Part II: Instruments and questionnaires.

The questions and methods used in the sample data collection instruments have been collected from checklists tally sheets questionnaires surveys inventories and focus group discussion guides that are used to monitor and evaluate youth programs in a variety of contexts. The questions included are not necessarily the best questions for every context nor are they exhaustive. The instruments you choose should be adapted to your objectives before use. For example Instrument 7 (Observation Guide for Counseling and Clinical Procedures) is designed to assess the quality of service provision in a health facility-based program. However you could easily adapt it to reflect the counseling and services provided in a school-based program or during outreach effects. You should also adapt instruments to your context before use. For example you will probably need to add or delete questions from Instrument 12 the Comprehensive Youth Survey before using it to evaluate your program’s context-specific outcomes. Pre-testing data collection instruments before you use them will improve your efforts. (excerpt)