Fretheim A., Oxman A.D., Lavis J.N., Lewin S.
Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, P.O. Box 7004, St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway; Section for International Health, Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, P.O. Box 7004, St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway; Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Political Science, McMaster University, 1200 Main St. West, HSC-2D3, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3Z5, Canada; Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, P.O. Box 7004, St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway; Health Systems Research Unit, Medical Research Council of South Africa, South Africa
Fretheim, A., Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, P.O. Box 7004, St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway, Section for International Health, Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; Oxman, A.D., Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, P.O. Box 7004, St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway; Lavis, J.N., Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Political Science, McMaster University, 1200 Main St. West, HSC-2D3, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3Z5, Canada; Lewin, S., Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, P.O. Box 7004, St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway, Health Systems Research Unit, Medical Research Council of South Africa, South Africa
This article is part of a series written for people responsible for making decisions about health policies and programmes and for those who support these decision makers The term monitoring is commonly used to describe the process of systematically collecting data to inform policymakers, managers and other stakeholders whether a new policy or programme is being implemented in accordance with their expectations. Indicators are used for monitoring purposes to judge, for example, if objectives are being achieved, or if allocated funds are being spent appropriately. Sometimes the term evaluation is used interchangeably with the term monitoring, but the former usually suggests a stronger focus on the achievement of results. When the term impact evaluation is used, this usually implies that there is a specific attempt to try to determine whether the observed changes in outcomes can be attributed to a particular policy or programme. In this article, we suggest four questions that can be used to guide the monitoring and evaluation of policy or programme options. These are: 1. Is monitoring necessary? 2. What should be measured? 3. Should an impact evaluation be conducted? 4. How should the impact evaluation be done? © 2009 Fretheim et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.