Evaluation Checklists Project
www.wmich.edu/evalctr/checklists
EVALUATION DESIGN CHECKLIST
Daniel L. Stufflebeam
The Evaluation Center
Western Michigan University
November 2004
The logical structure of evaluation design includes elements that commonly apply to a wide range of
evaluation assignments and alternative evaluation approaches. This checklist is intended as a generic
guide to decisions one typically needs to at least consider when planning and conducting an evaluation.
The checkpoints are especially relevant when responding to a potential client’s request for a demanding,
complex evaluation. However, the checklist is intended for use across a broad range of evaluation
assignments—both small and large—and for use with a number of different approaches to evaluation.1 It
may be used alone or in combination with other checklists. When the contemplated evaluation is small in
scope and will have only a modest budget, evaluators and their clients can find it useful to consider the
full range of evaluation design issues before setting aside those that are not feasible, not particularly
relevant to the situation, nor especially important. Since this checklist is intended for evaluators who work
under very different circumstances and constraints, the user will need to exercise good judgment and
discretion in determining and applying the most applicable parts of the checklist pursuant to the needs of
particular evaluations.
This checklist is intended both as an advance organizer and as a reminder of key matters to be
considered before and during an evaluation. An ordered list of elements commonly included in evaluation
designs follows. These elements are not necessarily intended to be treated in a strict linear sequence.
Often one cycles through the elements repeatedly while planning for and negotiating an evaluation and
also during the course of the evaluation. In each such cycle some elements are addressed, while others
typically are set aside for attention later or abandoned beca