Assumptions in Program Design and Evaluation
Complex systems or complex behavior? Part 1 of a 10-part series on how complexity can produce better insight on what programs do, and why
This is part 1 of 10 blog posts I’m writing to convey the information that I present in various workshops and lectures that I deliver about complexity. I’m an evaluator so I think in terms of evaluation, but I’m convinced that what I’m saying is equally applicable for planning.
Complexity has awkward implications for program designers and evaluators – Part 2 of a 10-part series on how complexity can produce better insight on what programs do, and why
This is part 2 of 10 blog posts I’m writing to convey the information that I present in various workshops and lectures that I deliver about complexity. I’m an evaluator so I think in terms of evaluation, but I’m convinced that what I’m saying is equally applicable for planning.
Workshop: Logic Models — Beyond the Traditional View
We will move beyond the traditional view of logic models to examine their applicability, value, and relatability to attendees’ experiences.
Workshop: Grappling With the Unexpected From Firefighting to Systematic Action
All evaluators deal with unintended events that foul their evaluation plans. Either the program does not work as planned, or the evaluation does not work as planned, or both. Usually we treat these situations as fires, i.e. we exercise our skills to meet the crisis.
Why Do Hospitals Coordinate Activities As They Do? Or: What I Learned From My Hip Surgery
Thanks to having my artificial hip overhauled, I became motivated to apply my interest in coordination to hospital settings.
What to Do When Impacts Shift and Evaluation Design Requires Stability?
How to measure impact if impact is a moving target?
Unintended consequences, Development, and Democracy
Unintended consequences, Development, and Democracy
Systems as Program Theory and as Methodology: A Hands on Approach over the Evaluation Life Cycle: Workshop at the American Evaluation Association Summer Institute
1) What do systems “look like” in terms of form and structure? 2) How do systems behave? 3) How can systems be used to develop program theory, as a methodology, and as a framework for data interpretation? 4) How should a systems approach be used along different parts of an evaluation life cycle – from initial design to reporting?
System design: Requirements, complexity, and cost
Systems that meet relatively small numbers of requirements will usually give people most of what they need. (If not most of what they want.) But people, many of whom should know better, insist on having it all, and thus doom themselves to building systems that fail.
Evaluation Uncertainty 