intelligent measurement

Why are evaluation results not used…?

May 24, 2011 at 12:34 pm Leave a comment

I’ve written previously on the issue of how to make sure that evaluation results are used (or at least considered…). Here is a new publication Making Evaluations Matter: A Practical Guide for Evaluators (pdf) from the Centre for Development Innovation that goes into much depth about this issue.

They state four general reasons why evaluation results are often not used:

• Fail to focus on intended use by intended users and are not designed to fit the context and situation
• Do not focus on the most important issues – resulting in low relevance
• Are poorly understood by stakeholders
• Fail to keep stakeholders informed and involved during the process and when design alterations are necessary.

I think the first and last reasons are particularly pertinent. We often don’t have enough insights into how evaluation results will be used – and we also fail to inform and involve stakeholders during the actual evaluation.

Read the publication here (pdf)>>

Entry filed under: Evaluation reporting, Evaluation use.