Transforming Knowledge into Change

Data Visualization Approaches for Program Evaluation (and Beyond)

Simone Parrish writes,

"When you hear the phrase “program evaluation findings,” are you bored already? Most people—even within the evaluation field—perceive evaluation as dry. The major output of an evaluation is often a weighty report that gets read once (if at all) before it begins its long-term dust-collecting destiny. Adding some good data visualization to the mix can really wake people up.

From 2001-2011, I worked at Innovation Network, a small, Washington, DC-based nonprofit that does program evaluation consulting for other nonprofits and funders. Innovation Network is deeply invested in making evaluation more engaging and useful. At the 2014 Nonprofit Technology Conference in March, I reconnected with some colleagues from Innovation Network: Johanna Morariu and Ann Emery presented (with Andrew Means of Data Analysts for Social Good) a session entitled “DataViz! Tips, Tools, and How-tos for Visualizing Your Data” (handout | slides). In the last year or two of my tenure at Innovation Network (when I was the knowledge manager, webmaster, and primary editor), we had begun experimenting with using data visualization as a regular part of our evaluation approaches. It was heartening to be reminded of our earlier work, and see how far Johanna and Ann have taken their dataviz expertise."

Read more: www.k4health.org/blog/post/data-visualization-approaches-program-evaluation-and-beyond

 

Bibliographic Details
Author Simone Parrish
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU-CCP)
Publication Date April 29, 2014
Publication City Baltimore, MD
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Submitted to Point K May 8, 2014 - 2:12pm

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