communication

Best of AEA365: As an Evaluator, Do I Use Words (e.g., Stakeholder) That Can Be Harmful to Others? by Goldie MacDonald & Anita McLees

Hello, we’re Goldie MacDonald and Anita McLees from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2020, CDC scientists and communication specialists prepared principles and preferred terms for non-stigmatizing, bias-free language to guide employees engaged in COVID-19 response activities. At the time, we were both deployed to this response and read the document in earnest. While others have known this for some time, we learned that stakeholder can have “a violent connotation for tribes and urban Indian organizations.” As we looked at the term more closely, we saw that others have questioned its origins and use. For example, in 9 Terms to Avoid in Communications with Indigenous Peoples, authors in British Columbia, Canada explained that “Indigenous Peoples are rights and title holders not stakeholders so avoid this term at all costs.” In Banishing “Stakeholders”, Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and former Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, discussed the term as having a “mercenary connotation.” It was used to refer to someone who “held the money of bettors while the game was on.” He explained that this meaning likely evolved to current understandings of the term that include individuals or groups with a concern or interest (e.g., financial) in an endeavor, organization, program, etc. In the same article, he cautioned that the catchall phrase “obscures the landscape in question, much like a dense fog.”

As an evaluator, do I use words (e.g., stakeholder) that can be harmful to others? by Goldie MacDonald & Anita McLees

Hello, we’re Goldie MacDonald and Anita McLees from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2020, CDC scientists and communication specialists prepared principles and preferred terms for non-stigmatizing, bias-free language to guide employees engaged in COVID-19 response activities. At the time, we were both deployed to this response and read the document …

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Listening — It’s More Than Hearing by Deven Wisner

Hello! My name is Deven Wisner (@devenwisner). Like many of us, I wear a couple hats, including: Managing Partner of Viable Insights, educator and Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona, and President-Elect of the Arizona Evaluation Network. Over the past year, I’ve come to realize that as evaluators we need to make space for …

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SEA PD Week: Enhancing Data Collection Through Effective Stakeholder Relationships by Jennifer Johnson

Hi, I am Jennifer Johnson. I am the Director of the Division of Public Health Statistics and Performance Management for the Florida Department of Health. I want to discuss how improving stakeholder relationships can improve data collection. In most evaluations, collection of quantitative and qualitative data forms a critical aspect of stakeholder engagement and relationships. …

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SEA PD Week: Putting the Pieces Together: Effective Stakeholder Communication by Nancy Bridier

Greetings, AEA365 Readers! I am Dr. Nancy Bridier, Senior Doctoral Adjunct at Grand Canyon University, Public Sector Representative, and Board Member for the Southeast Evaluation Association (SEA). I am also an Independent Consultant based in the Florida panhandle. Communication with our clients is part of our practice, but are we communicating effectively? I would like …

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¡Milwaukee Evaluation! Week: Igniting Effective Client Communication on a Large Scale by Levi Roth & Libby Smith

Hello! We are Libby Smith and Levi Roth. We are both Project Managers at the Applied Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. We recently wrapped up work on the largest project of our professional lives. The INTERFACE Project included all 16 Wisconsin Technical Colleges and as you can guess each college had a diverse …

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CLEAR Week: Ningqin Wu and Amy Chen on Using instant messaging services such as WeChat to connect stakeholders across country and language boundaries

We’re Ningqin Wu and Amy Chen, both coordinators at AFDI – the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Institute (AFDI) in Shanghai, China. AFDI is a member of the CLEAR Initiative (Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results) and hosts the East Asia CLEAR Center. CLEAR promotes evaluation capacity building in regional centers across the globe. This week’s blogs are by CLEAR members. …

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Liz Zadnik on Engaging community members in the “Why evaluate?” conversation

Hi all!  Liz Zadnik here, aea365 Outreach Coordinator and occasional Saturday Contributor.  I wanted to share some insights and reflection I had as the result from a recent EVALTALK discussion thread.  Last month, someone posed the following request: I’m searching for a “Why Evaluate” article for parents/community members/stakeholders. An article that explains in clear and plain …

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Liz Zadnik on Bringing passion and enthusiasm to program evaluation

Hello! I am Liz Zadnik, Capacity Building Specialist at the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. I’m also a new member of the aea365 curating team and first-time Saturday contributor!  Over the past five years I have been working within the anti-sexual violence movement at both the state and national levels to share my enthusiasm …

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Best of aea365 week: Michael Quinn Patton on Using Children’s Stories to Open up Evaluation Dialogues

Greetings colleagues. My moniker is Michael Quinn Patton and I do independent evaluation consulting under the name Utilization-Focused Evaluation, which just happens also to be the title of my main evaluation book, now in its 4th edition. I am a former AEA president. One of the challenges I’ve faced over the years, as many of us do, …

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