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 A nice example of collecting and then communicating data comes from the Stop Stock-Outs site. During ‘pill check week’, researchers visited public health institutions countrywide and checked on the availability of a list of 10 essential medicines. These are medicines that should be readily available in public health facilities. Using innovative technology, the team then reported the Read the whole post –> Stop Stock-Outs: Interactive graph of data collected by SMS The new funding rules for the US Department of Education’s $650 million Investing in Innovation appear based on an out-of-date model of evidence-based policy and hierarchy of evidence. Recent developments in our understanding of evidence-based policy would suggest changes are needed to the selection criteria and to how successful proposals will be Read the whole post –> Investing In Innovation – a need to apply what we know about evidence-based policy One of the challenges for genuine evaluation is striking a balance between being overly bold in statements and overly cautious. An example of an analysis that seems to strike this balance is in the Health: Best Treatments blog (a joint project of The British Medical Journal and The Guardian newspaper) of the limitations of recent research that reported: About 1 in 100 people are ‘addicted’ to using the internet, and these people have a greater risk of becoming Read the whole post –> Does excessive Internet use cause depression? A salutary reminder that just because things are measured precisely (such as money) doesn’t mean that the measurements are valid or useful. As reported by Louise Story, Landon Thomas Jr and Nelson D. Schwartz, in the New York Times on 13 Feb 2010 : As in the American subprime crisis and the implosion of the American Read the whole post –> What you measure and how you measure it – the Greek financial example The satirical blog “HR International” provides a wincing description of how not to include insiders in planning and evaluation processes: … it was proposed that HRI will develop a radio spot, to go with the acclaimed “edutainment” program already implemented by one of our implementing partners. Tengetile the displaced woman said that she knows nobody in the Read the whole post –> Friday funny – reconciling insider views and hard evidence  **Revised and updated, March 4th** Here’s an elaborated version of the table presented in our earlier post that discussed the implicit reasons for creating evaluation teams with cultural (and other) ‘insiders’ in different proportions and in different roles. The table is presented in four columns: Read the whole post –> A fleshed out ‘program logic’ for why and where ‘insiders’ are included in evaluation  What are some of the different rationales for building an evaluation team that includes cultural ‘insiders’? And, what implications do those rationales have for what roles cultural (and other) ‘insiders’ play in an evaluation? In this joint post from Patricia Rogers and Jane Davidson, we ponder these questions as a discussion starter. Read the whole post –> The insider/outsider mix: A ‘program logic’ for evaluation team composition Is certainty of measurement the most important criterion for impact evaluation? Colin Burrows has set forward a tongue-in-cheek proposal for measuring the impact of research undertaken in universities – the Impact-o-meter. This satirical piece raises serious questions about the cost, precision and implications of measuring impact. As an aside, Australia had developed a framework for assessing Read the whole post –> The Impact-o-meter The second-funniest joke in the world, according to Richard Wiseman’s LaughLab, was the joke submitted by Geoff Anandappa of Blackpool, which is clearly about the importance of focusing key messages in evaluation summaries. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see.” Read the whole post –> Friday funny – drawing conclusions One great area of interest for me is the study of organizational culture and organizational culture change. I’d like to present a few ideas from that area and see how they apply to the concept of culture more generally. And, how these insights might be able to drive us closer to genuine evaluation. What mix of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ can provide rich insights into what really matters and help surface important undiscussables? Read the whole post –> Culture – insiders’ and outsiders’ insights – and genuine evaluation |
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