AN INTRODUCTION TO

EVALUATION
Ms. Shiji Thomas
Professor
Caritas College of Nursing
 Specific objectives
At the end of the session, the student will be able to:
• Explain the concept of measurement
• Describe the concept of evaluation
• Identify the nature of measurement
• Identify the nature of evaluation
• Differentiate between measurement and evaluation
• State the meaning of evaluation
• Identify the purposes of evaluation
• Explain the process of evaluation
• List down the principles of evaluation
• Identify the problems in evaluation and measurement
• Explain classification of measurement on different basis
 Terminology
Measurement

• A qualitative process involving the assigning

of a number to a individual’s characteristics
 Assessment
• Term used instead of measurement when a
numerical value is not involved
• Eg: checklist of behaviors
 Evaluation
• Process of judging the value or worth of an
individual’s characteristics obtained by
measurement or assessment
 Test
• An instrument or tool for obtaining
measurement or assessment
• Eg: essay or objective tets
 Examination
• A formal situation in which students
undertake or more tests under specific rules
 Appraisal
• Concerned with values derived from the
exercise of judgment, insight, understandings
 MEASUREMENT, ASSESSMENT &
EVALUATION
• These terms have to do with the systematic
process of collecting data and analyzing those
data to make decisions
• They may all mean the same, but has some
important differences among them
 Measurement
• Defined as the process of gathering
information about learning. It is the process of
quantifying the degree to which someone or
something possesses a given characteristic,
quality or feature
• Numerical rating of assignments, height,
weight etc
• The numerical data is used in the evaluation
• The process of obtaining a numerical
description of the degree to which an
individual possesses a particular characteristic
(answer the question “How much?”)
 Assessment
• Defined as the purposeful process in the
classroom to collect data both quantitative and
qualitative
• A broader term than measurement
• May or may not be intrusive
• Data collected through observation of behavior,
presentation of tasks to students to perform
mentally
• A numerical value may not be always involved
 Evaluation

• The systematic process of collecting , analyzing and

interpreting information to determine the extent to which
pupils are achieving instructional objectives
• Answers the question “ How good?”
• The process of making decisions on the basis of
measurements
• Eg: a school evaluate alternative teaching methods to
determine which work best for students
• Good evaluation requires data gathering for informed
decision making
 MEASUREMENT Vs EVALUATION
MEASUREMENT EVALUATION
• Limited scope • Wider scope
• Only selected aspects of • Total personality is tested
personality is tested
• It is a means and not an end • Its an end in itself
in itself
• Involves collection of • Involves appraisement of
evidences evidences
• Less labor and time is • More labor and time is
needed needed
MEASUREMENT EVALUATION
• Content centered • Objective centered
• One dimensional in relation • Multidimensional in relation
to environment to environment
• Answers the question- How • Answers the question- what
much? – value?
• Can be done at any time • Its an ongoing process
• No significant prediction • Significant predictions can be
may be made made
• Quantitative in nature • Quantitative and qualitative
in nature
Measurement, Assessment & Evaluation

