CONTENTS

         Chapters
  1. Thirty Years of Family Planning Programs
  2. Family Planning Demand
  3. Contraceptive Access
  4. Choice of Contraceptive Methods
  5. Client-Centered Quality
  6. Communication
  7. Well-Trained Providers
  8. Program Leadership and Strategic Management
  9. Research and Evaluation
  10. Political Commitment
  11. Financial Resources
Population Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA


Volume XXII, Number 2
August, 1994

Operations Research and Evaluation

 Applying analytic techniques to program activities—operations research—has provided a rational basis for introducing many key innovations and improvements in family planning programs. Family planning programs benefit most from such research when:

  • The questions raised are important, substantive, and relevant;
  • Information is collected and analyzed regularly and guides all stages of program development;
  • Many types of information, including survey data and service statistics, are used; and
  • Qualitative data—for example, measures of client attitudes—as well as quantitative data are used.
Some of the lessons learned that are described in this report are the findings of research and evaluation. These include: adding new contraceptive methods to a program increases contraceptive use (see Lesson 3, Choice of Contraceptive Methods); trained family planning personnel other than physicians, midwives, and nurses can deliver services safely and effectively (see Lesson 6, Well-Trained Providers); and charging a small fee for services or supplies does not necessarily decrease their use (see Lesson 10, Financial Resources). (See Population Reports, Operations Research: Lessons for Policy and Programs, J-31, May-June 1986.)

Research has played an important role in the introduction and adoption of community-based distribution (CBD) son 2, Access, p. 10) (57, 106). Many experimental studies have demonstrated that family planning services can be provided outside of clinics (52 ). As program managers have recognized that CBD is effective and politically acceptable, they have become willing to increase the scope of CBD programs (218).

Research should be built into family planning programs from the beginning, when the opportunity to organize for data collection is greatest, but programs that have not included research strategies in their planning still can benefit from operations research (218, 226, 237, 240, 246, 250, 256, 257, 262). If decision-makers can participate in research design from the start, and if they are trained to understand research findings, they are most likely to use the results (218, 260). Research design should include plans for dissemination of findings as well as for collection and analysis.

Project evaluation. Virtually all family planning programs benefit from evaluating their operations. Programs evaluate their activities both during the course of operations, to help managers improve operations (process evaluation), and also at the end of projects, to derive lessons for future use (impact evaluation) (15). Measuring how program activities affect client behavior such as clinic attendance, contraceptive use, and continuation rates is particularly valuable. Increasingly, programs are developing qualitative indicators of performance in addition to such familiar quantitative indicators as the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and couple-years of protection (CYP) (15).

At the same time that objectives for a project are being set, indicators to measure the attainment of these objectives should be established. Even if evaluation is not included in the design, however, some programs can be evaluated using the information that they routinely collect about their service activities for administrative purposes.


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