Coordinate per rilevare e costruire i dati

[Autom. eng. transl.] Evaluation is not identified with the construction or application of tools and techniques, although these are probably the most visible and operational part of the entire process. After understanding the request and exploring the object, the evaluator is engaged in the construction of the survey plan within which the choice and design of the tools and strategies for collecting and/or acquiring data are placed. In this regard, in addition to the possession of technical-methodological skills, a good knowledge of the context in which the techniques will be used is necessary, as well as of the subjects to whom they will be addressed. The first part of the chapter presents some of the typical tools of social research that are very widespread and used in the field of evaluation to collect first-hand data (interview, focus group, questionnaire, observation). In the second part, instead, attention is placed on the methods for acquiring and using second-level data for evaluation purposes (document analysis and secondary). The chapter ends with a section in which further particularly promising strategies for evaluating in different situations converge.