<\/p>\n
Robust, dispassionate, scientific<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These are not words typically associated with creative methods of evaluation\u2026 tools that allow people to contribute to evaluation in an active manner using participatory, visual or creative verbal means. Why then am I writing a blog encouraging the use of these tools? Why am I not leaving the relationship map, evaluation wheel and video diary<\/a> far behind me?<\/p>\n I am an advocate of creative evaluation because one size never fits all. As evaluators we have to consider the abilities and needs of the people whose experience or service we want to evaluate, the environment that we are working in and what we really want to know<\/strong>. How can we really capture people\u2019s views, particularly if they are very young, have communication difficulties or come from a \u2018seldom heard\u2019 group? How can we ensure that we are \u2018working with\u2019 rather than \u2018doing to\u2019 the groups with whom our evaluations are concerned? Is a validated questionnaire delivered by an independent party, or another \u2018traditional\u2019 approach the best or only method? Which methods are really going to tell us something meaningful and useful about the difference we are making?<\/p>\n If the goal is to gather a large amount of anonymous information then a questionnaire is the best tool for that job. If we need to explore personal issues in a controlled 1-2-1 setting then an interview is the appropriate method. If we want to make discoveries about people\u2019s journeys, if we want to understand the contribution of our work to our desired outcomes, if we want to tell our combined story<\/strong> for our peers, our funders and the policy makers then creative evaluation has a part to play.<\/p>\n Creative tools can give you meaningful data if they are clearly linked to your outcomes. Consistent use of these tools will allow people supported by services to reflect on their experience in a way that is comfortable and accessible for them. Molly Engle of Oregon State University develops this point in her blog, Evaluation is an everyday activity<\/em><\/a>. If your work is process focussed in nature then your evaluation should be also. If your work is exploratory and unpredictable\u2026 (and fun?) then your evaluation should be also.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This blog post was contributed by Tom Scott, Evaluation Support Scotland<\/em><\/p>\n Tom is the Training Officer for Evaluation Support Scotland (ESS), a charity that works with voluntary organisations and funders so that they can evaluate what they do, learn from that evaluation and deliver better services. You can find many examples of creative evaluation tools and other supportive resources such as guides and templates on the ESS website<\/a>. ESS is partnering with IRISS on Evaluation Exchange.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Robust, dispassionate, scientific These are not words typically associated with creative methods of evaluation\u2026 tools that allow people to contribute to evaluation in an active manner using participatory, visual or creative verbal means. Why then am I writing a blog encouraging the use of these tools? Why am I not leaving the relationship … Continue reading A place for \u2018Creative Evaluation\u2019?<\/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\/74"}],"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=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}