This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. To skip right to the free guide, check out our New Products page. Many evaluators will already be familiar with the Program Evaluation Standards developed by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE). For those newer to the field, take […]
Strategic Learning and Evaluation – What Boards Need to Know
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Recently I was asked by a client about an evaluation literacy course for its board. The client’s board members had just attended a strategic planning day and through that discussion felt they needed education on evaluation and metrics. On one hand I […]
How to Write Good Evaluation Questions
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Evaluators ask questions. All the time. We ask questions in focus groups, we write questions in surveys, we pose questions to our datasets. But the questions that really drive our work are evaluation questions. What are evaluation questions? Evaluation questions focus data […]
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 […]
How to “Quantify” Qualitative Data
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Let’s be clear: sums and frequencies are not the desired product of qualitative questions. In qualitative approaches, we want to describe, to present details and nuances and interesting outliers. But as evaluators, we need to do more than just report what is—we […]
Reflexivity in Evaluation
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Reflectivity vs Reflexivity Reflective Practice is where a person reflects on what they have learned and how they can apply it or learn from it. Reflexive Practice is where a person reflects on what they have learned and considers how the implications […]
Four common data entry mistakes (and how to fix them)
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. You have developed your evaluation plan, written your questions, and deployed your tools. And now, you have just received your raw data. You are excited to jump in and analyze the data. But wait. You note several inconsistencies in the raw data. […]
Evaluation Roundup – April 2020
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. New and Noteworthy — Reads A framework for adapting evaluation designs in times of COVID-19 Last month’s roundup focused specifically on COVID-19 and its implications for evaluation. Evaluators continue to produce COVID-19 related resources as the global crisis continues. The Independent Evaluation […]
Evaluation’s Yoda
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. The first evaluation book I read was Michael Quinn Patton’s (aka MQP) Utilization-Focused Evaluation. It was an intimidating introduction to evaluation. The book is 667 pages of subject matter that isn’t exactly light. However, it is full of anecdotes, case studies, stories, […]
Being a Volunteer Evaluator
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at evalacademy.com. Have you ever been curious about what it is like to volunteer as an evaluator? Or are you considering a volunteer opportunity in the near future? This article aims to give you some insight into finding and engaging in a volunteer opportunity. […]