• EVALUATION = MEASUREMENT + VALUE

JUDGEMENT
• Marks = Measurement
• Marks + meaning to marks = Assessment
• Marks + meaning to marks along with value
judgment = Evaluation
 TEST
• An instrument or systematic procedure for
measuring a sample of behavior
• Answers the question “How well does the
individual perform- either in comparison with
others or in comparison with a domain of
performance tasks?”
 EVALAUTION – DEFINITION
According to NCERT (1963)
• Evaluation is the process of determining the
following:
o The extent to which an objective is being attained
o The effectiveness of learning experiences
provided in the class rooms
o How well the goals of education have been
accomplished
• Ralph Tyler (1950)
• Evaluation is the process of determining to
what extent the educational objectives are
being realized
• Thorpe (1993)
• Evaluation is the collection, analysis and
interpretation of information about training
as part of a recognized process of judging,
effectiveness, its efficiency and any other
outcomes it may have
 Purposes and need of evaluation
• Dr. B S Bloom (1971)
• To discover the extent of competence which
the student has developed in initiating,
organizing and improving his day to day
working
• To diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of
the learner with a view to guide him in the
future
• To predict the educational practices which a
student teacher can best make use of
• At the end of the career to certify the
students’ degree of competency in a particular
field
• To provide information to enable each pupil to
develop his potentialities within the
framework of the educational program
• By Dr. SK Mitra, Director , NCERT (1977)
• To classify students for various purposes
according to their performance or ability
• To diagnose individual students’ educational
weaknesses in order to plan remedial activities
• To assess pupil’s progress from time to time
• To predict future performance or academic
success of a student
• To make continuous assessment
• To introduce a grading system instead of
numerical marking
• To make use of evaluation as a feedback for
improvement in teaching and learning
• To shift emphasis from external examination
to internal assessment
 Overall purposes of evaluation
• Appraises the status and changes in pupil’s behavior
• To promote learning-alter behavior of the student as
desired to meet the objectives
• To identify problems and shortcomings to diagnose
learning deficits, ineffective teaching practices,
defects in the curriculum and so on
• To make decisions to assign grades, to determine
merits, offering promotion or tenure
• To improve products such as text books, modules etc
• to judge effectiveness of the program, to determine
whether objectives, goals or standards are being met
• To judge cost-effectiveness and to determine a
program is self supporting
• To help the student to realize where they exactly stand
• To estimate the quality of teaching learning
techniques, instructional media etc whether the right
methods and techniques are selected to attain the
objectives of the program
• To revise and modify the curriculum
• To bring out the inherent capabilities of the
student in addition to the conventional
acquisition of knowledge, evaluation helps to
bring out the attitudes, habits , appreciation
and understanding etc
• Motivates the student towards better
attainment and growth
 Purposes of evaluation – learning
• To monitor students progress
• To diagnose students’ strengths and
weaknesses
• To determine the need for remedial work
• To improve the quality of learning
Purposes of evaluation – Teaching
• Assessing the effectiveness of teaching,
teaching strategy, techniques, methods and
materials
 Purposes of evaluation – curriculum

• Improving courses, texts

• Improving materials used by teachers
• Improving materials used by students
 Purposes of evaluation – Society
• To meet the demands
• To meet the needs and aspirations
 Purposes of evaluation – parents
• To keep the parents informed of their
childrens’ education
• To guide the parents
Purposes of evaluation – Educational system

• To maintain quality and standards

• To diagnose problems and take remedial steps
Principles of evaluation- Gronlund
• Determining and classifying what is to be
evaluated always has priority in the evaluation
process: the objectives of evaluation must be
stated clearly before evaluation is made
• An evaluation technique should be selected in
terms of its relevance to the characteristics or
performance to be measured
• Comprehensive evaluation requires a variety
of evaluation techniques. No single evaluation
technique is adequate to evaluate various
outcomes of education because each provides
unique but limited evidence on some aspect
of pupil behavior
• Proper use of evaluation techniques require an
awareness of their limitations as well as strengths
• Evaluation is a means to an end and not an end in
itself
• Evaluation procedures would be selected in
terms of the decisions to be made
• Evaluation procedures must contribute to
improved decisions of instruction, guidance and
administrative nature
• Since evaluation involves getting evidence
about behavior changes in the learners, any
valid evidence about the behaviors that are
desired as educational objectives provides an
appropriate method of evaluation
• Evaluation assumes that it is possible to
estimate the typical reactions of the students
by getting evidence about a sample of his
reactions(behavior)
• Human behavior is so complex that it cannot
be described or summarized in a single score
• The manner in which an individual organizes
his behavior pattern is an important aspect to
be appraised. Evaluation results must be
interpreted as a part of the whole and not as
small parts or bits of behavior
• The judgment required in assessing an
individual’s potential are complex in their
composition, difficult to make and filled with
error. Such error can be reduced but never be
eliminated. Hence any evaluation can never be
considered final.
• Composite assessment by a group of
individuals is much less likely to be in error
than assessment made by one person.
• For evaluation activities to be most effective
they should consist of best possible
techniques used in accordance with what we
know to be the best and based on most
effective psychological principles
• The types of evaluation device used
determines, to a great extent the type of
learning activity in which students will engage
• Individuals learn better when they are
constantly appraised in a meaningful manner
as to how well they are doing
• When a student is really motivated ,
performance is much closer to his top
performance than when motivation is lacking
 Steps in evaluation - Guilbert

