Using Focus Groups to Evaluate
Park Programs, Activities, and Visitor Services
Introduction
In 2004 the National Park Service (NPS) established
the National Education Council to help renew and fulfill
the education mission of the NPS. In order to build and
sustain high-quality educational work, the Council
formed an Education Evaluation Coordination Team (EECT)
whose task was to develop an evaluation strategy.
As stated in the EECT’s Servicewide Interpretation and Education Strategy
“When applied strategically, evaluation improves the design and implementation of NPS programs, ensuring that they remain effective, relevant, and meaningful.”
This training program was developed by the Park Studies Unit at the University of Idaho, in cooperation with the National Park Service EECT, to provide natural and cultural resource professionals with a tool to evaluate their activities, services, and programs.
Training Sections
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What is evaluation?
...and why do it?
Evaluation is “the systematic collection of information about the activities, characteristics, and outcomes of programs to make judgments about the program, improve program effectiveness, and/or inform decisions about future programming.”(Patton, 1997)
Organizations evaluate in order to:
- find out if a program is accomplishing its intended goal(s)
- test the effectiveness of a prototype before it is implemented
- answer questions about customer/client satisfaction
- learn about clients’ preferences
- determine what parts of a product or program work, and meet objects
Evaluation is a Tool
It can be used
to inspire, create, improve, and modify the programs,
activities, and services offered in your park. There are
many types of evaluation tools and strategies available.
This training program will teach you to use an evaluation
tool called focus groups to evaluate
the services in your park. With focus groups you can learn
about your audience and listen to their opinions, ideas,
preferences and reactions to your programs, activities and
services.
When to conduct an evaluation
When to do an evaluation depends on what you need to
know, and the stage of development of a particular service
or program. There are three stages of evaluations to
consider:
- Front-end evaluation is conducted
at the beginning of a project when ideas are being
considered. Front-end evaluations use focus groups and
interviews to gather information from park visitors about
what they would like to see in a final product.
- Formative evaluation is conducted
before a program or product is completed and in place.
Formative evaluation is intended to “catch” design
and/or content problems before they become a part of the
final product, activity, or program and therefore become
difficult and expensive to fix.
- Summative/remedial evaluation is conducted on a product or program after final production, when the total “package” can be evaluated and final adjustments can be made, or on existing media or programs that are already in place. Summative evaluation of existing programs can also be used to help plan for new ones.
How does this program work?
This program teaches how to use an evaluation tool – focus groups – to evaluate the programs, services, and activities in your park. During this program, you will learn:
- what a focus group study is
- how to conduct focus groups
- how to analyze and report the results of a focus group study
- how to use the results to improve your interpretive services
By the end of this training program, you will be prepared to conduct a focus group study in your park, and be able to use the results to improve your programs.
