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Narrative review of strategies by organizations for building evaluation capacity

Author

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  • Norton, Sophie
  • Milat, Andrew
  • Edwards, Barry
  • Giffin, Michael

Abstract

Program evaluation is an important source of information to assist organizations to make “evidence-informed” decisions about program planning and development. The objectives of this study were to identify evaluated strategies used by organizations and program developers to build the program evaluation capacity of their workforce, and to describe success factors and lessons learned. Common elements for successful evaluation capacity building (ECB) include: a tailored strategy based on needs assessment, an organizational commitment to evaluation and ECB, experiential learning, training with a practical element, and some form of ongoing technical support within the workplace. ECB is a relatively new field of endeavor, and, while existing studies in ECB are characterized by lower levels of evidence, they suggest the most successful approaches to ECB are likely to be multifaceted. To build the level of evidence in this field, more rigorous study designs need to be implemented in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Norton, Sophie & Milat, Andrew & Edwards, Barry & Giffin, Michael, 2016. "Narrative review of strategies by organizations for building evaluation capacity," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-19.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:epplan:v:58:y:2016:i:c:p:1-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.04.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Nielsen, Steffen Bohni & Lemire, Sebastian & Bourgeois, Isabelle & Fierro, Leslie A., 2023. "Mapping the evaluation capacity building landscape: A bibliometric analysis of scholarly communities and themes," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
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    7. Rochelle Tobin & Gemma Crawford & Jonathan Hallett & Bruce Richard Maycock & Roanna Lobo, 2022. "Critical factors that affect the functioning of a research and evaluation capacity building partnership: A causal loop diagram," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, January.
    8. Yu.V. Lyandau & I.A. Kalinina & A.P. Garnov & Y.Yu. Garnova, 2018. "Research of the Russian Companies’ Potential and the Success Factors," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special1), pages 250-260.
    9. Schwarzman, Joanna & Bauman, Adrian & Gabbe, Belinda J. & Rissel, Chris & Shilton, Trevor & Smith, Ben J., 2022. "How practitioner, organisational and system-level factors act to influence health promotion evaluation capacity: Validation of a conceptual framework," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Kumar Chaudhary, Anil & Diaz, John & Jayaratne, K.S.U. & Assan, Elsie, 2020. "Evaluation capacity building in the nonformal education context: Challenges and strategies," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

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