This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. I’ve had many experiences collaborating with other evaluators, colleagues, or program managers starting a new evaluation. Questions fly like “Which evaluation framework will we use?”, “What will our approach be?”, “What is the evaluation plan?”. And often, down in the weeds, we question […]
3 Easy Ways to Quantify Your Qualitative Data
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. You’ve completed your qualitative data collection and you’re writing up your report. You step back and look at All. The. Text. If only you had some quantitative data to include in a chart, or some numbers to report! We’ve previously written about how […]
Evaluation Question Examples by Type of Evaluation
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. We’ve defined and written about How to Write Good Evaluation Questions before. We’ve even shared some examples of evaluation questions based on the sector or content area. But there is another way to think about evaluation questions. Let’s look at how using different […]
Book Review: Developmental Evaluation by Michael Quinn Patton
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. I recently finished reading Michael Quinn Patton’s Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use (2011) cover-to-cover. I am working on a project using Developmental Evaluation (DE) and felt like I wanted to take a deeper dive into my understanding. I […]
Everything You Need to Know about Likert Scales
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Evaluators love a good survey. And why shouldn’t we? They are a cost-effective, quick method for capturing good data! However, not all surveys are awesome – we’ve all come across poorly crafted surveys. Maybe it’s full of double-barreled questions. Maybe the questions are loaded, or leading. Or maybe the response options don’t match […]
How (and whether) to write recommendations
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Want to hear my elevator speech about what an evaluator does? It goes something like this: “What do you do?” “I’m an evaluator.” “What’s that?” “When an organization runs a program or initiative and they want to know how well they did, […]
Consent Part 2: Do I need to get consent? How do I do that?
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Is Consent Always Needed? Consent to participate in an evaluation project may not be required if the risks posed to an individual are normal, or no more than routine care. A good rule of thumb is that “the level of consent should match the level […]
Consent Part 1: What is Informed Consent
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. As an evaluator, a big part of our role is to collect data. Sometimes that data comes from administrative databases that require data sharing agreements, but sometimes it comes from people, who need to consent to sharing their information (or data) with […]
But really, how do I use the RE-AIM Framework?
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Early in my career as a consulting evaluator, I landed a major contract. The contract was to evaluate a nationally-funded province-wide quality improvement program in health care. The funder specified that I evaluate using the RE-AIM framework. Enter: Googling about RE-AIM. I know we’ve all had to-do items either personally or professionally where we just want someone to “tell me what […]
How to Deliver Bad Results
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. You’ve just designed, implemented, and analyzed a client satisfaction survey. Trouble is: clients are not satisfied. Uh oh. No one likes to deliver bad news. However, there are some strategies that will help not only to soften the blow, but to make […]