Importance of qualitative methods in Social Program Evaluation (original) (raw)

Social Program Evaluation (SPE) is the method and tool to address policy questions of diverse social actors to improve services (Greene, 2003). In India, the development programs are planned mostly using quantitative indicators. For instance, health and medical professionals prefer quantitative indicators such as, morbidity, mortality, prevalence, and incidence and so on. This undermines the qualitative aspects. There are instances in which combination of quantitative and qualitative are accepted. From the beginning, health programs are implemented based on quantified indicators by the planners. Many at times this leads to shift in the focus from the program objectives to the outcomes which are defined well in terms of quantified indicators. In this paper, author shares his experiences from his evaluation studies in the health and other development sectors. He is also attempting to suggest ways of developing qualitative indictors, which could be used for program planning. A study on...