When should measurements appear in an outcomes model? September 21, 2007
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Measurement , trackbackOne of the important principles of outcomes theory reflected in the Easy Outcomes approach is that measurements should be kept separate from outcomes in outcomes models. DoView outcomes software is structured to let you do this. This is important because it frees you up from just focusing on the measurable and encourages you to focus on the important - the outcomes you’re trying to achieve. Measurement is always vital, but it should follow on after you’ve specified the outcomes you are trying to achieve. The classic example of where a measurement has inappropriately taken over an outcomes model is Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Sometimes targets are set for a country in terms of the GDP league table. A country would be better off identifying an economic, social and environmental outcome and then look at the best way of measuring these rather than single-mindedly pursuing growth in GDP at the expense of all else.
Opening up a gap between outcomes and their measurement allows the possibility that better means of measuring an outcome may be developed in the future. This also opens up the discussion of what is described in some of the social sciences as the reliability and validity of measures. Reliability is how reproducible a measure is - will different observers come up with roughly the same levels on a measure while validity is whether or not the measure is actually measuring the outcome. In the real world there is often a trade-off between these two and its often important to be aware of this measurement issue.
There is, however, one case where measurements can legitimately be put into outcomes models and this is where they are an active ingredient in a program. This is the case with the Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) outcomes model from the evaluation plan discussed in an earlier blog posting. Here the program was all about measuring the quality of academics’ research output and so the accurate measurement of that appeared as an outcome in the outcomes model developed as the basis for the monitoring and evaluation plan.
Paul Duignan (outcomesblog.org)
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