Making Measures Work for You: Outcomes and Evaluation
Contributing Organization(s): Ford Foundation
Author(s)/Creator(s): Craig McGarvey
Publishing Date: 2007-02-01
Issue Areas: Nonprofits and Philanthropy
Ownership/Rights Info: Copyright 2007 GrantCraft. All rights reserved.
Access Note: A brief one-time registration is required to download a PDF of this guide. The guide is also available for purchase in hard-copy from GrantCraft's online store: http://www.grantcraft.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID;=1085
Available at: http://www.grantcraft.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid;=835
An outcomes-based approach to evaluation works, proponents say, because it uses straightforward metrics to assess actual impact. How else to know if the work you're supporting is leading to the desired changes? Other proponents counter that outcomes measurement should be approached with care. Hasty assumptions or over-confidence in the idea that program impacts can be translated into hard data can skew not only the evaluation but the work itself. This guide, written primarily from the grantmakers' perspective, looks at tensions that drive the debate about outcomes measurement, as well as common questions about its potential risks and rewards. This guide highlights: what are "outcomes"; measuring intangibles; and seven tensions in the debate over measuring outcomes. This guide is part of GrantCraft's series on evaluation.
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Access Note: A brief one-time registration is required to download a PDF of this guide. The guide is also available for purchase in hard-copy from GrantCraft's online store: http://www.grantcraft.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID;=1085
Available at: http://www.grantcraft.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid;=835
Intended Audience: Advocates; College/University Professors; General Public; Researchers
Type/Format: Evaluation; Whitepaper
Language code: English
Type/Format: Evaluation; Whitepaper
Language code: English
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