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TIP SHEET #9

Engaging Stakeholders in an Evaluation Effort

Involving specific people who can and will use information enables them to establish direction for, commitment to, and ownership of evaluation every step along the way.

(Michael Patton, Utilization-focused evaluation, 1997, p. 21)

Introduction

To conduct an evaluation of initiatives/programs funded with State Incentive Grant funds only to meet state and federal reporting requirements misses the point that program participants, staff, and administrators can use and benefit from evaluation information. Engaging interested people in the evaluation process increases the likelihood the findings will be used. This tip sheet is intended to provide evaluators and program staff with some ideas about engaging stakeholders in the evaluation effort.

Who are your stakeholders?

Evaluation stakeholders are people who have a vested interest in evaluation findings. Stakeholders include anyone who makes decisions or desires information about a program. In addition to program funders, key stakeholders include: staff, administrators, program participants. Other stakeholders might include journalists, the general public, or policymakers. Different stakeholders have different information needs. Hopefully your evaluation plan (both process and summative) have taken into consideration the information needs of key stakeholders. If not, it may be worth asking key stakeholders what their information needs are and incorporating them into your evaluation design.

What roles can stakeholders play?

Stakeholders play different roles based on their particular interest and information needs. Evaluators should work with program staff to involve stakeholders in activities that are of most interest to them. Evaluators can help stakeholders identify the intended uses for the evaluation. Potential uses include (adapted from Michael Patton, Utilization-focused evaluation, 1997, p. 76):

Program improvement

• Identify strengths and weaknesses 
• Continuous improvement 
• Quality enhancement 
• Manage more effectively 
• Adapt a model or strategy locally

Judging merit or worth 

• Accountability 
• Quality control 
• Decide a program's future

Generating knowledge 

• Generalizations about effectiveness 
• Extrapolate principles about what works 
• Synthesize patterns across programs 
• Disseminate information about "what works" to other sites 
• Policy making 
• Scholarly publishing

Create a table like the following to figure out who your stakeholders are, their evaluation interest, and their potential roles. It may take multiple conversations, but having this type of information will help to plan the best ways to engage your various stakeholders with data in a way that is meaningful and helpful to them.

Model Table for Determining Stakeholder Roles

What activities and techniques can evaluators use to engage stakeholders in an evaluation?

Beyond the preparation of an evaluation report, there are a number of strategies, along the way, that an evaluator can use to engage stakeholders with evaluation data. The technique used depends upon the role(s) the stakeholders have taken on. The following list is a just a sample of techniques for evaluators and program staff to explore:

• Evaluator facilitates meetings of key stakeholders to process findings from a particular data collection episode or at a particular point in time (e.g., quarterly, twice a year, annually). Findings might be presented as a set of overheads or handouts. The evaluator may pose questions to the group for discussion. Questions like: Where are we meeting or exceeding our expectations in terms of performance? Where are we performing less than expected? What should we continue, as is? Where do we need to re-think our approach?
• Evaluator facilitates meetings of key stakeholders to judge and interpret process and/or summative evaluation data. An exercise can be created where participants review the available data and then rate how satisfied they are with the implementation of each major activity and any outcomes assessed. Either the evaluator or a program staff person then facilitates a discussion of what aspects of the initiative should be kept as-is and what aspects need to be changed. These discussions may culminate in a set of recommendations that are grounded in the data.
• Evaluator organizes an advocacy-adversary debate or court for and against certain conclusions and judgments about the evaluation data.
• Evaluator participates at a half-day or full-day retreat-like work session with primary intended users. Data are used to initiate discussion about the "next steps." Stakeholders identify various interpretations of the data and the implications of each?
• Evaluator and select primary users work together in reporting and facilitating any of the above.

Conclusion

A guiding theme to remember is stated best by Michael Patton (1997, p. 21): The evaluator facilitates judgment and decision making by intended users rather than acting as a distant, independent judge.

Additional Information

The above information is just a sample of the strategies for engaging stakeholders in data analysis and interpretation. Two good written resources that offer very practical approaches include:

Holcomb, E. L. (1999). Getting excited about data: How to combine people, passion, and proof. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press (805/499-9774).

Patton, M.Q. (1997). Utilization-focused evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.