Browse Research and Publications Resources
-
Failing to learn and learning to fail (intelligently): How great organizations put failure to work to improve and innovate The paper provides insight into what makes learning from failure so difficult to put into practice. The authors address the question of why organizations fail to learn from failure. They identify pernicious barriers embedded in both technical and social systems that make collective learning processes unusual in organizations, and present recommendations for what managers can do to overcome these barriers.
Author: Mark D. Cannon and Amy C. Edmondson Type: Research & Reports Date: Feb 5, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Download (388.5 KB) -
Free Resources for Program Evaluation and Social Research Methods This page lists FREE resources for program evaluation and social research methods. The focus is on "how-to" do evaluation research and the methods used: surveys, focus groups, sampling, interviews, and other methods. Most of these links are to resources that can be read over the web. A few, like the GAO books, are for books that can be sent away for, for free (if you live in the US), as well as read over the web. Author: Gene Shackman Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Nov 22, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Gender and Poverty Project: Gender Analysis Tools Gender Analysis is a tool for examining the differences between the roles that women and men play, the different levels of power they hold, their differing needs, constraints and opportunities, and the impact of these differences on their lives.
This three-part Gender Analysis toolkit contains the following sections:
- Definitions
- Part I: The Basics
- Part II: Taking Steps to Do Gender Analysis in Our Communities
- Part III: Gender Analysis Tools
Author: Toby Goldberg Leong, Catherine Lang, and Marina Biasutti Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2005 Be the first to review this resource! Download (484.32 KB) -
Grantcraft: Evaluation Technique Series To help grantmakers understand some newer evaluative approaches and weigh their advantages, GrantCraft has developing a collection of briefing notes. Each note explains the basics of one technique and answers some common questions about its use. A mini-case, based on one grantmaker’s experiences, is featured in each guide. Additional literature about the topic is also provided.
Participatory Action Research - Involving "All The Players" in Evaluation and Change
Author: Grantcraft Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Guide to Monitoring and Evaluating policy influence Author: Harry Jones Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Feb 23, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (171.99 KB) -
How Can We Help Out Grantees Strengthen Their Capacity for Evaluation? There is a widespread and growing recognition in the nonprofit sector about the importance of evaluation--not only for measuring impact, but also for improving programs and better serving communities. While grantmakers generally see evaluation as necessary, most are not yet investing enough resources in this area. In 2014, nearly three quarters of nonprofits reported that their funders "rarely or never" fund impact measurement costs.
Author: Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 1, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Download (728.72 KB) -
How to Design a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for a Policy Research Project This guidance note focuses on the designing and structuring of a monitoring and evaluation framework for policy research projects and programmes.
The primiary audience for this guidance note is people designing and managing monitoring and evaluation. However, it will be a useful tool for anyone involved in monitoring and evaluation activities.
The framework presented in this guidance note is intended to be used in a flexible manner depending on the purpose and characteristics of the research project.
Author: Methods Lab Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2016 Be the first to review this resource! Download (346.06 KB) -
How to Perform Evaluations and Evaluation Reports This Guide was prepared to assist evaluators faced with the task of preparing evaluation reports. A focus is brought to:
1) identifying what CIDA expects from evaluation reports,2) instilling a results–based approach to their preparation, and
3) enhancing the value–added of the final product.
Author: Canadian International Development Agency Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2002 Be the first to review this resource! Download (234.54 KB) -
How to Use Data Visualization to Better Tell Your Story Memos and metrics, emails and texts, newsletters and reports: Is your organization suffering from information overload? We consume 34 gigabytes, or 100,500 words, of information every day. Our brains are overwhelmed and struggling to keep up. Data visualization–or dataviz–is one of the strongest weapons against information overload. Author: Ann Emery Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: Feb 1, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
ILAC Brief 16: "Contribution analysis: An approach to exploring cause and effect" In this brief from Biodiversity International's Institutional Learning and Change Initiative (ILAC), John Mayne discusses the steps involved in contribution analysis (including the development of a theory of change), an evaluation approach that may be useful when others are not practical. More specifically, Mayne provides an example of an evaluation capacity building project for agricultural research organizations. Author: Mayne, John Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: May 1, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (129.56 KB) -
Impact Evaluation in Practice This book provides an overview of impact evaluation from the perspective of the Wold Bank.
Author: Paul J. Gertler, Sebastian Martinez, Patrick Premand, Laura B. Rawlings, Christel M. J. Vermeersch Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (3.06 MB) -
Innovation for Successful Societies "Country Experiences Case Studies" The ISS Country Experiences case series chronicles reformers' efforts to gather support for reform and build institutions in a wide array of contexts. Cases start with a problem and a decision maker, then explore the options considered, implementation challenges, mid-course corrections, and results. The cases rest on interviews with reform leaders, advisers, and critics or monitors.
