In this article, we provide the answers to some of your FAQs about evaluation including: Why do people conduct evaluations? Where can I find an evaluator? What makes a good evaluator? How can I get training in evaluation? What is the difference between research and evaluation? How much does an evaluation cost?

A style guide is a time-saving tool that helps you be consistent in your formatting when creating client and public-facing products, from evaluation plans to reports and presentations. When working with a team, style guides ensure that team members are working efficiently as they create evaluation products.

As a program manager or project lead, you may find yourself needing an evaluator. How do you get that evaluator oriented to the project? What information do they need? Let’s walk through it.

In the evaluation world, scheduling can be a nightmare. This article describes how to use Calendly to schedule interviews in three simple steps.

In this article, we describe what assumptions are in evaluation, explain why you should document assumptions, and describe how to reflect on your assumptions when collecting and analyzing evaluation results. We also provide some practical examples of how to include assumptions in your own evaluations!

A book review of Michael Quinn Patton’s Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use (2011).

Part of the job of an evaluator is to identify and define metrics for our clients. But what about you? Are you as disciplined when it comes to defining and tracking metrics for your own business?

Recognizing that equitable evaluation is an emerging area of work, this article aims to add to the growing discussion. While it does not include an exhaustive list of issues and strategies, it will help you introduce some changes to your evaluation practice.

A few years ago, we completed an evaluation for a breast cancer clinic. In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month, we thought we would highlight some excerpts from that report to help inspire your next evaluation report!

Ideally, our evaluation projects would proceed as planned. But as all project managers know, sometimes things change. Actually, most of the time, things change! In some situations, our evaluation approach can be modified to adapt to the changing context, but in others, we have to say no to scope creep.

In this article, Bonnie shares her account of how to use the RE-AIM framework in your evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting.

I am now finally working on an evaluation that I believe to be true developmental evaluation. The initiative and evaluation is in its early days. Yet, I have already had a very different experience than previous DE (and so-called DE) experiences and learned a number of lessons I’d like to share. In this article, I outline six lessons from my DE experience, including why I think it is true DE.

In this post, we describe how Three Hive Consulting supported the evaluation of a home health monitoring project for patients with chronic conditions.

This post explores how we at Three Hive Consulting worked with a community development initiative to evaluate their activities using social network analysis (SNA). This methodology was used to better understand the relationships and foster collaboration between different individuals, groups, and organizations connected to the initiative.

This post explores how we at Three Hive Consulting worked with REACH Edmonton Council and other agencies to evaluate a unique initiative called Bridging Together. You’ll see how they developed and carried out an evaluation plan that yielded actionable information.

Evaluators are equipped to ask and answer some pretty complex questions. We are not afraid to tackle abstract ideas and make sense of messy data. However, there is one question that can be tough to succinctly answer - what is evaluation?

Reflexivity often falls into that category of things we know we should be doing, but aren't really doing, or things we might be doing, but aren't so sure we're doing right. To try and ease your stress about reflexivity and to help guide your practice, we've compiled our best tips below.

Like Yoda, Michael Quinn Patton is revered for his wisdom and his power to inspire thinking differently about evaluation ideas. And while he isn’t a small, green humanoid alien there are striking similarities between the two (that go beyond the bald head and unique sweaters).

Have you ever been curious about what it is like to volunteer as an evaluator? Or are you considering a volunteer opportunity in the near future? This article aims to give you some insight into finding and engaging in a volunteer opportunity.

Up until one month ago my evaluation experience was firmly rooted in Canada. Like many young (ish) evaluators, I wanted to get international experience – more specifically I wanted to take on the challenge of doing evaluation work in a developing country. I would soon find out that I was incorrect in my optimism to copy and paste my evaluation perspective as well as my packing list.