Please read the article below and answer the following questions:

How do the mixed-method evaluation could both strengthen and weaken the evaluation design?

Please, suggest ways that process evaluation could be used to strengthen their program evaluation designs.

The evaluation project that I have chosen is the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP), used by the Onondaga County Health Department and Syracuse University, to create the Healthy-Hearts Food Show, this program helps reduce dietary sodium consumption in the community by educating food service staff and food vendors for the community institutions on using lower sodium products and creating low-sodium meals (CDC, 2022). Onondaga County has high levels of hypertension, this increases the risk of adverse cardiac events, but the risk could potentially be reduced through behavioral and dietary changes. Onondaga county has an estimated population of over 470,000, with the city of Syracuse being nearly the central part of the county and some of the higher rates of negative determinants of health (Volz et al., 2022). The program has been implemented for several years within the community and surrounding county and successfully increased the availability of low-sodium food options.

The short-term health outcomes for the SRCP are to reduce the sodium content in prepared meals and increase low to no sodium dietary products available in community institutions for Onondaga County residents. The long-term health goals are to make a lasting impact of the dietary choices of Onondaga County residents, the reduction of sodium to the recommended daily amount reducing the incidence of adverse health conditions associated with nutritional choices. The mixed-method evaluation could help in identifying the efficacy of the Heart-Healthy Food Show by incorporating the qualitative results from surveying the attendees on whether the options provided in the show seemed like options they would choose. Then taking a quantitative survey of how many community institutions chose the healthier low-sodium options, measuring the results of both surveys against each other to determine the program's success. Mixed-method evaluation could have some weaknesses, one is running into a lack of funding to conduct the research if the evaluation took longer than expected.