Which of the following is NOT a recommended aspect of program evaluation methodology?

• A. Use objective measures
• B. Use representative samples
• C. Use pre/post assessments
• D. Solicit mostly subjective, open-ended responses if the audience was large

Answer: (D)

Not recommended is relying mostly on subjective, open-ended responses when the audience is large. In program evaluation, you want findings that are reliable, comparable, and generalizable. Objective measures give standardized, quantifiable data that can be compared across participants; representative samples ensure the results reflect the broader population rather than a biased subset; and pre/post assessments show how knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors change over time, helping to attribute outcomes to the program itself. Open-ended feedback from a large group, while valuable for depth, is hard to code consistently, can introduce interpretation bias, and makes it difficult to compare results or draw clear conclusions. So, prioritizing mostly subjective, open-ended data in a large audience is the least suitable approach.