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Helping evaluators simplify and modernize their reports.

How to fall into evaluation – a cartoon post.

How to fall into evaluation – a cartoon post.

So what does it mean to “fall into evaluation?”

That’s today’s cartoon post inspiration from Ann Price via Twitter.

There are lots of social scientists working as evaluators.

Unless you’re in academia it’s hard to be something like a Sociologist professionally. Practical fields like program evaluation and contract research offer a good career path for social science grads.

Fresh Spectrum Cartoon by Chris Lysy. One person talking to another, "So yea, I went to school for social science, and, yada, yada, yada, now I'm a program evaluator."

Professional Sidetracker

If you ask the right question at the right time, you can totally sidetrack a meeting. But if it’s a critical question, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Fresh Spectrum Cartoon by Chris Lysy. Three people at a table. Person 1 says, "Amara, you keep sidetracking our meetings with important but hard to answer questions. Have you ever considered becoming an evaluator?" Person 2 just stare at person 3. Person 3 responds, "That's a job?"

The tools make the evaluator.

I see a lot of people with certain skillsets get funneled into evaluation or quasi-evaluation roles. Especially those who fall into evaluation from specific roles in non-profits or government agencies.

Fresh Spectrum Cartoon by Chris Lysy. Written across the top, "What it means to "fall into" evaluation." Person standing but speaking to another person sitting at a desk, "Our grant application requires an evaluation plan. You're good with Excel and Power Point right?"

Sometimes it’s just about filling a need.

People who become evaluators are usually pretty self-aware and good at noticing things other people tend not to see. So sometimes becoming an evaluator is just a response to an existing societal need.

Fresh Spectrum Cartoon by Chris Lysy. Two people talking. Person 1, "So you just fell into evaluation?" Person 2, "I considered starting my own nonprofit. But then I thought, we don't need more nonprofits. We need the one's we have to be more effective."

Falling into evaluation is not without its risks.

Some pursuits and programs just don’t make a ton of rational sense. At least rational sense that we can see and measure.

Fresh Spectrum Cartoon by Chris Lysy. One person stopping a second person from falling into a hole labeled "Evaluation." Person 1 says, "Careful! You fall into that and you'll never see our program in the same light again."

Are you an evaluator? How did you fall into evaluation?

Seriously, I want to know. Do any of these cartoons strike a chord? Let me know in the comments.

Fresh Spectrum Cartoon by Chris Lysy, Two people talking. Person 1, "Oh, I just kind of fell into evaluation." Person 2, "What does that mean? Did you trip on a logic model or something?"

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Love these Chris and I relate to all of them…studying social science and learning “research” methods over time led me to evaluation…many of the same skills meant could do data collection, analysis, and write…the rest I learned on the job.

    That said…that professional sidetracker cartoon is soooooo true!!! I don’t try to sidetrack but often do 😉

  3. Love it. I ask those critically important questions that derail the group in important yet frustrating ways, which would explain my trajectory from youth development staff to program director of an organization. I think my only wish is that someone would have told me evaluator was a job early on in those meetings. I’m only now realizing that it’s what I really love about the work- continuous improvement cycles and experiential learning environments. Now I wish I would have studied it so I could do it in a more lucrative field. 🙂

  4. OutSTANDing, Chris! I definitely tripped on a logic model (the fall was glorious). You mean I can work with schools on a daily basis in built-in ways to help them identify what’s working, for whom, and make changes they and their students can *see*?! Sign me up. My first program evaluation course in grad school–3 years in–changed what I wanted my life to be. “Critically important but hard to answer questions” = my happy place