Reporting and Using Evaluation Results
Evaluation is an essential tool for project management. It is a powerful means to demonstrate the potential value of an initiative and gain the support needed to sustain effective activities and desired outcomes. The ability of partners and stakeholders to understand whether or not an initiative is making a difference in the community—and to articulate this understanding to people who would be involved in sustaining the initiative’s efforts—is critical.
All too often, evaluations are conducted and the results sit stagnant on hard drives, in file drawers, or on bookshelves. This pitfall can be avoided when project staff and partners take on an active role in the evaluation and work with their evaluator to ensure that the right questions are being asked and that they are not collecting data just for the sake of collecting data. To maximize the utility of evaluation data, it is important to think through the end use of each piece of information being collected. This can be facilitated by working with staff and partners to identify the priorities of the initiative along with the level of information desired for each strategy or activity.
Questions to Guide Your Thinking
- Which strategies/activities do you and your partners want to know the most about? Some questions to consider include: 1) which strategies/activities serve the largest number of people; 2) which have not yet been evaluated, either in your setting or elsewhere; and, 3) which represent the biggest investment of resources?
- Have you asked yourself what information you will want to know about these strategies/activities, why you want to know these things, and what you might do as a result of receiving this information?
- Does your evaluation plan reflect the level of detail desired for each strategy/activity and reflect your priorities?
- Is your evaluator collecting continuous quality improvement data that can be used to identify implementation problems and point to potential corrections?
- Are the views, concerns, and priorities of all your partners reflected in the evaluation plan? Have your partners reviewed the evaluation plan and provided their feedback?
Once the data have been received, it is important to present them to people in ways that are understandable and easily communicated to others. This might include the use of charts and graphs to visually display important information, and the use of anecdotes to help humanize the data. Positive evaluation data can build institutional, political, and community support for sustaining your initiative’s components. People are more likely to support the dedication of resources to continue a program if they can see that it is making a real difference in their community.
Questions to Guide Your Thinking
- Have you and your evaluator discussed how data will be reported (e.g., reports, fact sheets, slides, and overheads) and how frequently data will be reported?
- Have you thought about how you plan to use the information you receive (including potential audiences)?
- Are all your data reports written in a style and using a vocabulary that the intended audience can understand?
- Do you have a plan in place for sharing positive evaluation results with the local media to help build public support for your initiative and to build credibility with the media so they will assist you, for example, in publicizing your public education or community outreach events?
