title: Collaborative evaluation of a high school prevention curriculum: How methods of collaborative evaluation enhanced a randomized control trial to inform program improvement.
abstract: Blending high-quality and rigorous research with pure evaluation practice can often be best accomplished through thoughtful collaboration. The evaluation of a high school drug prevention program (All Stars Senior) is an example of how perceived competing purposes and methodologies can coexist to investigate formative and summative outcome variables that can be used for program improvement. Throughout this project there were many examples of client learning from evaluator and evaluator learning from client. This article presents convincing evidence that collaborative evaluation can improve the design, implementation, and findings of the randomized control trial. Throughout this paper, we discuss many examples of good science, good evaluation, and other practical benefits of practicing collaborative evaluation. Ultimately, the authors created the term pre-formative evaluation to describe the period prior to data collection and before program implementation, when collaborative evaluation can inform program improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Education, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, USA. mmorsini@uncg.edu
authors.forename: Muhsin Michael
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Orsini
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Wyrick
authors.forename: Jeffrey J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Milroy
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*