Running Head: ASSESSMENT, EVALUATION, AND RESEARCH 1

Assessment, Evaluation, and Research: Differences, Similarities, and Uses in Higher Education

Jessica Resler

Western Carolina University

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Introduction

Assessment, evaluation, and research can often be misinterpreted in the context of higher

education student affairs. This vocabulary tends to be used interchangeably by practitioners,

making the actual definitions unclear. Although these terms fall into a gray area for practitioners

and scholars, they do hold distinct defining factors and differentiate significantly. I interpret these

terms as a three-fold process of informing one's practice. I believe an important distinction

between the three terms is that they seem to be situation and context bound. This paper will

examine the definition of assessment, evaluation, and research, along with their differences, and

purpose in practice.

Assessment

I interpret assessment to be responsible for measuring the quality of a program or

initiative before its completion. I believe assessment identifies, strengths and weaknesses during

programs or initiatives as a way to recognize a need for change or continuation. Upcraft and

Schuh (1996) describe assessment as the efforts to gather analyze and interpret evidence which

describes institutional, departmental, divisional, or agency effectiveness. Similarly, Parker,

Fleming, Beyerlein, Apple, and Krumseig (2001) defines assessment as a process that measures

the performance or practicability of a program in which constructive feedback is given to the

practitioner for growth and future progressions. Assessment can be done formally, or informally.

However, both are used to inform the practitioner on whether they are moving toward reaching

their intended outcomes for a program (S. Dean, personal communication, February 2, 2017).

Examples of informal assessment can take place as observing your participants behavior, or

asking participants how they feel about that program, whereas formal assessment is implemented

in the form of surveys, or structured interviews (S. Dean, personal communication, February 2,
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2017). From my understanding of the above definitions, assessment happens on a continuum and

continuously looks at the advancement towards a programs proposed outcomes.

Evaluation

I believe evaluation can be used as a next step after assessing one's program or initiative.

I think evaluation is used once a program is complete. Suskie (2009) defines evaluation as the

use of assessment data to determine organizational effectiveness in hopes to establish the match

between the intended outcomes and actual outcomes of a program. Scriven (2004) asserts that

evaluation involves making conclusions based on real information that has been gathered during

any program or initiative review. I gather that evaluation uses previous analysis from assessment

to advise practitioners on ways to improve and change their programs. I believe it is important to

differentiate the time and context of evaluation as it differs from assessment in that, evaluations

happens at the conclusion of a program to determine the overall quality of a program and

whether what was anticipated to occur, actually occurred.

Research

Research is the third and final term that needs to be defined before being able to

understand the differences and similarities among all three. Posavac and Carey (2007) describe

research as questions or speculative interests, with the initiative to provide information to the

greater public, and less for the needs of a small group of people or institution. Schuh, Biddix,

Dean, and Kinzie (2016) strengthens this definition in saying that the purpose of research is to

validate theoretical frameworks and to provide knowledge to more than a group of individuals at

one institution. I believe research builds upon assessment and evaluation in that it takes an idea

from assessment, looks at the evaluation, and generalizes it to a broader context for many higher

education institutions. Research strives to be objective and focuses only on proven facts backed
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up by evidence and proof over time (Striven, 2004). I believe research informs our practice by

confirming that our ideas are either magical thinking and should, therefore, be unused, or that

they are truly impactful in the context of programming, and teaching.

Differentiation of Assessment and Evaluation

There are some components that need to be considered when looking at the differences

between assessment and evaluation. Assessment continually happens during the implementation

of a program, whereas evaluation is concrete and is focused on gauging the quality of the

program upon its completion (Straight, 2002). The focus of measurement for assessment is again

continual and looks at how the outcomes are being met over the length of a program; evaluation

on the other hand, strictly focuses on what was accomplished at the programs end (Straight,

2002). Assessment looks to inform the individuals implementing the program, and evaluation is

aimed at reporting finding to stakeholder such as university administration (Straight, 2002). After

reviewing the literature, I understand that the differentiation is time and stakeholder bound;

assessment focuses on review before a programs end for individuals who are the implementers,

and evaluation focuses on what actually happened to people outside of the program's

implementation.

Differentiation of Research and Assessment

After delving into the literature, the differentiation between research and assessment is

clear; the former creates generalizable information for a vast audience, and the latter informs the

practices of professionals in the bounds of their institution. McGillin (2003) states that research

focuses on information that can advise practitioners outside of the context of ones institution

with implications for best practices, whereas assessment is only applicable to one's situation and

institution; the information does not cross beyond a single program or initiative. McGillin,
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(2003) dissects this further in saying that research concentrates on creating new information or

testing theory for a specific topic; where assessment, focuses on managing a programs

expectations and decision-making for that specific initiative. From these concepts, I understand

research to inform large-scale, and assessment to be limited to informing a single program.

Differentiation of Research and Evaluation

Research and evaluation were slightly more difficult to separate and understand on

individual bases. I believe the main difference between the two is research focuses on creating

new ideas, or strengthening existing ones, whereas evaluation uses current information to

improve future practices. Chen (2013) validates this assumption is saying that research is

hypothesis centered and focuses on making a generalized recommendation for the greater public,

where evaluation focuses on program questions that inform practice suggestions. Another distinct

difference is the audience research, and evaluation informs. Research is focused on publishing

information for practitioners worldwide, and evaluation is only focused on reporting to the

stakeholders of that program or initiative (Chen, 2013). Simply put, I understand research to be

information that proves a general concept, and evaluations to be used to improve an initiative.

Conclusion

Although assessment, evaluation, and research have a distinct difference in higher

education, all three terms inform our practice holistically. Good assessment leads to better

evaluation, which then expands to informed research. This assumption should also work

backward in that good research, should inform more appropriate assessment measures using best

practices and theoretical models and methods. These terms should be independently used to

guide practice at the surface level, but should also be used to inform best practices on a more

global scale.
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References
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Chen, H. L. (2013, November 24). Evaluation vs. research: What's the difference? Retrieved

from http://www.stanford.edu/search/?cx=003265255082301896483%3Asq5n7qoyfh8

&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=evaluation+vs+research&sa=Search

Dean, S. (2017, February 2). Personal Interview.

McGillin, V. (2003, December). Research versus assessment: What's the difference? Academic

Advising Today, 26(4). Retrieved from http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-

Advising-Today/View-Articles/Research-versus-Assessment-Whats-the-Difference.aspx

Parker, E. P., Fleming, D. P., Beyerlein, S., Apple, D., & Krumseig, K. (2001, February).

Differentiating Assessment from Evaluation as Continuous Improvement Tools.

Frontiers in Education Conference, doi:10.1109/FIE.2001.963901

Posavac, E., & Carey, R. (2007). Program evaluation: Methods and case studies (7th ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Schuh, H. J., Biddix, J. P., Dean, A. L., Kinzie, J. (2016). Understanding the Contemporary

Assessment Environment. Assessment in Student Affairs (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA:

Jossey-Bass.

Scriven, M. (2004). Michael Scriven on the differences between evaluation and social science

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Sukie, L. A. (2009). Assessing Student Learning: A common sense guide (2nd ed.) San

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Straight, H. S. (2002, August). The Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation. Teaching

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Upcraft, M.L., & Schuh, J.H. (1996). Assessment in Student Affairs: A guide for practitioners.

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