The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
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Pioneers in the Field: Four Foundations on Advocacy Evaluation
Representatives from four foundations discuss their expectations and approaches for assessing their advocacy and public policy grantmaking.
Evaluation and InterAction
Ken Giunta and Todd Shelton of InterAction answer HFRP's questions about their approaches and ideas on evaluating advocacy.
A Conversation With Kay Monaco
Kay Monaco, former executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, discusses the role that evaluation plays in her organization's efforts to change public policy.
Evaluating an Issue's Position on the Policy Agenda: The Bellwether Methodology
Policy issues need both visibility and momentum to be transformed into political action. Harvard Family Research Project's bellwether methodology helps evaluators assess if both characteristics are emerging.
Evaluation Based on Theories of the Policy Process
Harvard Family Research Project explains how it helps to ground evaluation in theories of the policy process.
Social Capital in the Connected Society
Andrew Nachison, director of the Media Center, an organization that studies the intersection of media, technology, and society, writes about social capital and democratic processes in a digital society.
Thoughts on Early Childhood Research: Improving Connections
Marilou Hyson and Heather Biggar, from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, offer ideas for how stakeholders in early childhood can share research results.
Learning a New Language: Effectively Communicating Early Childhood Research to State Legislators
Jack Tweedie, from the National Conference of State Legislatures, explains how to convey research to legislators in ways likely to influence their policymaking.
The Home Visit Forum: Understanding and Improving the Role of Home Visitation
Heather Weiss, HFRP director, describes a consortium of national organizations working to improve home visitation models.
Lessons in Evaluating Communications Campaigns: Five Case Studies
This paper examines how communication campaigns with different purposes (individual behavior change and policy change) have been evaluated. It offers a discussion of theories of change that can guide evaluation planning, along with five case studies of completed campaign evaluations. Each case study includes lessons from the evaluation and the paper finishes with a set of cross-case-study lessons gleaned from these evaluations and others.
Public Communications Campaigns and Evaluation
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange, Harvard Family Research Project's quarterly evaluation periodical, focuses on public communication campaigns and their efforts to achieve desirable social outcomes. Articles in the first half of the issue offer promising practices and tips for campaign designers and implementers. Articles in the second half examine how campaigns are being evaluated and associated issues, challenges, and innovations.
International Communication Research and Evaluation at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs
Maria Elena Figueroa from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs reveals the Center’s methods for evaluating communication campaigns and offers five examples of their evaluations in progress.
What do evaluators of public communication campaigns need to do to advance their work and this field?
Gary T. Henry is a professor in Policy Studies and Political Science at Georgia State University, co-editor-in-chief of the journal New Directions for Evaluation, and co-author of Evaluation: An Integrated Framework for Understanding, Guiding, and Improving Policies and Programs (2000, Jossey-Bass).
How can evaluations of public communication campaigns be of more use to social change efforts?
Dr. Sharyn Sutton and Elizabeth Heid Thompson of the social marketing firm, Sutton Group, in Washington D.C. have worked on the research, strategic planning, and execution of numerous social change efforts and public service campaigns.
New & Noteworthy
This section features an annotated list of resources related to the issue's theme of Public Communications Campaigns and Evaluation.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Public Communications Campaigns and Evaluation by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Using Behavior Change Theory to Communicate Effectively: The Case of Latino Parent Involvement
Anne Pollock (HGSE) and Julia Coffman and M. Elena Lopez (HFRP) reveal how to design communications that are more effective at changing behavior by keeping in mind the factors that influence behavior.
Credibility, Relevance, and Inescapable Truths: Effective Messages for Youth
Tim Mask describes three strategies for improving the effectiveness of behavior change campaigns that were used with success by the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi.
Blogging (BLOG’ing)
Julia Coffman of Harvard Family Research Project wants to save you from the embarrassment of making the same mistake she made.
Understanding Research: Ten Tips
Stephanie Schaefer of the National Association of Child Advocates offers tips on how to evaluate research information for its credibility.
Keeping It Local
Julie Parente of the statewide child advocacy organization, Voices for Illinois Children, describes a component of their “ground strategy” for effectively communicating campaign messages.
A Conversation With Ethel Klein
Ethel Klein, a longtime campaign strategist and pollster, is president of EDK Associates, a strategic research firm based in New York City. Dr. Klein has designed campaigns for nonprofit organizations and foundations on many varied issues.
Beyond the Usual Suspects
Julia Coffman, from Harvard Family Research Project, describes methods for campaign evaluation that are unique to the communications arena.
Keeping Smokey Looking Good at Sixty
For 60 years the Advertising Council has worked on hundreds of public service campaigns on a broad range of social issues, including such well-known campaigns as Smokey Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog. George Perlov offers a look at the role of research and evaluation inside the Ad Council.
Using Information Architecture to Improve Communication
Erin Harris from Harvard Family Research Project with Suzanne Muchin, CEO of Civitas, illustrate the design concept “information architecture” for displaying complex information clearly and simply.