Indicators are specific things that can be measured to answer evaluation questions. They are a simple, reliable way to measure achievement, change, or performance related to a program. Indicators may be used differently by different evaluators or organizations, so they should defined at the beginning of an evaluation.

For example, hospital wait time might be an indicator of “hospital quality.” Wait time could be measured before a program to determine the baseline, and then it could be measured again after some changes are made at the hospital to see if those changes increased or decreased wait time. Wait time could be measured differently by different people, so the exact steps for measuring it must be defined before collecting data.

Indicators may also be called metrics or measures.

See also: construct

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