Platform for Evaluation Expertise
I raised a few eyebrows last week when I mentioned the idea of Evaluation-Specific Methodology (ESM) as being an essential part of what defines us as a discipline.
Of course, a large proportion of people who identify as evaluators consider that evaluation is merely the application of social science research methods to support decision
Read the whole post –> Evaluation-Specific Methodology: The methodologies that are distinctive to evaluation
Getting the definition of evaluation right is not simply a matter of having a popularity vote about it.
The fact that so many don’t see a clear difference between evaluation and other pursuits (such as research, monitoring, audit, organization development, management consulting) doesn’t mean that there isn’t one.
I just couldn’t resist commenting on
Read the whole post –> What is evaluation? Getting clarity about who we are as a profession, and a discipline
I often see the terms monitoring and evaluation used in the same breath, and have heard many comment that M&E is usually much more M than E.
It seems to me that the lack of a clear distinction between the two means that evaluation is getting shortchanged.
So, what is the difference?
Monitoring and
Read the whole post –> Monitoring and evaluation: Let’s get crystal clear on the difference
No baseline? Not ideal, but there are ways around it. A few tips …
The first places I go are (a) the people who were around early on when the program or policy was launched and (b) the documentation that got it approved and funded.
Somewhere in there you will find “why we needed
Read the whole post –> No baseline? A few tips
Is anyone else amazed at how the evaluation landscape has changed this year?
There are always some changes in *what* pops up content-wise, but the thing that strikes me this year is *how* we are able to access the content.
Blogs, tweets, podcasts, and social networking
There is a pretty good line-up of evaluation
Read the whole post –> Evaluation blogs, tweets, podcasts, social media – and some new webinars to check out!
This week we hinted on twitter that we’d have a high-profile guest to interview.
Today, Jane Davidson interviews the President! [Sorry, folks; we couldn't resist playing with this in the run-up to the US elections! We debated it and agreed before we started the interview, of course. ]
Yes, it’s Professor Rodney Hopson, president
Read the whole post –> Interview with the President! A new podcast from Genuine Evaluation
Jane Davidson interviews Drs. Tererai Trent, Mary Crave, & Kerry Zaleski about their forthcoming AEA workshop: Reality Counts: Participatory methods for engaging vulnerable and under-represented persons in monitoring and evaluation. The approach and methods go beyond funder-driven indicators and focus on “whose reality counts” – capturing community and participant values to help define what a “valuable outcome” or a “good solution” would look like in their reality.
Read the whole post –> Reality Counts: Hot new AEA workshop on participatory M&E with vulnerable populations
The evaluation community has long discussed the rising prices of evaluation texts and guides, and the difficulties of accessing a good selection of evaluation books and resources in some parts of the world.
Some of the heaviest selling texts are now clocking in at over US$100, which is also hefty for graduate students buying
Read the whole post –> The world’s first evaluation e-minibook? Actionable Evaluation Basics
Today’s the very last day to save a few dollars on your registration for the American Evaluation Association conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Get in now for the early bird rates!
But even more importantly, those professional development workshops sell like hotcakes and will be filling fast, so if you don’t grab
Read the whole post –> A 2-D look at the staggering array of AEA workshops – early bird registration closes today!
Early bird registration closes Sept 20th for the world’s biggest evaluation conference, the American Evaluation Association meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
With association president Rodney Hopson‘s thought-provoking theme – Evaluation in Complex Ecologies: Relationships, Responsibilities, Relevance – it should be a stimulating conference!
But what’s especially important to YOU as a genuine evaluator this week?
Read the whole post –> 45 amazing (and cheap!) evaluation workshops at the AEA conference in Minneapolis!
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