Improving SEE (Social, Economic and
Environmental) Conditions
Dr. Claude Bennett | Click on Dr.Bennett's
picture to play the RealMedia Video. Go to Help for further
assistance. | 
Text
version of Dr. Claude Bennett's video.Programs targeted toward
adult learners focus on improving social, economic, or environmental (SEE) conditions
for individuals, families, and communities, as well as other broader geographical
groups or regions. SEE outcomes are the end results that programs are expected
to produce. SEE outcomes are the long-term program benefits. Often
needs assessments
are conducted before programs are developed because there is a vision for a better
future and the assumption that a program can help attain this future. Therefore,
needs assessments help define the specific social, economic, or environmental
need by comparing desired outcome conditions with current (baseline) conditions.
This comparison identifies gaps between "what is" and "what should be." These
gaps form the basis for defining targets which become broad program goals aimed
at reducing the social, economic, and environmental need. Targets
at the SEE level are measurable social, economic, or environmental conditions
that are to be reached in a defined period of time. Once the SEE targets are established,
program outcomes
can then be assessed by determining how well these targets are reached. Often
the SEE level provides a broad focus that may require years of concentrated programing
to achieve. Consequently, it may be unrealistic to measure SEE targets within
short time frames. In addition, indicators
that signal achievement at the SEE level may be very expensive to measure. Therefore,
targets set at other levels in the framework may need to be used to measure progress
toward the SEE targets (broad goals). Or, research that connects the Practice
or KASA levels with the social, economic, or environmental outcomes can support
inferences of achievement of SEE outcomes. | Program
development questions at the SEE level are: 1. What social, economic,
and/or environmental condition will your program help correct or improve for
| | individuals? | | | families? |
| | groups/communities? | | | agencies
or organizations? | | | broad groups
or regions? | Condition(s) to be improved
| | Social | Economic | Environmental |
| Individuals | | | |
| Families | | | |
| Communities | | | |
| Agencies or Organizations | | | |
| Sectors or Regions | | | |
2. What is your vision of the corrected/improved situation?
Desired condition(s)
| | Social | Economic | Environmental |
| Individuals | | | |
| Families | | | |
| Communities | | | |
| Agencies or Organizations | | | |
| Sectors or Regions | | | |
3. Do you need to further assess current SEE condition(s) to
identify gaps between "what is" and "what should be"?
| If no, |
go to #4 | | If
yes | answer the following questions
on the worksheet
| a. | What information
do you need about social, economic, or environmental, conditions in order to assess
gaps? | | b. |
What processes will you use to assess the gaps [statistical records, content
analysis, direct
observation, case study, social network analysis, survey,
(see Salant
& Dillman, 1994 ), key
informant, nominal
group process, Delphi technique, advisory groups and task forces, community
meetings, focus
groups, (see Krueger,
1994 ), etc.]? | | c. | When
will you collect this needs assessment data? | | d. |
From whom (or from what records) will you collect this data? |
| Worksheet for needs assessment
at the SEE level | Specific
information needed | Data collection method(s) | Date(s)
for data collection | Data source(s) |
| | | | |
Outcome evaluation questions at the "SEE" level
are: 4. Do you need to and is it feasible
to identify social, economic, and/or environmental changes (long-term benefits)
associated with your programming?
| If no, |
go to the "practices" level |
| If yes |
answer the following questions on the worksheet below
| a. |
What specific SEE outcomes will you target? | | b. |
What indicators will describe changes in social, economic, or environmental
conditions of individuals, families, groups/communities, agencies or organizations,
and/or sectors/regions? | | c. | What
processes will you use to assess SEE outcomes [surveys
(see Salant
& Dillman, 1994), public records, incident reports, monitoring, Reflective
Appraisal of Programs (RAP), retrospective
pretest with post-test (See Rockwell
& Kohn, 1989) etc.)]? | | d. |
When will you need to collect this data? | | e. | From
whom (or from what records) will you collect this data? | |
Worksheet for identifying outcomes at the SEE level
| Outcomes | Indicators | Data
collection method(s) | Date(s) for data collection | Data
source(s) | | | | | | |
|