Tracking jobs created under the U.S. Recovery Act – when should the attempt at measurement be abandoned? June 16, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Accountability, Attribution, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Evaluation planning, Impact evaluation, Indicators, Measurement, Outcomes systems architecture, Outcomes theory & politics, Outcomes theory & the news, Reporting systems, Using the approach , add a commentThe default expectation in at least some sections of the U.S. public sector seems to be that it should always be feasible and affordable to both measure and attribute the results of interventions. This is using the term attribution to mean being able to actually demonstrate that a change in an outcome has been caused by a particular intervention rather than being the result of other factors (see here for more on attribution). The recent U.S. Recovery Act is a case in point. While it’s reasonable to start from the position that you should routinely assess the possibility of measuring and attributing changes in outcomes of particular interventions, you can’t start by just assuming that it will always be feasible or affordable to do this. Clinging to such an assumption, where it is untrue, can result in you either measuring an outcome when the data you are collecting is not accurate, or acting as though what you are measuring (even if it is an accurate measurement of a change in an outcome) is demonstrably attributable to a particular program, when in fact it may not be. (more…)
Impact evaluation on full program roll-out versus just on piloting – two paradigms June 10, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Attribution, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Easy Outcomes, Impact evaluation, Outcomes systems architecture, Using the approach , add a commentI’ve just posted an article on the two paradigms in regard to impact/outcome evaluation and full program roll-out. What this is about is making a distinction between designing an evaluation which can provide impact/outcome evaluation information about full program roll-out versus a paradigm where you do impact/outcome evaluation just on piloting and then in regard to full program roll-out you just make sure that best practice is implemented. I once was involved in the evaluation of an overall program which had over 900 component programs. The way that we went about evaluating it was, in my view, wrong. (more…)
The error of limiting focus to only the attributable June 8, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Accountability, Attribution, Easy Outcomes, Indicators, Measurement, Outcomes systems architecture, Reporting systems, Using the approach , add a commentI am continuing to develop a set of articles which outline various problems which are often built into the outcomes systems which I see. The one I have just put up is on the Error of Limiting Focus to Only the Attributable. This is where the whole emphasis of a performance management or other outcomes system is just on holding a provider to account for a list of demonstrably attributable indicators (often called outputs, deliverables, or key performance indicators). This often creates problems. (more…)
Over-simplifications in outcomes, monitoring and evaluation June 3, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Accountability, Attribution, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Easy Outcomes, Evaluation planning, Outcomes systems architecture, Outcomes theory, Reporting systems, Using the approach , add a commentAn evaluation colleague Patrica Rogers commented on an earlier blog posting of mine in which I was claiming that what I am trying to do it to make outcomes, monitoring and evaluation work ‘easier’. She challenged me on that idea and pointed out that often what we are having to deal with is over-simplification in the way people are working with outcomes, monitoring and evaluation. Her comment inspired me to work up an article on over-simplification in outcomes and evaluation and after getting underway with it I realized all of the different ways in which people approach outcomes, monitoring and evaluation with over-simplified approaches and the problems which these cause. (more…)
Unalterable deliverables and program inflexibility June 2, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Accountability, Indicators, Measurement, Outcomes systems architecture, Reporting systems, Using the approach , add a commentBack blogging now after having been on holiday. Recently I ran into the problem of unalterable deliverables in a project I am involved in. This problem was also mentioned in the UN report on its results-based management system that I blogged about a couple of postings ago. The problem arises where a project is set up and deliverables are set, but where ideally there needs to be some flexibility regarding deliverables as the program develops over time. Sometimes the problem is just a result of the difficulty of changing deliverables. (more…)