The criteria(Acceptable level of performance) of educational

objectives

Development and use of measuring instrument

Interpretation of measuring data

Formulation of judgments and taking of appropriate action

Steps in evaluation – Heidgerkhen
1. Stating objectives

2. Defining changes in behavior expected as outcomes

3. Listing and briefly describing situations that give opportunity

for the expression of the behaviors desired

4.Developing appropriate and systematic means of eliciting

kinds of behavior implied in the objectives to be evaluated
5. Deciding on ways of recording and summarizing behavior on the basis
of evidence collected

6. Checking validity, reliability and difficulty of the measures used

7. Establishing conditions that permit the student to give her best

performance

8. Assigning scores on the basis of the above steps

9. Developing methods of interpretation

Problems in evaluation and measurement

1. Lack of time
• May be due to poor time management skills
2. Lack of skills to carry out evaluation
3. Continuous evaluation is not cost effective
4. Problem of workload of teachers
5. Problem of lack of guidelines for internal
assessment
6. Lack of uniform standards of evaluation
 Types of errors of measurement
• Personal error: fluctuations of scores
attributed by the person who makes the
judgment
• Variable error: those arising from accidents
and inaccuracies from many causes
• Constant error: errors due to the measuring
instrument and related to the validity of the
tool
• Interpretive errors: results from the absence
of proper reference point as a result of which
the tester interprets the score obtained in an
inappropriate manner or in a state of
confusion
• Accidental or chance errors: test centered,
subject centered and scoring centered errors
that occur accidentally
• Systematic or biased error: due to subjective
or biased behavior of the tester
• Statistical error- type I and type II error
 Other problems in evaluation
• Triviality : asking very simple or unimportant
questions

• Complicated instructions
• Ambiguity
• Complexity
• Obsolescence: outmoded or traditional items
TYPES OF TESTING & EVALUATION
PROCEDURES
 Based on the nature of measurement:
Maximum performance versus typical performance

• Maximum performance tests are used to

determine the person’s abilities
• Concerned with how well an individual
performs when he is motivated to obtain as
high a score as possible
• Eg: aptitude and achievement tests
• Typical performance include those designed to
reflect a person’s typical behavior
• Concerned with what individuals will do rather
than what they can do
• Eg: evaluation of interest, attitude, personality
and adjustment
 BASED ON FUNCTIONAL ROLE
• Placement evaluation
• Formative evaluation
• Diagnostic evaluation
• Summative evaluation
 Placement evaluation
• To determine pupil performance at the beginning of
instruction
• Focuses on the following questions
• Does the pupil possess the knowledge and skills
needed to begin the planned instruction?
• To what extent has the pupil already mastered the
objectives of the planed instruction?
• To what extent do the pupil’s interests, work habits
and personality characteristics that one mode of
instruction might be better than another?
 Formative evaluation

