Workshop – Complex Behavior in Models, Methodology, and Metrics – Page 2

June 6, 2019June 20, 2019 jamorell Workshop – Complex Behavior in Models, Methodology, and Metrics

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.

Eat dessert first. Life is uncertain.
Good advice. True observation.

Any yet, we must soldier on, trying to predict what will happen and to explain why things work out as they do. My professional life has grappled with prediction and explanation through the lens of program evaluation. I have come to appreciate how much, and how little, evaluation can tell us. Sometimes it is “much”. Sometime is “little”. Sometimes it is “much” and “little” at the same time. This blog expresses my engagement with what evaluation can do, what it cannot do, what it should do, and what it should not do. About the graphic.