Qualitative Methods

BH TIG Week: Evaluating the emotion behind words by Jonathan Scaccia

Hi!  I’m Jonathan Scaccia, principal of the evaluation firm The Dawn Chorus Group and founder of PubTrawlr. What connects these two strands of work is finding better ways to efficiently and effectively extract meaning from text-based data. There is so much qualitative data out there that is laborious to analyze. Techniques from Natural Language Processing …

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Best of AEA365: Participatory Qualitative Data Analysis by JT Taylor & Emily Drake

Hi folks! I’m JT Taylor, Director of Research and Evaluation at Learning for Action (LFA), and I’m here with my colleague Emily Drake, Senior Consultant and Director of Portfolio Alignment. LFA is a San Francisco-based firm that enhances the impact and sustainability of social sector organizations through evaluation, research, strategy development, and capacity-building services. Emily …

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Best of AEA365: Setting Yourself Up For Success in Qualitative Data Collection by Ayana Perkins

Hi, my name is Ayana Perkins, the programming Co-Chair of the Atlanta-area Evaluation Association as well as Senior Research Analyst and Evaluator at Infinite Services and Solutions. I am a qualitative enthusiast and often train other evaluators and researchers in these methods. What I have noticed is that participants are more likely to right to …

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Observation And Participant Observation: What Should We Observe? Part 3 by Beverly Peters

Hello again! I am Beverly Peters, faculty member in Measurement and Evaluation at American University. This is the third article in a 4 part series on Using Observation and Participant Observation for Monitoring and Evaluation. In the previous article of this series, we discussed how evaluators might get to the so-called backstage of participant observation, where …

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Participant Observation: Getting To The Backstage Part 2 by Beverly Peters

Hello again! I am Beverly Peters, and I teach in American University’s Measurement and Evaluation Program. This is the second article in a 4 part series on Using Observation and Participant Observation for Monitoring and Evaluation. In the previous article of this series, we discussed the differences between observation and participant observation, and how evaluators use …

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Observation and Participant Observation Part I by Beverly Peters

Greetings! I am Beverly Peters, a faculty member in Measurement and Evaluation at American University. I have over 25 years of experience teaching, researching, and evaluating community development and governance projects, mainly in southern Africa. I have spent the bulk of my career using qualitative methods to evaluate projects; and write a blog for American University …

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ACM TIG Week: Finding New Treasures in Old Data: Re-analyzing Past Qualitative Data for Future Learning by Patti Saraniero

Hello! I am Patti Saraniero, an independent evaluator based in San Diego, California, specializing in evaluation in the arts and culture sector.  Like a lot of folks, I have spent time in the last year cleaning out drawers and closets.  One of my cleaning bursts led me to revisit video data from an evaluation project …

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Analyzing Interview Data by Beverly Peters

Greetings! I am Beverly Peters, assistant professor of Measurement and Evaluation at American University. This is the final article in a 5-part series on Using Interviews for Monitoring and Evaluation. In previous articles, we discussed conducting good interviews, including crafting good questions and interview guides, and learning the skills of a good interviewer.   Before you …

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Using Participatory Tools Virtually by Beverly Peters, Michelle Conway, Tabetha Karydas, Talatha Kiazolu-Reeves, Jess Littman, and Mallika Rodriguez.

Hello! I’m Beverly Peters, faculty member in Measurement and Evaluation at American University, here today with Masters’ students from my Evaluation: Qualitative Methods class: Michelle Conway, Tabetha Karydas, Talatha Kiazolu-Reeves, Jess Littman, and Mallika Rodriguez. In my qualitative methods classes, I impress on students the nature of qualitative inquiry in evaluation, and the goal of …

Using Participatory Tools Virtually by Beverly Peters, Michelle Conway, Tabetha Karydas, Talatha Kiazolu-Reeves, Jess Littman, and Mallika Rodriguez. Read More »

Collecting Useful Data from Interviews by Beverly Peters

Greetings! I am Beverly Peters, an assistant professor of Measurement and Evaluation at American University. This is the fourth article in a 5 part series on Using Interviews for Monitoring and Evaluation. In the previous article of this series, we discussed different sampling strategies that evaluators might employ when deciding who to interview. So far in …

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