Category Archives: Community programs

A ‘program logic’ for including ‘outsiders’ in evaluation teams

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Patricia Rogers & Jane Davidson

Suppose you are an evaluator looking to put together a team of colleagues to bid on an evaluation of a program that primarily or exclusively targets members of your own ‘culture’ (ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, life/health/social history, profession or disciplinary roots, etc – yes, everyone is a member of several ‘cultures’).

What are the various reasons for including outsiders (people from outside that culture) on your evaluation team? What is the implicit “problem” or “challenge” you would be responding to with that rationale? In what roles would outsiders be involved? How would that influence your evaluation ‘product’ (the services and the report delivered? Continue reading →

Posted in Community programs, Cultural context, Evaluation team composition, Meta-evaluation, Values-based | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Friday funny – reconciling insider views and hard evidence

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Patricia Rogers

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate measurement, Community programs, Cultural context, Friday Funnies, Uncategorized, Values-based | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A fleshed out ‘program logic’ for why and where ‘insiders’ are included in evaluation

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Jane Davidson

**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:
* Implicit “Problem” or “Challenge” Addressed
* Insider Inclusion Rationale
* Likely Practice Implication (How ‘Insiders’ Are Involved)
* Likely Evaluation ‘Product’ Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate criteria and standards, Community programs, Cultural context, Evaluative questions & answers, Government programs, The client's role, Values-based | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The insider/outsider mix: A ‘program logic’ for evaluation team composition

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Patricia Rogers & Jane Davidson

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate measurement, Community programs, Cultural context, Government programs, Values-based | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Culture – insiders’ and outsiders’ insights – and genuine evaluation

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Jane Davidson

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? Continue reading →

Posted in Community programs, Cultural context, Government programs, The client's role, Values-based | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments