A Practitioner’s Guide to Evaluating Social Change Initiatives for Adults Using Quantitative Methodologies in Excel

Abstract

Practitioners of adult education have a long history of teaching for social change. They may, however, be uncomfortable using quantitative methods to assess the impact of their learning activities, or they might lack access to statistical analysis software. Quantitative methods help the practitioner determine whether behavioral or attitudinal change among participants is more likely linked to their learning intervention than to chance. This is crucial information for practitioners to secure support or funding for their learning programs. We, therefore, created this guide to try and make quantitative methodologies for measuring social change accessible to practitioners through provision of instruction and resources and by using Microsoft Excel to conduct the analyses.