Improved Insights Newsletter - March 2022
Welcome to the March edition of the Improved Insights Newsletter: a newsletter for folks in informal STEM learning spaces who want to learn more about how to measure and communicate the impacts of their work.
I’m Sarah M. Dunifon - a long-time STEM educator, evaluator, and equity advocate. After spending time working in museums, nonprofits, and higher education, I now work on cutting-edge informal STEM learning research and evaluation with my team at Improved Insights. We specialize in informal STEM learning and youth programs.
This monthly newsletter includes tips, resources, and news on informal STEM learning evaluation. We hope you find it valuable! Now, let’s get started —
What Approaches Are There to Conducting Evaluations?
This month, we’re chatting about different approaches to evaluation, including evaluation types (think: summative, formative, process) and ways of conducting (think: culturally responsive evaluation, participatory evaluation). Learn about the differences and how to figure out what is right for your programs. To read the full article, check it out in our Insights. Here are some highlights:
When you get a little bit more experienced in evaluation, you’ll learn that there is no “one size fits all.” Instead, there are vehicles for evaluation that differ, based on your needs, your context, and your outlook.
You may remember from this earlier blog post that I tend to think about evaluation in different categories.
One category is the types of evaluations one could conduct (e.g., formative, summative, process/implementation, outcome, etc.). These vary based on the point in a program or intervention in which you might employ evaluation, as well as the needs of your project. For instance, if you need some early-stage data on your planned museum exhibit, you might conduct a formative evaluation to understand what visitors want out of a new exhibit. Or maybe you’re looking to understand the impacts or outcomes of your program on participants. There, you’ll perhaps choose a summative or outcome evaluation to conduct at the end of your program. A process or implementation evaluation would give you good information on how things are working in your program, and perhaps what can be addressed during the program instead of at the end.
Another category is the ways of conducting evaluation or evaluation theories (e.g., equitable evaluation, culturally-responsive evaluation, participatory evaluation, etc.). These you might think of as the lenses through which an evaluator approaches their work.
In different evaluation spaces, you might see other names for commonly used theories or ways of conducting evaluation. In informal STEM learning evaluation, a few examples of commonly used theories include:
Utilization-focused Evaluation
Values Engaged Evaluation (VEE)
Empowerment Evaluation
Participatory Evaluation
Culturally Responsive Evaluation
Equitable Evaluation
60-Second Suggestions
Here are a few of my favorite things this month, usually pertaining to informal STEM education and evaluation, but occasionally some fun personal stuff, too.
The complete works of Octavia E. Butler, a pioneering futurist and science fiction author whose works include Kindred, Parable of the Sower, and Wild Seed. I love looking to science fiction to imagine what our future could look like. After enjoying some of Butler’s earlier works, I’ve decided to work my way through her entire catalog - an approach to reading that is new to me. I’m thinking about it kind of like listening to the entire discography of a band you like.
American Evaluation Association’s AEA365 blog, where you can find daily posts about all things evaluation. This is a really valuable resource for evaluators looking to improve their practice and for other professionals looking to deepen their knowledge on evaluation.
We All Count - a Project for Equity in Data Science, which offers training, tools, and articles on how to make your data practices more equitable. As an evaluator - not a data scientist - I still find their content to be super valuable and insightful. I recommend this resource to anyone who works with data. Check out their Data Equity Framework for all the places in a research or evaluation project where equity needs to be addressed.
If you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter, please let us know! We’d love to hear from you and learn about what you’re hoping to see more of.
Until next time - thanks!