Whether an evaluation is done by an outside team or the staff of the programme, it is necessary to
write a comprehensive terms of reference (TOR) document.
Such a document enables all stakeholders (and a number of them are likely to become involved in
the evaluation as recipients of the report, as interviewees, or as providers of core information) to
understand and agree to the areas under investigation, the manner in which the enquiry will take
place, the time schedule and, when the TOR constitutes a contract with external evaluators, the
costs.
A TOR typically covers the following areas:
- The Background. A short section setting out the reason for the evaluation and the
background to the programme.
- Primary Purpose of the Evaluation. A statement descriptive of the overall intention of the
evaluation so that it can also be judged according to the extent to which it achieves the goals of
those who request the investigation.
- The Methodology to be Adopted. The most extensive section, this identifies whether the
evaluation is to be primarily qualitative and descriptive, whether it is going to be quantitative and
survey based, and the manner in which the evaluators should go about their job.
This section can also include decisions about meetings to be convened of stakeholders, whether
interviews are to be face to face, group, or telephonic, structured or unstructured.
- The Time Line. An evaluation typically must be conducted in a very tight time frame.
To alert all participants to this, a detailed time frame may be included with the TOR. If this is not
possible, then starting and report delivery dated will be specified.
- Additional Information. Each evaluation is different. It is likely there will be other
conditions that have to be specified. These might include restrictions on who does the evaluation,
whether the team includes or excludes staff, and other evaluator qualifications.
There may also be instructions about the accessibility of certain stakeholders to the evaluators, and
existing data that should be taken into account.
- Contractual Obligations. If the TOR is to be used as a tender document or as a contract
between an external evaluator and the education programme, then the TOR will include
information about cost, the manner in which the report will be submitted, the obligations of the
evaluator to submit preliminary reports, confidentiality and disclosure of information and so on.
A TOR is an essential tool in conducting an evaluation and it is likely to go through a series of
drafts before being accepted by those whose acceptance is required.
Discussion on this matter is also facilitated by the development of a TOR. When an evaluation is
determined upon, it might be assumed that the appropriate stakeholders are the educator team,
their organisation, and possibly the programme financer. As discussion ensues, other stakeholders
can become apparent and the draft can be shown to them.
Care needs to be taken over the development of a TOR, because it is the document to which
evaluators refer during the evaluation. Many evaluations and evaluators are attacked (see
Legitimacy and Reliability) and they must inevitably refer to the TOR in their defence.
The more explicit the document, the better for all concerned.
