My name is Kylie Hutchinson. I am an independent evaluation consultant and trainer with Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation. I am also a regular facilitator of the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Essential Skills Series course. One question my students regularly bring up when learning to develop logic models and evaluation plans is the issue of “contribution analysis”, i.e. contribution versus attribution of a program’s activities to long-term outcomes and impacts.
Rad resource: I’ve found it useful to show them the “Output Outcome Downstream Impact Blues” karaoke video. This short musical clip, written and performed by Terry Smutylo, addresses this issue in a humorous, yet informative way. Although it was originally written for those working in international development, it is applicable to other evaluation sectors. You can find Terry’s clip at http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-65284-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.
This was really fun, thanks for sharing it!