Time Tested Evaluation

After attending both a workshop and a webinar on the topic of evaluation within the last two weeks, I am happy to say that evaluation is alive and kicking in the museum world.   It used to be that evaluation scared staff members, and many begrudged even including it in a grant proposal, let alone doing it.   To many it was an intimidating process which is now pretty commonplace, and continually helps to inform us and answer the ‘How Are We Doing?’ questions.    

The level of dialogue about evaluation is more sophisticated – but the core remains the same – the 3 basic questions that guide this work are:

1. What is the purpose of the evaluation?

2. What do I want to know?

3. What do I intend to do with the information?*

Certainly we can collect the information from a never ending variety of sources, but it is what we intend to do with that information that really matters.

With more ways to capture information than ever before, whether it be the age-old person-to-person interview or the latest social media methods, it is all good, and it shows that we are looking & seeing, listening & hearing, and engaged in this ongoing conversation. 

 

*Planning a Program Evaluation, University of Wisconsin