{"id":94,"date":"2013-01-04T14:40:06","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T14:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/?p=94"},"modified":"2014-04-24T10:17:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T09:17:27","slug":"discovering-the-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/2013\/01\/04\/discovering-the-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering the Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Analysis is a scary word. Qualitative analysis is a scary phrase. Upon reading this phrase I am immediately transported to a lonely desk in a darkened side room where I sit hunched with head in hand\u2026 pouring over interview responses and client quotes at 11pm on a Sunday. Perhaps your picture is not quite as bleak! My picture has certainly improved over the years as I have learned more about evaluation and analysis and how valuable the process can be in telling the story of my clients. In evaluation, analysis is the part of the process that needs time set aside to allow us to discover the meaning behind the messages<\/strong>. Taking the time to make sense of the information we collect improves our reports and leads to better activities and outcomes for our clients. It can also provide a welcome morale boost by reminding us in rich colour… the difference we are making.<\/p>\n

We have collected data from our clients using multiple methods and now a report is due. We need to discover the story so that we can tell it. This process often starts with theme generation. This is where you sift through a collection of responses (any qualitative data) and identify similarities. The responses can then be grouped by their commonality \u2013 this is called coding<\/strong>. Typically this word based analysis is done by counting word repetition or identifying key words in the context of our outcomes. Another word based analysis technique that is useful for the voluntary sector is looking for key indigenous terms. The idea is that human experience is marked by \u2018tribal vocabulary\u2019 or using words and phrases in a \u2018localised\u2019 way. This method fits well with the idea of participatory appraisal \u2013 people telling their own story in their own way using their own language.<\/p>\n

While there are other methods of qualitative analysis the ones I described above are simple, clear and not overly time consuming. If you have more time there are plenty of ways to expand your analysis. Scrutinising your information by comparing it to other sets will provide more insights and noting information that\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0fit easily into identified themes can provide evidence for unexpected outcomes. Also, examining in detail why a defined outcome appears unsupported can yield interesting results\u2026 much can be learned from a text by what is not mentioned<\/strong>. All of the above will add value but your evaluation has to be appropriate to the size and scope of your organisation. Don\u2019t overburden yourself with good intentions! Also, don\u2019t do this on your own! Allowing different people to formulate ideas independently and then come to agreement as a group adds rigour to your findings. The \u201cEvaluation Springboard<\/a>\u201d website has a basic \u2018how-to\u2019 guide that includes some tips on making sense of collected information. Finally, remember to keep a copy of your outcomes handy and you won\u2019t go far wrong!<\/p>\n

Tom Scott<\/p>\n

Tom is the Training Officer for Evaluation Support Scotland, 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 advice on analysing and reporting and other supportive resources such as guides and templates on the ESS website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analysis is a scary word. Qualitative analysis is a scary phrase. Upon reading this phrase I am immediately transported to a lonely desk in a darkened side room where I sit hunched with head in hand\u2026 pouring over interview responses and client quotes at 11pm on a Sunday. Perhaps your picture is not quite as … Continue reading Discovering the Story<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"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":[6186,6951,6953,6950],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94"}],"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\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/evalexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}