Case studies include a diverse number of policy focus areas including
Author: Princeton University Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Integrating Evaluative Capacity Into Organizational Practice: A Guide for Nonprofit & Philanthropic Organizations & Their Stakeh This publication, Integrating Evaluative Capacity into Organizational Practice, was developed in response to the continuing need expressed by nonprofit trainees to further assess and operationalize evaluative thinking. It extends information first provided in 2006 in a series of short, electronic articles called Evaluative Thinking Bulletins. The guidebook is intended to
answer the following questions:Author: Anita Baker and Beth Bruner Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jun 1, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.87 MB) -
Learning from Your Neighbor: Public Policy Dispute Resolution and Public Participation Maureen Berner and John Stephens from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government presented the following slides at the 2008 American Evaluation Association Conference. This presentation, in conjunction with a paper of the same title, compares and constrasts the evaluation of public policy dispute resolution (PPDR) and public participation (PP) programs.
Author: Berner, Maureen; Stephens, John Type: Presentation Slides Date: Nov 1, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (84 KB) -
Learning from Your Neighbor: The Value of Public Participation Evaluation for Public Policy Dispute Resolution Maureen Berner and John Stephens from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government presented the following draft paper (NOTE: This resource includes the introduction only.) at the 2008 American Evaluation Association Conference. This draft, in conjunction with a presentation of the same title, compares and constrasts the evaluation of public policy dispute resolution (PPDR) and public participation (PP) programs.
Author: Berner, Maureen; Stephens, John Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 13, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (47.5 KB) -
LearnPhilanthropy LearnPhilanthropy's Knowledge Library is a resource for people who are new to grantmaking or those seeking new ideas and tools to improve their grantmaking practice. Here you will find essential learning and new research on a range of common issues and key challenges in philanthropy. Working with leading organizations across the field, LearnPhilanthropy regularly updates this centralized library with reports, tools, and other resources. Author: LearnPhilanthropy Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Sep 23, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
LITERATURE REVIEW ON EFFECTIVENESS OF THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA This report examines the broader utility of social media for the adoption of health promoting and protective behaviours.
Author: Rebecca Schein, Kumanan Wilson, Jennifer Keelan Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1023.3 KB) -
Looking Through the Right End of the Telescope An evolving dialogue has emerged over the past few years between advocates, evaluation professionals, and funders concerned with evaluating advocacy. An earlier focus on questions regarding whether it is possible to evaluate advocacy has given rise more recently to a concern with producing innovations aimed at responding to the real and perceived unique challenges to evaluating advocacy.
Author: Jim Coe & Rhonda Schlangen Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (102.56 KB) -
Making Your Evaluation Inclusive: A Practical Guide for Evaluation Research with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people are included - but often invisible - in many evaluations. In light of increased federal attention at home and abroad to LGBT-specific data collection and the growing awareness of disparities faced by this population, evaluators must be prepared to consider how programs and policies affect LGBTQ people. Author: Efrain Gutierrez Type: Research & Reports Date: Nov 17, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Measuring Influence: Advocacy Evaluation Challenges and Successes This resource was created as an introduction to advocacy evaluation, and its intended audience is nonprofit staff with no evaluation expertise or experience. Knowledge Manager & Webmaster Simone Parrish developed this article as a synthesis of lessons learned from Innovation Network's advocacy evaluation work from 2005 to 2008. Now a single 16-page document, the article was originally presented as a five-part, weekly series on Grantstation.com in the fall of 2008. Author: Simone Parrish Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: May 28, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.39 MB) -
MEASURING SOCIAL CAPITAL: AN EXPLORATION IN COMMUNITY– RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP Large numbers of social policy initiatives and community organizations are currently engaged in “community building” efforts that seek, in part, to strengthen informal relationships and the organizational infrastructure of communities and to build the capacity of communities to manage and foster community change. One critical requirement for improving such practice is for communities to have greater access and capacity to use information for planning, advocacy, and assessment. Author: Robert J. Chaskin, Robert M. Goerge, Ada Skyles, and Shannon Guiltinan Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Oct 1, 2006 Be the first to review this resource! Download (308.28 KB) -
Monitoring and Evaluation for Human Rights Organizations: Three Case Studies These case studies profile the monitoring and evaluation efforts of three human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They are intended to support efforts within the human rights community to explore and tackle monitoring and evaluation (M&E) challenges by providing concrete examples and transferable lessons about how to integrate M&E in useful ways. The cases emphasize both the methodologies used and the organizations’ efforts to build internal M&E capacity and support.Author: The Center for Evaluation Innovation Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Download (308.16 KB) -
Network Analysis and Mapping with Gephi and Node XL Johanna Morariu shares two extremely useful network analysis and mapping tools: Gephi and NodeXL. She describes how she uses NodeXL for collecting, organizing, and analyzing network data and Gephi for attractively presenting sociograms or network maps. Author: Johanna Morariu Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: Feb 21, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Nonprofit Genie Nonprofit Genie is a searchable collection of online resources operated by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. Topics include:
Author: CompassPoint Nonprofit Services Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 18, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Participatory Analysis: Expanding Stakeholder Involvement in Evaluation Veena Pankaj and Myia Welsh described Innovation Network's participatory approach to evaluation, highlighting how stakeholders can be involved in the analysis and interpretation of data. They also shared tips from Innovation Network's white paper titled "Participatory Analysis: Expanding Stakeholder Involvement in Evaluation." Author: Veena Pankaj and Myia Welsh Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: Jun 6, 2011
Web Link