The day was split into three main sections: establishing the group and its purpose, general discussion and training around evaluation and specific work on individual evaluation projects. Getting to know you\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n From the outset it was clear that everyone was really engaged with and enthusiastic about the peer support aspect of the group, with people talking about being excited about being open and honest, working in partnership <\/p>\n We also agreed some criteria about the success of the programme. We agreed that our participation would have been successful if:<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We have a robust evaluation Evaluation \u2013 so what?<\/strong><\/p>\n Members of the group had a number of reasons for wanting to undertake evaluations including:<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Showing how well we are doing \u201cWe need to show how good we are\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Show we are making a difference to people\u2019s lives<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very strongly, we KNOW it\u2019s making a difference so we want it to continue. So we NEED an evidence base.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Seeing where we might need to get better<\/p>\n \u201c[Evaluation] stops you assuming what is working well for you. You can get complacent when everyone says it\u2019s a great project but this helps you break it down and shine a light on what\u2019s really going on.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n However, for everyone in the group (perhaps unsurprisingly since they had applied to take part in a peer support network!) evaluation was seen to be really important.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no getting away from it, especially in social work, we work purely on an evidence base\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m passionate about evaluating our work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n During the session facilitated by Tom from ESS, the So What? game particularly struck a chord with the group. The game is designed to help you decide whether or not an issue you have decided to evaluate i This process generated a lot of discussion that touched on some of the more challenging aspects of evaluation. The group talked the difficulties in making connections between different levels of outcomes \u2013 personal, organisational and those from funders or government \u2013 and in turn this led on to the fundamental question of who the evaluation is being done for \u2013 is it for our own organisations to help us improve the services we provide or is it to meet reporting requirements or secure funding? And what is the correct balance between these needs? This also sparked discussion around the challenges of measuring \u2018softer\u2019 outcomes and how best to really include the voices of those we are working with in evaluation. \u201cEvaluations should make sense to the people we work with \u2013 that should be at the centre. But is it? Or is government\/funders? Reconciling service and service user outcomes is difficult, it\u2019s a process.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Specific projects<\/strong><\/p>\n Each member of the group had come prepared to present for 5 minutes on their project, which we did before splitting into three smaller groups with the purpose of clarifying evaluation questions, deciding what is needed to answer those questions and how Evaluation Exchange can help. The success of this part of the session was mixed. While the work on individual projects led to interesting discussion and reflection, we felt that at this stage clarity on evaluation questions was not wholly achieved. Given the different stages of thinking that the group members began at, this was likely inevitable. The facilitators were also wary of their role in the small groups being perceived as \u2018the expert\u2019 and this undermining the crucial peer support aspect of the project.<\/p>\n What are we going to do next?<\/strong><\/p>\n We worked with the group to identify priorities for future sessions. We agreed that at each future session we would split the time between working on individual projects and addressing key evaluation challenges. Throughout the first session a number of issues and challenges in relation to evaluation were raised and, for the next session on 5th December, the group has agreed to concentrate on:<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Evaluation methods \u2013 traditional and creative And in between times we will, of course, be thinking about what we learned at the first meeting, keeping in touch via Basecamp \u2013 our shared online space \u2013 or however else we choose, and working on our evaluation projects. We will also be reflecting on the following two questions:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How good is my organisation at evaluation?<\/em><\/p>\n To help you answer that question you could consider these 4 statements<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We know what to evaluate because we have clear outcomes for our organisation or \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 project 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If your participation in Evaluation Exchange were to have an impact on your organisation (not just you) what’s one thing that might change or be different in your organisation or colleagues?<\/em><\/p>\n We invite you to do likewise!<\/strong><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first meeting of Evaluation Exchange, the peer support group for self-evaluators facilitated by IRISS (Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services) and ESS (Evaluation Support Scotland), was held on Wednesday 31st October and was, by all accounts, a really successful, productive meeting. Our ten peer-evaluators come from the third and statutory sectors and … Continue reading Evaluation Exchange has started – So what?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/files\/2012\/11\/IMG_0260-300x224.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/files\/2012\/11\/excites-and-challenges-300x224.jpg\")
<\/a>, discovering answers together and hearing from new people and new perspectives. Challenges were also acknowledged mainly under the banner of keeping focused and finding the time to prioritise evaluation amid competing demands. Nevertheless, we felt that it was important to make time outside of our meetings to reflect on what we are learning, to check in with each other and to work on our evaluations.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We have an evaluation system in place
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We can \u2018crack outcomes\u2019
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We have new ideas to take forward in our organisations
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We can streamline monitoring and evaluation
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We are energised and excited about evaluation
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We can motivate or enthuse our colleagues<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/files\/2012\/11\/So-what-300x224.jpg\")
<\/a>s really an outcome \u2013 unless you can answer the question \u201cSo what?\u201d convincingly then you are not measuring an outcome \u2013 but rather an output or an indicator.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/files\/2012\/11\/Its-an-outcome-300x224.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\u201cMakes you wonder if it\u2019s all about the people you work with?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Involving service users in evaluation<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We have appropriate systems for collecting information \/ data about our outcomes
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We can analyse and report on our outcomes
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We use learning from evaluation in our ongoing work<\/p>\n