Jump to main content.
Program Evaluation Glossary
"S"
- Sample
- A subset of the population. Elements are selected intentionally
as a representation of the population being studied.
- Sample Design
- The sampling procedure used to produce any type of sample.
- Sampling Distribution
- The distribution of a statistic.
- Sampling Error
- The maximum expected difference between a probability sample
value and the true value.
- Scale
- An aggregate measure that assigns a value to a case based
on a pattern obtained from a group of related measures.
- Scientific Sample
- Synonymous with Probability Sample. A group of cases selected
from a population by a random process. Every member of the
population has a known, nonzero probability of being selected.
- Scoping
- Analyzing alternative ways for conducting an evaluation.
It is clarifying the validity of issues, the complexity of
the assignment, the users of final reports, and the selection
of team members to meet the needs of an evaluation. Scoping
ends when a major go/no-go decision is made about whether
to do the evaluation.
- Secondary Data
- Data that has been collected for another purpose, but may
be reanalyzed in a subsequent study.
- Selection Bias
- Potential biases introduced into a study by the selection
of different types of people into treatment and comparison
groups. As a result, the outcome differences may potentially
be explained as a result of pre-existing differences between
the groups, as opposed to the treatment itself.
- Self-evaluation
- The evaluation of a program by those conducting the program.
- Self-Reported Data
- Information that program participants generate themselves
that is used to assess program processes or outcomes.
- Significance Level
- The probability of rejecting a set of assumptions when they
are in fact true.
- Simple Random Sample
- A method for drawing a sample from a population such that
all samples of a given size have equal probability of being
drawn.
- Spread
- General term for the extent of variation among cases.
- Stakeholder
- An individual or organization with a direct or indirect investment in a project or program (e.g., program champion, community leader, etc.).
- Standard
- A criterion for evaluating performance and results.
It may be a quantity or quality of output to be produced,
a rule of conduct to be observed, a model of operation to
be adhered to, or a degree of progress toward a goal.
- Standard Deviation
- A measure of the spread, the square root of the variance;
a statistic used with interval-ratio variables.
- Standard Instruments
- An assessment, inventory, questionnaire, or interview
that has been tested with a large number of individuals and
is designed to be administered to program participants in
a consistent manner. Results of tests with program participants
can be compared to reported results of the tests used with
other populations.
- Standardized Question
- A question that is designed to be asked or read and interpreted
in the same way regardless of the number and variety of interviewers
and respondents.
- Statistic
- A number computed from data on one or more variables.
- Statistical Analysis
- Analyzing collected data for the purposes of summarizing
information to make it more usable and/or making generalizations
about a population based on a sample drawn from that population.
- Statistical Control
- A statistical technique used to eliminate variance in dependent
variables caused by extraneous sources. In evaluation research,
statistical controls are often used to control for possible
variation due to selection bias by adjusting data for program
and control group on relevant characteristics.
- Statistical Procedure
- A set of standards and rules based in statistical theory
by which one can describe and evaluate what has occurred.
- Statistical Sample
- Synonymous with probability sample; a group of cases selected
from a population by a random process in which every member
of the population has a known, nonzero probability of being
selected.
- Statistical Significance
- The degree to which a value is greater or smaller than would
be expected by chance. Typically, a relationship is considered
statistically significant when the probability of obtaining
that result by chance is less than 5% if there were, in fact,
no relationship in the population.
- Statistical Test
- Type of statistical procedure that is applied to data to
determine whether the results are statistically significant
(that is, the outcome is not likely to have resulted by chance
alone.)
- Statistical Weighting
- A technique used to assure representation of certain groups
in the sample. Data for underrepresented cases are weighted
to compensate for their small numbers, making the sample a
better representation of the underlying population.
- Strategic Evaluation
- An evaluation used by managers as an aid to decide which
strategy a program should adopt in order to accomplish its
goals and objectives at a minimum cost. In addition, strategy
evaluation might include alternative specifications of the
program design itself, manpower specifications, progress objectives,
and budget allocations.
- Strategic Plan
- The process of comprehensive, integrative program planning
that considers, at a minimum, the future of current decisions,
overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational
plans.
- Stratified Random Sampling
- A sampling procedure for which the population is first divided
into strata or subgroups based on designated criteria and
then the sample is drawn, either proportionately or disproportionately,
from each subgroup.
- Structured Interview
- An interview in which questions to be asked, their sequence,
and detailed information to be gathered are all predetermined;
used where maximum consistency across interviews and interviewees
is needed.
- Summative Evaluation
- A type of outcome evaluation that assesses the results or
outcomes of a program. This type of evaluation is concerned
with a program's overall effectiveness.
- Supplementary Variable
- A variable upon which information is collected because of
its potential relationship to a response variable.
- Survey
- The collection of information from a common group through
interviews or the application of questionnaires to a representative
sample of that group.
-
- Systematic Sample
- A sample drawn by taking every nth case from a list, after
starting with a randomly selected case among the first individuals.
Jump to main content.
![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}