• Used to progress learning progress during instruction

• Provide feedback to both pupil and teacher concerning
learning successes and failures
• Feedback to pupils provides reinforcement of
successful learning and identifies specific learning
errors that needs correction
• Feedback to the teacher provides information for
modifying instruction and for prescribing remedial work
• Usually carried out through teacher made tests and
observational techniques
 Diagnostic evaluation
• Concerned with the persistent or recurring learning
difficulties that are left unresolved by the standard
corrective prescriptions of formative evaluation
• Formative evaluation provides first aid treatment
for simple learning problems and diagnostic
evaluation searchers for the underlying causes of
those problems that do not respond to first aid
treatment
• More comprehensive and detailed
 Summative evaluation
• Typically come at the end of the course of
instruction
• Determine the extent to which the
instructional objectives have been achieved
• Primarily used for assigning grades
• Involve teacher made achievement tests,
performance rating and evaluation of
produces such as project repoprts
BASED ON INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS
OF THE TEST
• Norm- referenced measurement
• Criterion- referenced measurement
 Norm referenced measurement
• Provide relative ranking of students
• Test results are interpreted in terms of each
student’s relative standing among other
students
• He is third highest in a class of 35 students
Criterion referenced measurement
• Provide description of learning tasks a student
can and cannot perform
• Expressed in terms of specific knowledge and
skills each student can demonstrate
• Eg: she can identify all parts of the microscope
and demonstrate its’ proper use
• Also called as domain referenced interpretation,
content referenced interpretation and objective
referenced interpretation
 Norm referenced Vs Criterion referenced
testing
Norm referenced Criterion referenced
Principal use Survey testing Mastery testing
Major emphasis Measures individual Describes tasks students
differences in achievement can perform

Interpretation of results Compares performance to Compares performance to

that of other individuals a clearly specified
achievement domain

Content coverage Typically covers a broad Typically focuses on a

area of achievement limited set of learning tasks

Nature of test plan Table of specifications is Detailed domain

commonly used specification is preferred
 Norm referenced Vs Criterion
referenced testing
Norm referenced Criterion referenced

Item selection Items are selected that Includes all items

procedures provide maximum needed to adequately
discrimination among describe performance
individuals to obtain a No attempt to eliminate
reliable ranking easy items or to alter
Easy items are typically item difficulty
eliminated from the test
Performance standards Level of performance is Level of performance is
determined by relative commonly determined
position in some known by absolute standards.
group
 Similarities between NRT & CRT
The construction of both type typically require
• An achievement domain that clearly specifies an
instructionally relevant set of learning tasks
• A test plan for measuring representative sample of the
learning tasks in the achievement domain
• The use of a variety of item types
• The application of a common set of item writing rules
• Control of factors that contribute to error in test results
• Attention to factors that provide for sound interpretation
of test results
Difference in test construction of NRT & CRT

NRT CRT
• Focus on broad range of • Focus an a delimited
learning tasks domain of learning tasks
• Relatively few items per • Relatively large number of
task items per task
• Favor items that provide a • Favor items that provide a
wide range of scores for detailed description of
easy discrimination student performance
 Miscellaneous types
1. Informal versus standardized tests:

• Informal tests are those constructed by

classroom teachers
• standardized tests are designed by test
specialists and administered, scored and
interpreted under standard conditions
 Miscellaneous types
2. Individual versus group tests:
• Individual tests are done on a one-to-one
basis using careful oral questioning
• Group tests are administered to a group
 Miscellaneous types
3.Mastery versus survey tests:
• Mastery tests measure the degree of mastery
of limited set of specific learning outcomes
• Survey tests measure a pupil’s general level of
achievement over a broad range of outcomes
 Miscellaneous types
4. supply versus selection tests:
• Supply test: examinees supply the answer eg:
essay test
• Selection test: require examinees to select the
correct responses from a given set of
alternatives eg: MCQ
 Miscellaneous types
5. Speed versus power tests:
• A speed test is used to measure the number of
items an individual can complete in a given
time
• Power test is designed to determine level of
performance under ample time conditions
 Miscellaneous types
6. objective versus subjective tests:
• An objective test is one on which equally
competent scorers will obtain the same
scores eg: MCQ
• Subjective testis one where the scores are
influenced by the opinion or judgment of the
person doing the scoring eg: essay test
 Miscellaneous types
7. Verbal versus Performance tests:
• Verbal test: Examinees make only verbal
responses eg: vocabulary test
• Performance test: require some type of motor
or manual response eg: typing