be thought of as counts of what the program produces. That is, items or events.
Example: 1 Trainer hired, 4 CD's produced, 17,889 Web site hits

Outcomes are the changes the program wants to see coming out of the participants or audiences. That is, changes in people.
Example: Parents and children learn about astronomy from hands-on exhibit activities.

Go to the Logical Planning Model page to see the relationship of outputs and outcomes in the Logical Planning Model of a project. 

Library example: outputs

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