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Using conceptual models as a planning and evaluation tool in conservation

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Listed:
  • Margoluis, Richard
  • Stem, Caroline
  • Salafsky, Nick
  • Brown, Marcia

Abstract

Conservation projects are dynamic interventions that occur in complex contexts involving intricate interactions of social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental factors. These factors are constantly changing over time and space as managers learn more about the context within which they work. This complex context poses challenges for planning and evaluating conservation project. In order for conservation managers and evaluation professionals to design good interventions and measure project success, they simultaneously need to embrace and deconstruct contextual complexity. In this article, we describe conceptual models--a tool that helps articulate and make explicit assumptions about a project's context and what a project team hopes to achieve. We provide real-world examples of conceptual models, discuss the relationship between conceptual models and other evaluation tools, and describe various ways that conceptual models serve as a key planning and evaluation tool. These include, for example, that they document assumptions about a project site and they provide a basis for analyzing theories of change. It is impractical to believe that we can completely eliminate detail or dynamic complexity in projects. Nevertheless, conceptual models can help reduce the effects of this complexity by helping us understand it.

Suggested Citation

  • Margoluis, Richard & Stem, Caroline & Salafsky, Nick & Brown, Marcia, 2009. "Using conceptual models as a planning and evaluation tool in conservation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 138-147, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:epplan:v:32:y:2009:i:2:p:138-147
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Trochim, William M. K., 1989. "An introduction to concept mapping for planning and evaluation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.
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    7. Gippoliti, Spartaco & Battisti, Corrado, 2017. "More cool than tool: Equivoques, conceptual traps and weaknesses of ecological networks in environmental planning and conservation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 686-691.
    8. Samantha H Cheng & Madeleine C McKinnon & Yuta J Masuda & Ruth Garside & Kelly W Jones & Daniel C Miller & Andrew S Pullin & William J Sutherland & Caitlin Augustin & David A Gill & Supin Wongbusaraku, 2020. "Strengthen causal models for better conservation outcomes for human well-being," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, March.
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