Don’t get us wrong, surveys are useful tools and we’re a fan of any survey platform that makes it easier to use the results. But what about when you want to scratch beneath the surface or present a legible graph that will convince the program director or funder that action needs to be taken? This is where the canned survey tools start to falter.

Recently we used outcome harvesting as part of a developmental evaluation. As with most developmental and participatory techniques, using this method was a bit time intensive, but the results were worth it! Here we share how we used the methodology and what we wished someone had told us before we started.

Evaluators have several options for transcribing audio from interviews, including voice-to-text software, outsourcing, and doing it ourselves. If you are taking the DIY approach, here are four tips to get you transcribing like a pro!

Here, I share solutions to two challenges you are likely to come across while entering survey data: 1) coding complex question types and 2) dealing with unclear responses. Addressing these challenges will require some advanced coding that I did not cover in my first article.

When entering survey data, it is important that it is accurate, easy to analyze, and fast. Use these tips to prevent mistakes from the beginning.

The most exciting part about conducting a survey is seeing the results – finally your hard work has come to fruition, and you get to hear what everybody had to say! But before you can get to that step, you need to transform the stack of paper surveys on your desk into useable data.

In this article, I share my three-step system for making survey data entry as easy and painless as possible, which comes from my experience designing, entering, and analyzing survey data.

We share the most salient points from a recent CES webinar about using art as a data collection method, presented by Jennica Nichols and Maya Lefkowich (of AND Implementation). Also, we expand upon how we've used arts-based data collection techniques here at Eval Academy and Three Hive Consulting and how we could be using them in the future.

This article addresses four common mistakes made with data entry and offers suggestions to improve data entry to increase the overall productivity and, let us not forget, happiness of your colleagues, collaborators, and evaluators.

Whether due to global pandemics, restricted travel budgets, or stakeholders flung across the world, evaluators should be prepared to facilitate virtual meetings or sessions. We've taken the guesswork out of how to facilitate a great virtual session and have rounded up our best tips and tricks.

This step-by-step guide is focused on one-on-one 30 minute telephone interviews. However, many of the tips shared can be applied to in person or group interviews, and interviews of differing time lengths and research interests.