This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Sometimes managing evaluations can feel like herding cats. Despite your best efforts at nailing down methods, timelines, and other evaluation requirements, plans tend to change, especially if you aren’t paying attention. Evaluators work in multiple environments and just like there’s no one-size-fits-all evaluation plan, […]
Let Excel do the Math: Easy tricks to clean and analyze data in Excel
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. One of the most common things I see when I work data in excel that others have compiled or analyzed is the under-use of Excel’s computational powers. In part, this has to do with setting up your data correctly to all Excel […]
9 Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Virtual Conference Experience
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. In a year that saw massive and rapid shifts to online events and virtual conferences, gone are the days of rolling up to conference hotels, resigning yourself to dry pastries and tiny cups of coffee at snack breaks, and rushing endlessly down […]
Why you shouldn’t rely on default survey platforms to give you all the answers
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. So you’ve administered a survey using one of the many online survey platforms that claim to help you create a survey, analyze the results, and export your results so you can make data-driven decisions. With tools like these, who needs an evaluator! […]
How to Present Your Evaluation Timelines: 4 Simple Ideas
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Here at Eval Academy we are big fans of keeping evaluation simple and that includes how we present our evaluation timelines. While the level of detail you require is likely different whether you are using the timeline for your own planning purposes […]
How to Plan Your Evaluation Timelines: 5 Simple Tips
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Sitting down to figure out how long your evaluation activities will take can be a daunting process. Evaluations are trickier than programs as they often rely on program timelines and external activities. How can you plan and predict your evaluation activities when […]
How We Used an Outcome Harvest
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Recently, we at Three Hive Consulting used outcome harvesting as part of a developmental evaluation with an organization who builds connections and helps facilitate community change. As with most developmental and participatory techniques, using this method was a bit time intensive, but […]
9 Common Writing Mistakes in Evaluation
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Evaluators need to write clearly for their work to be used. Although not preferable, the written evaluation report must stand on its own, clearly conveying the key findings and messages. The 9 mistakes below are ones that I’ve come across in my […]
How Writing an Evaluation Report is like Cooking
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. The process of writing an evaluation report is like cooking. It can be a joyful and meditative process for some and an annoying necessity for others. Both cooking and report writing take practice; the more you do them, the more you refine […]
Arts-Based Data Collection Techniques
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Recently, Jennica Nichols and Maya Lefkowich (of AND Implementation) hosted a Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) webinar about using art as a data collection method. The webinar was fun and interactive and included (you guessed it) hands-on examples of how to use arts-based […]