Assessments often fail to clearly answer whether a program “worked” or not. Here, I reflect on the broader purpose of assessment, and offer five questions to consider before undertaking an evaluation: Who are you trying to help? What is the intervention? How will you measure effects? Compared to What? and When will you measure effects? This reflection demonstrates that assessments can reveal more than whether a program worked and provides recommendations for making the most of assessment opportunities.

中文翻译：

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有效吗？反思和五个谦虚的问题来指导评估

评估通常无法明确回答一个项目是否“有效”。在这里，我反思了评估的更广泛目的，并提供了在进行评估之前要考虑的五个问题：您想帮助谁？什么是干预？你将如何衡量效果？与什么相比？你什么时候测量效果？这种反思表明，评估不仅可以揭示计划是否有效，还可以为充分利用评估机会提供建议。