A Guide for Planning and Implementing Site Visits

Authors:  Frances Lawrenz, Nanette Keiser, Beth Lavoie

Introduction

Welcome to the wonderful world of site visits. The goal of a site visit is to gather firsthand, eyewitness, descriptive information about an entity. Site visits are used in three general ways: to provide descriptive information about a project, to answer questions about its merit or worth, and/or to verify data collected through other means.

The purpose of this guide is to help you plan site visits in a way that will produce information pertinent to important decision-making efforts. The guide was developed with three audiences in mind.

  1. Individuals affiliated with the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program who plan site visits (primary audience). These individuals include principal investigators, advisory committee chairs, ATE funders, ATE evaluators, and administrative staff. The guide is designed to help them conceptualize the visits, include all the important pieces, and align all the parts with the purposes of the visit.
  2. Individuals who will be conducting ATE site visits (secondary audience). These individuals may include evaluators, advisory committee members, visitors selected by funders, educators, business people, scientists, etc. Although the guide is focused on the individual planning the visits, there is some advice on being a good site visitor, conducting visits, using protocols, and writing reports.
  3. Individuals planning site visits for non-ATE projects (third audience). Although the protocols and examples in this guide are specific to ATE, the materials can be adapted for use in non-ATE settings.

How to Use This Guide

Site visits can be made much more effective through careful planning of the visits and preparation of the site visitors. Therefore, this guide will lead you through five steps necessary to carefully plan, conduct, and ultimately use the information from site visits.

Step 1:  Download the Entire Guide, Print, and then Review the Guide

To download the entire Guide, including the Appendices, click on Site Visit Guide [245 KB PDF].

The Site Visit Guide is in Adobe Acrobat format. To view and/or print it, you will need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

Step 2:  Download the To-Do Checklist and the Protocols and Modify for Your Project’s Site Visit Needs

To facilitate your use of the to-do checklist (Appendix A) and the protocols (Appendix B), we are providing these in a format that you can bring into Word (or WordPerfect) and modify to fit your project’s site visit needs. Please note that page breaks may need to be adjusted for varying margin settings.

For the to-do checklist, click on Appendix A:  Checklist for Effective Site Visits [Microsoft Word File, 144 KB]

For the protocols, click on Appendix B:  How to Modify the Sample Protocols for Your Use/Sample Protocols [Microsoft Word File, 208 KB]

Please direct questions and comments to:  .