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Reclaiming the History of Evaluation
Long before evaluation became a formal field, communities came together to share observations, determine what mattered, establish mutual responsibility, and decide what moving forward looked like.
As the field wrestles with equity, participation, legitimacy, expertise, and power — conflating the profession with the practice of evaluation risks narrowing:
→ Who belongs in evaluation
→ What counts as knowledge
→ Whose knowledge matters
→ What purposes evaluation can serve
Linda and Esther bring their own cultural and professional histories into this work — from Taiwan to Tibet, from federal evaluation infrastructure to youth-focused gender justice — asking where their traditions and ways of knowing situate themselves in evaluation’s history.
Rooted in Strategy: Considerations for Demographic Data Collection
Decades of research and practical experience with demographic data collection have led us to develop strategic principles that inform key decisions about what demographic data should be collected and how. Here, we provide our framework of principles for thinking strategically about how to GROW your demographic data collection practice. This collaborative article was written with our friend and colleague, Tom Workman of the American Institutes of Research.
Stubborn Snowmen: A Process Evaluation
When an evaluation methodologist marries a data scientist, you can guarantee that, even in cookie baking, we use data to plan for better outcomes and inform continuous improvement! This fun article was written by our Founder, Esther Nolton, who never passes up an opportunity to exercise some evaluative thinking.
From Metrics to Meaning: Centering Community Voice in Evidence-Informed Decision-Making
We often say, “what gets measured gets done.” But just as important (and far less examined) is the question of who gets to decide what’s measured, whose questions are prioritized, how we meaningfully engage communities, and whose voices shape the meaning of results. This collaborative article was written with our friend and colleague, Alicia Thomas from Indigo Strategic Health Advisors.