Determine How to Use The Results

How your results will be used depends on the purpose and intended users of the evaluation. You need a plan for each piece of information collected. Consider why you are collecting it and what you are going to do with it.¹ Following are some ways evaluation information may be used in tobacco prevention and control programs:

• To identify areas of the program that need improvement.
• To decide how to allocate resources.
• To improve program delivery.
• To improve the content of the program's materials.
• To assess community needs.
• To focus program resources on a specific population.
• To document the level of success in achieving objectives.
• To mobilize community support.
• To justify the use of funds.
• To redistribute or expand the locations where the program is carried out.

You may want to package the results differently for different audiences. For example, other tobacco control programs may be interested in detailed information, while legislators may prefer brief synopses. Members of the target population may prefer greater numbers of pictures, graphs, or other visual presentations.

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1. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2001). Focus the evaluation design. In Introduction to program evaluation for comprehensive tobacco control programs (pp. 37-48). Atlanta, GA: the Author.