Palmer's Palace

Keisha: Hello everyone, my name is Keisha Valle by and I'm here with Tanner Pogan to talk about some things we learned that our program evaluation course. We’ll start by asking you Tanner why you took this course.

00:20 Tanner: Sure, I think I wanted to take this course to learn more about program evaluation really. My major is public admin in my minor is intelligence and national security, so you would not expect that I would be taking this course, but I had a recent change and what I wanted to do so want to become a macro social worker and learning about program evaluation seems like the best way that I can help reach that goal. Now, something we learned in our course was the logic model. Now, at first, I was really unfamiliar with it and so I took this course. And the steps within the model seem really intimidating, but once we broke them down, each section of inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. Became a lot clearer for me at least. What about you? Have you heard about it before this class?

 

01:09 Keisha: So the first time I heard about the logic model was actually in another course. It was called planning and improvement for nonprofits, and for this class we had to kind of like build our own program, our own organization. So we did a mock logic model. So I kind of had already had some knowledge before we came to the program evaluation course. But before then, I guess before I took that class and. The concept was first introduced to me. I kind of just thought of it as like a model or chart that got some steps in the in a logical way. Kind of like I guess the name says since you hadn't heard about the concept before. What helped you in this class? Learn more about the logic model.

 

01:56 Tanner: So, what I found most useful really in helping me was this activity we did in class with the rest of our group where we developed our own logic model titled Palmer’s Palace; which was based off of our friend and fellow group member Kaylyn Palmer, and it was a model to be based off of purchasing a home. Now I found this really useful. How about you kiki, did you find this helpful at all?

 

02:21 Keisha: Yeah, I found this really helpful because it kind of put it into personal terms instead of using like a real organization or real evaluation. It just helped put it into context a little bit. And so I'm going to explain what Palmers Palace was and how all the components of the logic model that we used to put it together. So the logic model is the inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. So for the first part the inputs are the resources, so this is what Kaylyn needs to buy her home, which are money, good credit, a realtor. For program planning, any other resources would be fund raising, staff, money as well. And then after that come the activities which are what can be done with the listed resources so. For Kaylyn this would be meeting with a realtor, saving money, and building credit. And then the third step are the outputs, which are the direct products of the activities. So Kaylyn's again are meet with the Realtor six times, save 6% of her total income, or her total home cost. Check her credit scores with three agencies. So after the first three steps are completed, we can go into the outcomes, which are the changes that happen as a result of the process from the first three steps. They can be broken down into short-term, intermediate, and long term. The short term outcomes are the immediate effects from a process. So for Kaylyn these are buying her home, increasing her knowledge on credit scores, and investing the money she saved up into the home. After that comes the intermediate outcomes which are the result of the short term outcomes. So after she has a home, she can adopt a pet and renovate and decorate her home. And then lastly are the long term outcomes, which are the results of the previous action. So the long term outcomes are really the results of everything we have done up until this point in on an continues into the future hopefully if the process went well, so it'll make a long term impact. For Kaylyn this means that after she buys her house and is able to decorate it, she has to maintain her mortgage until she finishes paying it so that's a lot of years in the future, so that was a lot of information, but I hope that it was clear enough for all of you to understand. One thing I remember our group having trouble between outcomes and Outputs while we were doing the activity because the word seems so familiar and definition. Tanner, do you want to explain a little bit more in depth so it's easier to understand for others?

 

05:09 Tanner: Sure, I'd love to. The most challenging part for me for understanding the logic model had the differentiating between outputs and outcomes. At first these two words seem like they're the same when used in everyday life, but when referring to them within the logic model they have completely different meeting. Now. The actual definition of the output is. It is a direct product of an agency service, meaning it's like the results of the process. And the outcome is the benefit or change to an individual or a population during or after participating in the activity. So it is really used to show improvement and something that lasts way longer or beyond just the result of a process. Now that we have a really clear understanding of the logic model and the steps within it, let's look into the takeaways. So kinky. Would you like to give us an overview of the logic model concepts again?

 

06:08 Keisha: Yeah, of course. So remember, a logic model has four components, the Inputs, the activities, the Outputs and the outcomes. So for the inputs they’re the resources dedicated to are consumed by the program within an agency. So this means fund raising money, staff, and things like that. The second step is the activities. So this is what the agency does with the inputs to fulfill its mission. So these are program services, and just activities that you can use your resources with. And then there's the Outputs, which are the direct products of an agency services, so the results of the process. So the outputs are the results of the resources and the activities combined. And then Lastly, after those three steps are finished, we reach the outcomes, which again are separated into short-term intermediate and the long term impact of the program. So the short term are just the immediate outcomes of the program. Intermediate are just what happens in the in the middle after the short term are fulfilled; and then the long term impact is what happens after a long period of time. So after a long period of time the outcome still impacts the program. Tanner you talked a little bit about the Outputs and outcomes in the difference of those and how to understand them better. Do you want to recap that real quick for us?

 

07:38 Tanner: Sure, differentiating between the Outputs and outcomes. Again, outputs are usually just the directors of getting out by either an agency, a nonprofit program, or a public program, and the outcomes tend to be new learned attitudes or skills, altered behavior, usually for the better for a new learning condition. And how come it usually lasts longer and their inherent benefits. Mostly because they can change more than just the individual and population. So if you're focusing for example on one population through a government project or a nonprofit projects and population is going to change the way they do things, hopefully for the better. So Outputs again are just the result. Outcome are the benefits and changes. Now after all is said and done, why do you think a logic model is important for program evaluation Kiki?

 

08:38 Keisha: So I think the logic model is important because it creates a plan and an outline for a program. It's overall just a really good visual in order to find out what an organization needs in order to fulfill its mission. The logic model really helps with setting goals and finding necessary resources to kickstart or improve the program, as in a program evaluation. I think the logic model is really a good tool in general for programs that are starting out programs that need to be evaluated, or like we did, for buying a house or just trying to outline anything that needs to be done in a step by step way, what about you Tanner?

 

09:20 Tanner: Yes, so I believe the logic model is just important for helping breakdown steps and assists in managing either the individual or the whole organization requirements. Through this course, I'd like really learned a lot about what it means to be a program evaluator, never taken a nonprofit course before, so this is definitely been extremely eye opening, and I'm so glad I’m able to talk with you Kiki.

 

09:46 Keisha: me too. I'm this was really helpful for me too. I feel like, even though I knew about the logic model before, I feel like I know even more in depth now, and I'm really glad that you all are here to listen to us talk about the logic model. I hope that information was useful to you all, and then you're able to use it in the future. And yeah again, thank you for being here and thank you, Tanner.

 

10:10 Tanner: Of course. Yes.