aes18 International Evaluation Conference

Gerard Atkinson (ARTD Consultants)

A key principle of utilisation-focused evaluation is that it needs to be useful to stakeholders, whether they are evaluation commissioners, policy developers, or the general public. Much of the theory of utilisation-focused evaluation centres on the process of evaluations, and the early and sustained engagement of stakeholders. Consideration is also given to the way an evaluation is communicated, a.k.a. the "deliverable", focusing on tailoring the communication of findings to match how different stakeholders absorb information. 

In prior decades, the sole deliverable was almost always a written report. As users of evaluations became more time poor, visual techniques for conveying information gained popularity. Slideshow presentations became a key part of communicating findings, to the point of replacing written reports in some cases. More recently, as evaluations have utilised large data sets and responded to a desire to make findings interactive, dashboards have gained in prominence as the core deliverable. However, each of these are imperfect solutions. Slideshows often omit some of the technical details required by those seeking to operationalise the findings, and dashboards are strongly focused on presenting quantitative analyses. So the question arises: what's next?

This interactive session is an opportunity for participants to bring their own ideas and needs, and brainstorm what might be the next step in the evolution of the evaluation deliverable. Starting with an overview of the evolution of the deliverable and the aims of utilisation-focused evaluation, participants will then work together in small groups with creative stimuli to explore ideas for new types of deliverables that overcome current challenges in usability and communication. Groups will consider what the next generation deliverable might look like, how it might be developed in an evaluation process, how it fits with existing deliverables, and what skills will be needed to design and deliver these in collaboration with stakeholders.