Kylie Hutchinson on The Internal Evaluator’s Carol

I’m Kylie Hutchinson, AEA Member, independent evaluator and owner of Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation, occasional aea365 contributor, and annual writer of Christmas carols for evaluators and not-for-profits. Each year, I adapt a carol to share with my colleagues and clients. Last year, Susan Kistler asked if I would share one with aea365 and I’m back again for a second year.

Hot Tip: Find the humor in what you do!

Rad Resource:

The Internal Evaluator’s Carol
(sung to the tune of ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’)

Oh come all ye data,
For this pilot program,
Oh show me, oh show me,
Sig-nif-i-cance.
I have collected,
cleaned and analyzed,
Now prove that it’s effective,
Please prove that it’s effective,
Oh prove that it’s effective!
S-P-S-S.

I must remain,
Arms length and objective,
Although the management,
is pressuring me.
What will they say?
If I find no impact,
I must be strong, not waver,
I’m doing them a favor,
We’ll learn from this I wager,
M&E.

Time for statistics,
Chi Square and Regression,
T-test, ANOVA,
My fingers are crossed.
Thanks be to those for,
Program Eval Standards,
You are my point of reference,
But really it’s my preference,
I’m asking for with deference,
Sig-nif-i-cance!

Rad Resource: You can find other carols on my website here.

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.