What is Evaluation?
E-VALU-ation has the word “value” in it for a reason
Evaluation doesn’t just describe the results and leave it to the client make their own judgments.
Evaluation asks and answers questions about the quality, value, and/or importance of things (design, implementation, outputs, outcomes, impacts, the project/program/policy/etc as a whole, and so on).
That means asking not just what the results are, but how good they are – and on what basis we draw that conclusion.
How do we figure out how good results are?
By using evaluation-specific methodologies – the methodologies that are distinctive to evaluation.
Evaluation-specific methodologies take us beyond description to draw conclusions using values.
Examples include:
- needs, strengths, and values assessments
- merit determination methodologies (e.g., using evaluative reasoning, sometimes with rubrics)
- importance weighting methodologies (both qualitative and quantitative)
- evaluative synthesis methodologies (combining evaluative ratings on multiple dimensions or components to come to overall conclusions)
- value-for-money analysis (not just standard cost-effective analysis or SROI, but also strategies for handling VfM analysis that involves a lot of intangibles, for example)
Evaluation-specific methodologies are how we get systematically and transparently from evidence about performance (the numbers, stories, and graphs) to crisp, clear evaluative conclusions that decision makers can really use.
Lift your evaluation team’s game by adding some more evaluation-specific methodologies to their repertoire!