5.1(c) Evaluation charter

To agree what the group means by evaluation, why it is important and how the group wants to approach it.

Your work from the first two activities, Activity sheet 36, blank flipchart, pens, post-its and at least an hour.

This activity helps you consolidate your thinking so far. Look back over your work summaries from the first two activities in this unit. These record the group’s initial ideas about what evaluation is and how it should be done. This third activity now helps you as a group agree:

a) What the group understands by evaluation

b) Why the group should evaluate what it does

c) How the group wants to approach its evaluation work

Through doing this activity, you will end up as a group with an agreed charter about evaluation. You may well want to come back and add more to it later as you explore evaluation in more detail. But this gives you a strong start. Use activity sheet 36 or take a piece of flipchart and write on it three headings:

a) Evaluation is:

First, drawing on your experience, the earlier activities and your flipchart summaries, discuss and agree a simple definition of evaluation. Dictionary definitions offer some useful ideas to draw upon: ‘Evaluation: 1.To determine or fix the value of something. 2.To determine the significance, worth, or condition of something by careful appraisal and study.’ Write your own definition on your charter. Is everyone clear about it and can everyone sign up to it?

b) Evaluation is important to us because:

Second, break into small groups of three or four. Take three post-its per group. List all the possible reasons for the group to evaluate what it does. Decide on the three most important things. Write one on each new post-it. Come back together and stick all the small groups’ post-its on a piece of flipchart and look at what each has written. Can you group some of them together? Agree the three most important reasons why this group should evaluate what it does. You might want to write out new statements because they bring together different ideas from a number of post-its. Add to your charter the three points.

c) Evaluators must:

Third, look at the overall approach to evaluation the group wants to take. By drawing upon your work from the chicken nuggets role-play in 5.1(b) Chicken Nuggets: Thinking About Evaluation And Evidence, agree your top ten rules for yourselves as evaluators to help avoid some of the pitfalls. Having drafted some ideas on this, compare your list with the thoughts below. Are there any you want to add or change? When the group is happy with its top ten, add them to your evaluation charter.

Evaluators must:

1. Always introduce ourselves
2. Explain about the evaluation and what it is for
3. Ask them if they want to take part
4. Make sure we are clear about what confidentiality we can offer
5. Listen carefully and record faithfully
10. Thank people for taking part and let them know what is going to happen next; let them know if there is any way they can get involved.

Look over your work together. Does it make sense? Is there anything missing? You now have an evaluation charter that can be typed up and used as your guidance and planning tool when you are to evaluate something. Make sure everyone has a copy and one is available for the rest of this unit.

Download Evaluation Charter Worksheet