Just like evaluation, sociology found me. I started undergrad majoring in biological resources engineering. At the time I was a lazy student lacking motivation. And because those two things don’t mix well, I almost dropped out of school after freshman year. Luckily, I was able to change course. And after a few more major switches, […]
Telling good stories, with or without data.
I don’t know how to feel when I see “data storytelling”. Being an illustrator, data analyst and designer, I have been asked a time or two to teach a workshop on data storytelling. And I know what the requester is looking for when they ask (they want their employees to stop writing super boring generic-chart-filled […]
Choosing the right images for reports, presentations, and blog posts.
You already know that images are important. Without visuals there is no way we would be able to process the vast amount of information that we are now exposed to on a daily basis. An image is a trail marker, a waypoint. It’s a preview of what’s to come, to help you decide before you […]
Evaluation, Compassion Fatigue, and Health Inequity
Doing something is a good start. But it’s not enough. As evaluators we deal with all sorts of programs and activities that were launched out of a need to do something. Programs that keep on doing something, or something else, or something ineffective, or something effective, or something counterproductive, or something amazing, or nothing. And […]
DataViz for Anti-Racism [Free Course]
No new cartoons or lengthy blog post this week. Instead I launched a course. It only has one module now, but I have plans for more. And did I mention it was free? What you will learn Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James […]
Evaluation as Protest
Ahmaud Arbery. Sean Reed. Breonna Taylor. Tony McDade. George Floyd. When does this racial terror end? For the past three months, our communities have been inundated with painful stories and images of Black people targeted, harassed, arrested, and killed by police and racist vigilantes. As Black people all across the country grapple with the aftermath of […]
So what is evaluation anyway?
Post originally published as a collection of 13 evaluation cartoons on March 25, 2014. Updated with way more context on May 27, 2020. When you search “What is Evaluation?” on Google, you get the kinds of responses you might expect. The Wikipedia page…if a topic is important enough it will have a Wikipedia page. And […]
Evaluation Blogs
So I decided to create what I hope will eventually become an ultimate list of evaluation blogs. Not just a boring bullet point list, but one that gives you a sense of the human being on the other side of the internet. This post is designed to grow. Meaning I plan to come back and […]
Evaluation and COVID-19
Social media is not a monologue. It’s a collection of voices seen (or unseen) based almost entirely on who you do or do not follow. But the world we see is based, as it always has been, on the people that surround us. Historically this has been primarily determined by where we live, and the […]
Post or Perish
So I received a little constructive feedback after last week’s post. Just be mindful of the voices you aren’t hearing. For some with ill family members, homeschooling small children, navigating aging parents in place, on top of maintaining stable income — finding time to write is a bridge too far… and I speak from a […]
Dear evaluators, it’s time to blog!
This post is my plea to you. Please start blogging. As conferences cancel… It doesn’t take too many clicks to see that COVID-19 is impacting our field’s ability to communicate with one another. All you really have to do is visit Better Evaluation’s events page and start clicking to see all that is now postponed […]
The Evaluation Mindset: When Nobody Listens
If only we had known we were vastly underprepared for a global pandemic… I say that tongue-in-cheek. Of course we knew. President after president was briefed with data and evidence showing the potential devastation a pandemic could have on our global society. In advance of a pandemic, anything you say sounds alarmist,” Leavitt explained. “After […]