Developing an M&E plan using a visual approach January 8, 2010
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Doing evaluation more efficiently, Using the approach, Evaluation planning, Easy Outcomes, DoView , add a commentOn various lists I am on I often see requests by people wanting to develop what is called an M&E plan. This terminology is often used in the international development area. It refers to a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan. The way these requests are made makes me think that the way you should monitor and evaluate different projects varies a great deal. (more…)
Getting outcomes creds and saving time! September 25, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Doing evaluation more efficiently, Accountability, Outcomes systems architecture, Philanthropy, Strategic planning, Using the approach, Easy Outcomes, Outcomes models, Standards, DoView , add a commentPublic sector organizations these days have two important imperatives: establishing that they are truly ‘results and outcomes-focused’ while also becoming more efficient in their internal organizational activity. The really good news in the outcomes area is that using a central tool of outcomes work - outcomes models (a particular type of visual model of all of the high-level outcomes the organization is seeking to achieve and the steps it is taking to do so) is that organizations and programs can do both at the same time. (more…)
Using an outcomes modeling approach to action research September 9, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Doing evaluation more efficiently, Using the approach, Outcomes models, Easy Outcomes , add a commentWill get back to blogging on the Australasian Evaluation Society Conference when I get a moment (may not be for a few days). In the meantime had to prepare an article about using outcomes modeling as a basic tool within an action research approach. Because outcomes modeling - developing visual outcomes models (like a type of logic model, or theory of change model) - according to the outcomes theory set of standards for building such models is a generic process, such models can be used for a wide range of purposes. They can, for instance, be used within an action research approach. Action research is an approach which attempts to work in cycles of research/action/research. It has the great virtue of ensuring that research is connected to action and action is connected to research.
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The Taxi Driver and ‘why don’t you just measure outcomes’ - on the way to AES conference September 1, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Outcomes systems architecture, Reporting systems, Measurement, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Outcomes models, Using the approach, Easy Outcomes , add a commentOn my way to the Australasian Evaluation Society Conference in Canberra my taxi driver in from the airport asked me what I do. When I explained that I ‘measure whether programs, often government programs, work or not so the taxpayer gets value for money’, he was right into the concept. Although I think he thought that I was over complicating things a little. He said: ’shouldn’t it just be a matter of using statistics to measure if things are getting better or not about a program.’ What he was talking about was one aspect of monitoring and evaluation - an important piece - but just one of the Five Building Blocks I see lying behind all monitoring and evaluation systems (outcomes systems). (more…)
Can an exhaustive list of impact evaluation designs be developed, or is my mission on this futile? August 27, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Impact evaluation, Evaluation debates, Attribution, Outcomes systems architecture, Outcomes theory, Evaluation planning, Using the approach, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Easy Outcomes , add a commentI have set out on a mission as a part of outcomes theory to attempt to develop an exhaustive list of impact/outcome evaluation designs - evaluation designs which make a claim that changes in high-level outcomes can be attributed to a particular intervention. If we could pull off developing such a list that most people are happy with, it would be very powerful. First it could be used in evaluation planning to work out if all of the possible impact evaluation designs had been assessed for their appropriateness, feasibility and/or affordability. At the moment I think that almost every evaluation planner walks around wondering if there is some sort of impact evaluation design they have not considered.
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Formative evaluation versus impact/outcome evaluation August 20, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Evaluation debates, Use of terms, Outcomes theory, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Evaluation planning, Using the approach, Easy Outcomes , add a commentIn response to a posting on one of my outcomes theory articles by Marcus Pilgrim who ran the recent YEN Evaluation Clinic in Damascus, I have worked up an article on the difference between formative, process and impact/outcome evaluation. As Marcus points out in his posting, the term formative (or developmental) evaluation is not one which is widely known in all sectors. Formative evaluation is directed at optimizing program implementation. Process evaluation attempts to describe the course and context of a program. Impact/outcome evaluation looks at the intended and unintended, positive and negative outcomes of a program and whether they can be attributed to the program. (more…)
Mapping indicators onto a logic model is obvious - but why haven’t we always done it? August 18, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Indicators, Outcomes theory, Reporting systems, Measurement, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Easy Outcomes, Outcomes models, Using the approach, DoView , add a commentI was running a workshop today teaching policy analysts the basics of my approach to program evaluation (Easy Outcomes). One of the participants, when I talked about the importance of always mapping indicators back onto a visual model, commented that when you do it, it’s so obviously the right approach that you can’t understand why we’ve not been doing it for years.
The idea behind this approach is that the way we almost always approach indicator work is to eye-ball a list or table of indicators and ask the question of a group of busy people sitting around a table - ‘does this list of indicators look any good?’
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The good old ‘one pager’ contraint again July 9, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Doing evaluation more efficiently, Outcomes systems architecture, Communicating outcomes models, Using the approach, Easy Outcomes, Outcomes models, DoView , add a commentI’ve been up against the good old ‘one pager’ constraint again in a couple of contexts recently. This is where there is the demand that the outcomes for an organization or program be ‘put on one page’. It comes in various forms and is often a demand from senior management or a perceived demand from them to ‘keep things simple’. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the idea of summarizing things and paper overviews play a role in that. But such things should be seen as one of a range of different types of summaries and products which are produced by an underlying outcomes system, not the beginning and end of an outcomes effort. (more…)
Separating analysis from writing in philanthropic grant applications July 8, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Grant writing, Philanthropy, Strategic planning, Communicating outcomes models, Easy Outcomes , add a commentThe other night I was doing some pro bono work with a small non-profit organization which is attempting to restore a significant landmark building and promote its use for educational and community purposes. I was building a DoView results map (outcomes model) for them in real-time in the course of one of their monthly meetings. They’re using the visual model as their strategic planning approach (instead of the traditionally long narrative text-based plans many people in such small organizations spend many hours sweating over).
Building a DoView model is a very quick way for a community organization to build a simple but effective strategic plan. Once built they can then show others the model and quickly communicate that they’ve thought through what they’re planning to do. (more…)
Impact evaluation on full program roll-out versus just on piloting - two paradigms June 10, 2009
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Impact evaluation, Attribution, Outcomes systems architecture, Doing evaluation more efficiently, Using the approach, Easy Outcomes , 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…)