Many thanks, Rick, for your comments. Such historical data on past ratios would be interesting to examine. And yes, budget size may be one of the items on a checklist considered as a proxy for complexity, but I agree, it should not be the only one in depicting complexity, for the reason you pointed out. Your suggestion about depicting nodes in a network makes sense to me. The more numerous the possible causal linkages and sources of data may then result in a higher score, which may then lead to a “yes” decision on an EA.
Perhaps such a checklist might also help focus an EA, or include a follow-on set of items that can initially explore the four primary areas depicted in the jigsaw diagram you shared below - https://mande.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Austria-diagram.png (institutional and physical context, intervention design, stakeholder demand, and data availability). Such a checklist, if needed, may then not only guide a decision on whether to conduct an EA, but it may also help focus an EA and its priority areas, thus making it a more cost-effective and focused exercise.
I’d be interested to hear from others on this forum who manage evaluations/EAs. How do you decide in your organization whether or not to conduct an EA? And how are decisions made in how to focus an EA?
RE: Evaluability Assessments: An invitation to reflect and discuss
United States of America
Amy Jersild
PhD Candidate and evaluation consultant
Western Michigan University
Posted on 04/09/2024
Many thanks, Rick, for your comments. Such historical data on past ratios would be interesting to examine. And yes, budget size may be one of the items on a checklist considered as a proxy for complexity, but I agree, it should not be the only one in depicting complexity, for the reason you pointed out. Your suggestion about depicting nodes in a network makes sense to me. The more numerous the possible causal linkages and sources of data may then result in a higher score, which may then lead to a “yes” decision on an EA.
Perhaps such a checklist might also help focus an EA, or include a follow-on set of items that can initially explore the four primary areas depicted in the jigsaw diagram you shared below - https://mande.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Austria-diagram.png (institutional and physical context, intervention design, stakeholder demand, and data availability). Such a checklist, if needed, may then not only guide a decision on whether to conduct an EA, but it may also help focus an EA and its priority areas, thus making it a more cost-effective and focused exercise.
I’d be interested to hear from others on this forum who manage evaluations/EAs. How do you decide in your organization whether or not to conduct an EA? And how are decisions made in how to focus an EA?
Regards, Amy