Research & Evaluation Archives - Nicole Clark Consulting

21 Jun, 2023

Try This: Data Sense Making

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-06-21T10:55:04-04:00June 21st, 2023|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Data Driven, Data Sense-Making, Evaluative Thinking, Try This|0 Comments

*Try this and let me know how it goes for you.*

Getting clear on why you’re collecting data shifts your organization from being reactive to proactively data driven.

You know why you’re collecting data. You may even have data. What do you do with it?

Let’s try data sense making.

Data sense making is a partnership, guided by listening, collaboration, curiosity, and perspective sharing. Gather around and let’s try this activity.

This activity is ideal for:

Anyone responsible for leading data collection and sense making processes
Anyone interested in applying evaluative thinking
Anyone interested in new ways to engaging stakeholders

What you’ll need:

A setup conducive to capturing ideas (laptop, pen and paper, whiteboard, etc.). Make sure your notes are kept in a place where you can refer back to
Depending on the size of the evaluation, allocate between 1 – 3 hours of time for your session
Consider the time of the session and the lives of the participants

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14 Jun, 2023

Before You Start Collecting Data, Read This

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-06-14T10:58:35-04:00June 14th, 2023|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Data Driven, Data Sense-Making, Evaluative Thinking|0 Comments

The first evaluation I ever led was for The Doula Project. My relationship to The Doula Project started with being a volunteer as a graduate student, and joining the board of directors a few years later.

Based on feedback from the organization’s Leadership Circle, there was a gradual decrease in volunteer shift sign-ups, and as a volunteer-led organization, the board wanted to understand why.

We learned that, despite having over 100 volunteers at the time and expanding to more clinics in most of New York City’s boroughs, volunteer engagement decreased. Why?

Once I graduated and began working full time, I didn’t have time to volunteer anymore. Majority of the volunteers that engaged in the evaluation had the same experience. Also, majority of the volunteers were transient. Many New York City college and graduate students tend to leave the city after graduation. For the ones that stay, transitioning from school to employment presents barriers on volunteering. And for The Doula Project, many of the shifts were during the work week.

Another thing the board and the Leadership Circle wanted to explore was the impact of the organization’s recruitment efforts. As a volunteer, most of the women I helped were women of color, and this was reflected in the experiences of the volunteer base. This was important because, while the organization served mostly people of color, majority of the volunteer base identified as white.

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7 Jun, 2023

Ask Nicole: Should Research Come Before Evaluation?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-06-07T11:07:37-04:00June 7th, 2023|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Ask Nicole, evaluation, Research|0 Comments

Have a question you’d like to be featured? Let me know.

This question comes from Larissa, a graduate student in Arizona. Larissa write:

Hi Nicole,

I’m a graduate student currently taking a class about research and evaluation. I also just finished a course in evaluations within education and training.

My first assignment is to distinguish between evaluation and research and I must say that your post [“Ask Nicole: What’s the Difference Between Research and Evaluation?”] has given me the clearest examples of the difference. Thank you for that!

My question to you is can you please elaborate on when circumstances are more appropriate for research than evaluation? Having more of an evaluation background now, I tend to lean towards evaluation first. Is it just that research should be done before evaluation?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

In “Ask Nicole: What’s the Difference Between Research and Evaluation?“, I explained that how research and evaluation are both data collection and analysis tools. While research focuses on gaining or contributing new knowledge on a topic based on previous theories, evaluation is used to understand the effectiveness of a program for decision-making.

To answer Larissa’s question of whether research should be done before an evaluation, the answer is: It depends on the context (which is a very evaluator response.)

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15 Mar, 2023

Try This: Move Away from Funder-Driven Evaluation

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-03-15T14:54:50-04:00March 15th, 2023|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Data Sense-Making, Evaluative Thinking, program design, Try This|0 Comments

Try this out and let me know how it goes for you.

I was a panelist on a recent webinar, discussing community and structural interventions to support maternal health equity.

During the conversation, I shared an evaluation struggle:

Evaluation is used to meet funder expectations, instead of serving as a learning tool for organizations.

A few years ago, I worked with an organization that received funding to build their evaluation capacity.

It was fun because I felt like a professor, creating an easy to understand curriculum on evaluation. Also, the staff who self-selected into this process were tasked with training departmental staff in building their evaluation capacity.

Unfortunately, organizations aren’t oriented to see evaluation in this way. Program evaluation is viewed as a means to an end, a funder request to confirm that funding was spent as intended. They’re asked to conduct “rigorous” evaluations on “evidence-based” programs, without any conversation on what rigor and evidence-based actually mean to an organization.

Before an evaluation begins, I recommend working with programming staff to clarify the program’s purpose AND what program success looks like for staff. Then, you use this to create an evaluation process that balances staff priorities and funder expectations.

This activity is ideal for:

Anyone responsible for leading data collection and sense making processes
Anyone interested in applying evaluative thinking into their work

What you’ll need:

A setup conducive to capturing ideas (laptop, pen and paper, whiteboard, etc.). Make sure your notes are kept in a place where you can refer back to

The steps:

The goal of this activity is explore what it means to move away from funder-driven evaluation.

A funder-driven evaluation centers funder priorities over staff and program participants. In order to move away from funder-driven evaluation, these commitments are needed:

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8 Jun, 2022

What Gets Measured Doesn’t Always Matter

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2022-06-06T23:05:44-04:00June 8th, 2022|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Data, Data Driven, Evaluative Thinking|0 Comments

In one of my earlier evaluation projects, I spoke with a program participant, who received a grant from my client organization to use towards a community-based event focused on community-level breastfeeding education.

She felt that their event had not been successful because, in her eyes, the event wasn’t well attended. I believe the attendee goal was around 75-100 attendees, but maybe less than half of that number showed up.

Putting on my social worker hat, we talked through their feelings on why a large turnout mattered.

“The more people that show up, the greater my impact is”, she said. “More people will know about breastfeeding, how to get support, and also where to go for formula in case breastfeeding isn’t working out.”

While she was frustrated that the intended number of attendees didn’t show, she also highlighted an unintended outcome: The attendees that did show actively participated and stayed the entire day. They filled out the post-event evaluation survey (which can often be a struggle to do after an event), and they’ve stayed in contact to learn more about how they can advocate for positive breast and chest feeding experiences in their community, and advocate for formula support.

A bonus: Her supervisor promoted her. Years later, she now runs her own nonprofit, focusing on breastfeeding and chest feeding awareness.

It may be tempting to think higher numbers mean more impact. This is likely due to organizations being motivated to be data driven as someone is requesting this. Most likely, a funder.

When we think about the people behind the numbers, it’s important to consider the WHY behind the numbers we’re focusing on.

From the number of social media followers you have, to the number of people that show up to your event, it’s easy to pay attention to the optics.

But sometimes what we’re measuring doesn’t always matter.

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Try This: Data Sense Making

Before You Start Collecting Data, Read This

Ask Nicole: Should Research Come Before Evaluation?

Try This: Move Away from Funder-Driven Evaluation

What Gets Measured Doesn’t Always Matter

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