Designing internal evaluation for a small organization with limited resources

Abstract

The

Measuring Evaluation Capacity in Ontario Public Health Units

“…Th is was somewhat surprising-we had expected some infl uence of size on EC, based on previous studies such as the Kegeles, Rebchook, and Tebbetts (2005) paper that commented that smaller community-based organizations, "which have fewer fi nancial and staffi ng resources, seemed to perceive evaluation to be a burden that detracted from programming" (p. 293). Our fi ndings instead seem to support Baron (2011) : "no matter what the size of the organization, internal evaluation can be a prevalent, thriving activity that reaches beyond the political, economic, or social barriers to propel the organization forward" (p. 88).…”

“…Several conceptual and empirically derived frameworks have been proposed by researchers to better organize and categorize our understanding of evaluation capacity (e.g., Bourgeois & Cousins, 2013 ;Labin, Duff y, Meyers, Wandersman, & Lesesne, 2012 ;Preskill & Boyle, 2008 ). For the most part, these frameworks tend to refl ect similar components of EC (see Bourgeois, 2016 , for a comparison of fi ve frameworks of EC). Some of them have in turn yielded measurement models and instruments that enable organizations to situate their current evaluation capacity against a series of set criteria or standards, and develop appropriate ECB strategies (see for example: Bourgeois, Toews, Whynot, & Lamarche, 2013 ;Nielsen, Lemire, & Skov, 2011 ;Taylor-Ritzler, Suarez-Balcazar, Garcia-Iriarte, Henry, & Balcazar, 2013 ).…”

Evaluation Literacy: Perspectives of Internal Evaluators in Non-Government Organizations

“…Despite these early mentions, the move toward defining evaluation literacy did not really start until the focus on organizational evaluation capacity increased. Bourgeois' (2008 ) doctoral thesis defines evaluation literacy as "the extent to which organizational members are familiar with evaluation principles and practices" (p. 81). A special issue of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation in 2008 focuses on organizational capacity for evaluation.…”

“…The World Health Organization (WHO, 1998) describes health literacy as "the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health" (p. 10). We have combined the Bourgeois (2008 ) and WHO (1998 ) definitions to propose a new definition. Evaluation literacy is the cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use evalu ative information in ways that ultimately contribute to achieving organizational goals.…”

Knowledge Translation to Enhance Evaluation Use: A Case Example

“…How evaluation is undertaken, what approaches are adopted, what questions are asked, how the information is collected, and how the evaluative information is used varies greatly among organizations (Gill, 2010). Foundations source evaluation expertise in many ways to implement inquiry, feedback, reflection, and change, and to make value judgments (Baron, 2011;Beere, 2005;Bourgeois, Hart, Townsend, & Gagne, 2011). But despite the potential benefits of evaluation and the variety of approaches to it that are undertaken, the problem of evaluation use by foundation leaders and decision makers still exists.…”