Goals

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Goals and objectives are written when you are creating a program to address a problem. Goals and objectives are written in a grant application and are used to create a promise of what the people developing the program will provide.  As the project proceeds, the objectives are used to determine if the project is on track.

Goals

A goal is a broad statement of a desired future outcome. Qualities of a goal statement:

  1. It is the big reason (the raison d’être) behind your project: to solve the problem for your community.
  2. It does not contain specifics. Tell us what the goal is, not who, where, or how you will accomplish this goal.

Examples of goal statements:

  • Increase the number of children entering kindergarten with all vaccinations
  • Reduce the rate of violence in schools
  • Reduce the rate of unintentional injuries
  • Increase knowledge about HIV among adolescents.

Objectives

An objective is a defined result of a specific activity to be achieved in a finite period of time by a specified person or number of people. Objectives are best when they are SMART. These are the qualities of a SMART objective:

  1. Specific(who, what change, how much, where, when). Include details based on what you plan to do.
  2. Measurable/observable. You need to be able to use data to check whether the objective has been met.
  3. Appropriate/achievable. It should be something that is actually reasonable to accomplish.
  4. Realistic. It should fit the staff, budget, and resources of the project.
  5. Time-based.It should be something you can do within the timeline of the project and the dates of completion (or spans of time indicated) should be clear.

 

 

 

Writing objectives

To write a SMART objective, include information for the following questions:

  1. When will the program take place?
  2. Who are the participants in the program?
  3. Where will the program occur?
  4. What do you intend to cause or change? (Behavior, knowledge, policy, etc.)
  5. How much change will you see?

For example: By 8:00 PM (when), my family (who) will have eaten dinner at the dining room table (where) and all family members (how much) will report that they are satisfied with the food I prepared (what).

Figuring out the “how much”

Before you can figure out how far you’ve gone you need to know where you started. To write an objective about change in behavior, health, or knowledge, you need to know what the current statistics are for this group. If baseline data is available (and represents your population well) then you can use that as a starting point.

You can also read research articles about similar projects or populations and use their statistics as a starting point, or as an idea of how much change others have seen.

Keep your specific population in mind: does your population want to change? Are they interested in changing? How easy or difficult will it be for them to change? These questions will help you think about how much change is realistic.

Types of objectives

Here are examples of types of objectives someone could use when proposing a project. Usually, there are several objectives presented for one project. Examples of each type are presented below.

    • Health objectives: changes in health status (blood pressure, disease status, etc.)
    • Educational objectives: knowledge attained by study participants.
    • Behavioral objectives: new behaviors started or stopped, increased or decreased (smoke less, start doing yoga weekly, etc.)
    • Policy objectives: implement or change a policy or law
    • Process objectives: milestones that ensure the project is on track.

Examples of Educational Objectives

  • By the end of the program (June 1, 2007), 90% of students enrolled in the program will be able to list 3 modes of HIV transmission.
  • At the conclusion of the program (July 15, 2007), 80% of students in the school nutrition program will be able to list at least 7 healthy food items.
  • The proportion of participants in the smoking cessation program who identify at least 5 negative factors associated with smoking will increase from a baseline of 85% to a post-measure of 95%.

Examples of Policy Objectives

    • By June 30th, 2021, Los Angeles County will adopt a policy prohibiting the use of cell phones (including hands-free) while driving.
    • By June 30th, 2021, at least 5 single resident occupancy hotels in Oakland will adopt policies designating 50% of the individual rooms as smoke-free and prohibiting smoking in all indoor common areas.

Examples of Process Objectives

    • By the end of month 1, we will have recruited 5 schools to participate in a high school-based violence prevention program.
    • By the end of month 7, 90% of the program staff will have completed all 6 90-minute sessions of the violence prevention training program.
    • By June 25th, 2021, the prevalence of substance abuse prevention instruction by 9th-12thgrade teachers will increase from 65% (6/05 level) to 90% in the 2021-2022 school year.