My name is Josh Schnell and I am co-chair of the Research Technology & Development (RTD) Evaluation Topical Interest Group (TIG) within AEA. I have been working in RTD evaluation and research assessment for over 12 years, now as director of the Academic & Government Consulting team within the Science Group at Clarivate.
The purpose of this blog is to offer my first impressions of the hot topics discussed in the sessions I attended at the 2022 conference in New Orleans. By way of background, I am Anand Desai, Senior Fellow at Clarivate and Professor of Public Policy Emeritus at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, Ohio …
RTD TIG Week: Observations from Four Days at a Conference by Anand Desai Read More »
My name is Abbey Zuehlke, Ph.D., P.M.P. (she/her) and I am the Director of Operations at Lexical Intelligence, LLC. Over the past year I have served as the Project Manager for a team that is increasing the representation of behavioral and social sciences research terms in PubMed’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary. I am delighted …
I’m Ian Hutchins, and I am an Assistant Professor of Data and Information Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Information School. I use quantitative analysis of information networks to find ways to improve the research enterprise and accelerate biomedical research advances. Research evaluations, like those conducted for science funding agencies in policymaking, are entering …
RTD TIG Week: Augmenting Expert Opinion with Data-driven Approaches by Ian Hutchins Read More »
Hi, everyone. This is Bethany Laursen, independent consultant with Laursen Evaluation & Design, LLC, and Assistant Dean in the Graduate School at Michigan State University; Nicole Motzer, Director of Research Development at Montana State University; and Kelly Anderson, Research Scientist at the National Institute of Standards & Technology. Interdisciplinarity (ID) is all the rage in …
I’m Paula Fearon, Co-Founder of the Analytics Research Institute, and together with my colleagues Heather Eshleman, Ami Shah, and Leigh Firestone Brooks, we are pleased to kick-off the RTD TIG week on AEA 365. Our day-to-day work involves producing a myriad of analyses using all types of datasets. To ensure our work is both high …
Hello, I’m Elise Garvey, a senior management auditor from the King County Auditor’s Office in Seattle, Washington. I have become a huge fan of using data placemat sessions for my projects ever since learning about them at Eval 2015 and learning more from Kylie Hutchinson’s tips and tricks. Data placemats are large sheets of paper with themed snippets of raw or basic data analysis, and a data placemat session is when you review and discuss those placemats with stakeholders. This has been a really valuable tool for ensuring I’m understanding the data I’m using and getting the perspective of people closest to the data.
Hi, I am Chris Voegeli, and I’m an evaluation fellow in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the last year, my Canadian Evaluation Society colleagues Gene Krupa, Barbara Szijarto, Margo Schmitt-Boshnick, and I reviewed the literature and used our personal experience to think critically about Evaluation Advisory Groups (EAGs). Before joining the CDC Evaluation Fellowship Program, I led the National Evaluation Center for the National Network of STD Clinical Prevention Training Centers. While at the National Evaluation Center, we used several types of EAGs in our work regularly. I learned that the purpose of an EAG guides the planning and implementation of the advisory group. It’s important to identify the right people to achieve that purpose. If you are looking to enhance or support the methodological or technical quality of the evaluation, recruit seasoned evaluators familiar with the evaluation of programs similar to yours. If you are interested in generating regular and rich input in decisions throughout the evaluation, create an EAG of representatives of key stakeholder groups. When you have multiple funders with competing interests or informational needs, it can help to have an EAG that brings funders together to talk about the evaluation or address evaluation-related issues as they arise. Perhaps you need an EAG that meets another purpose or combination of purposes.
Hi! My name is Natalie Donahue and I am the Chief of Evaluation in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State. ECA leads public diplomacy outreach efforts for the Department through a number of exchange programs designed to build friendly, peaceful relations between Americans and citizens of other countries.
Hi, I’m Beth Fidermutz. I serve on the President’s Action Group at the United States Special Operations Combatant Command’s (USSOCOM) Joint Special Operations University (JSOU), where I’m helping lead efforts to strategically rebalance Special Operations Forces (SOF) education across the learning continuum. The J-NEXT initiative is a direct response to national defense leaders calling for …
