What is the role of the evaluator? What competencies and work outputs are associated with that role? What general approaches can be helpful in evaluating performance improvement interventions? This chapter, the last of four focusing on the roles of those performing HPI work, addresses these questions.

Managers and other stakeholders of performance improvement interventions increasingly demand accountability. They want to know what business needs were satisfied, and what return on investment was received, from the resources dedicated to performance improvement interventions. Determining such a return is, in part, the role of the evaluator.

According to ASTD Models for Human Performance Improvement (Rothwell, 1996), the evaluator "assesses the impact of interventions and follows up on changes made, actions taken, and results achieved in order to provide participants and stakeholders with information about how well interventions are being implemented." In short, the evaluator provides feedback to stakeholders about what benefits were received from a performance improvement intervention.