IPPH-IHSPR Summer Institute 2005:

The evaluation of the Summer Institute consisted of evaluations prepared for each day and then a final overall evaluation. The evaluation forms we used were based on templates created by the organizers of the 2003 and 2004 Summer Institutes.

On each day, participants were asked to evaluate the various components of the daily program (e.g., panels and small group work on a 4-point rating scale with 1 representing “not useful” to 4 being “very useful”). A final section of the daily evaluation “Share your thoughts” provided space for participants to comment on the relevance of the theme, the skills and knowledge gained and any comments and suggestions

The overall final evaluation asked participants to evaluate their expectations and the goals of the Summer Institute, what they learned at the event and how it would influence their research. They were also asked to evaluate the organization and logistics of the Summer Institute and provide suggestions for planning future events.

On the whole, students were very positive about the Summer Institute and the opportunities it provided to meet with senior and fellow researchers working on rural and remote health issues in many different disciplines. One hundred percent of the 28 participants who completed the overall evaluation agreed that the theme was relevant to their research. Eighty per cent said that the Summer Institute had met their expectations, and among the other twenty per cent only one student who completed the evaluation felt the Summer Institute did not meet his/her expectations; the remaining students weren’t sure what to expect but commented positively on their experience.