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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The Many Forms of Democratic Evaluation
Ernest House, Emeritus Professor at the University of Colorado, argues that democratic evaluation calls for more ingenuity than other forms of evaluation and that as a result its methods can take many forms.
Combining Research Rigor and Participatory Evaluation
Anju Malhotra and Sanyukta Mathur from the International Center for Research on Women describe a study in Nepal that compared participatory and more traditional approaches to evaluating adolescent reproductive health interventions.
Twists and Turns in the Journey: Youth Activists' Use of Research in Their Campaigns for Small Schools
Kristine Lewis shares Research for Action's experience with training youth to use social science research methods in their campaigns to im-prove their local high schools.
A Conversation With Jennifer Greene
Jennifer Greene of the University of Ilinois talks about her efforts to advance the theory and practice of alternative forms of evaluation, including qualitative, participatory, and mixed-method evaluation.
Democratic Evaluation in Practice
Cheryl MacNeil, an evaluation consultant, describes the asymmetries of power in evaluation and her efforts to make her evaluation practice more democratic.
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.
Using Democratic Evaluation Principles to Foster Citizen Engagement and Strengthen Neighborhoods
Arnold Love and Betty Muggah describe how Hamilton Community Foundation applied democratic evaluation principles to transform challenged neighborhoods into vibrant communities.
Untangling Logic Models and Indicators: Reflections on Engaging Stakeholders
Seema Shah, a researcher at the Institute for Education and Social Policy, shares her experience of engaging community organizing groups to develop a logic model on how community organizing leads to better student outcomes.
The Trenton Central High School Obesity Prevention Project: Encouraging Democracy Through Inclusion
Katrina Bledsoe of the College of New Jersey writes about the inclusion of student voices in the evaluation of an obesity prevention program
How does evaluation create options to enhancing social justice?
Saville Kushner of the Centre for Research in Education and Democracy at the University of the West of England suggests ways that an evaluation's participants can make evaluations more democratic.
How can evaluation address racial equality?
Sally Leiderman, President of the Center for Assessment and Policy Development, explains how evaluation can be a tool to help communities and their partners do work in racial equity.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Democratic Evaluation by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
New & Noteworthy
The New & Noteworthy section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue's theme of Democratic Evaluation.
Evaluation Theory or What Are Evaluation Methods for?
Mel Mark, professor of psychology at the Pennsylvania State University and president-elect of the American Evaluation Association, discusses why theory is important to evaluation practice.
Eight Outcome Models
Robert Penna and William Phillips from the Rensselaerville Institute’s Center for Outcomes describe eight models for applying outcome-based thinking.
Evaluation and the Sacred Bundle
John Bare of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation explains how nonprofits can learn about setting evaluation priorities based on storytelling and “sacred bundles.”
Assessing Nonprofit Organizational Capacity
Abby Weiss from HFRP describes the tool that the Marguerite Casey Foundation offers its nonprofit grantees to help them assess their organizational capacity.
A Conversation With Gary Henry
Gary Henry makes the case for a paradigm shift in how we think about evaluation use and influence.
What is strategic learning and how do you develop an organizational culture that encourages it?
John A. Healy, Director of Strategic Learning and Evaluation at The Atlantic Philanthropies, shares ways to position learning as an organizational priority.
What is the Campbell Collaboration and how is it helping to identify “what works”?
Robert Boruch, a founder of the Campbell Collaboration and professor of education and statistics at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses how the Campbell Collaboration and randomized trials contribute to evidence-based policy.
An Introduction to Theory of Change
Andrea Anderson is a research associate at the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, where she focuses on work related to planning and evaluating community initiatives.
Evaluating Complicated—and Complex—Programs Using Theory of Change
Patricia Rogers of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology describes how a theory of change can provide coherence in evaluating national initiatives that are both complicated and complex.
The Knight Foundation's Approach to Cluster Evaluation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Wellsys Corporation describe how they plan to aggregate lessons learned across a "thematic cluster" of youth development investments.
Ten Strategies for Enhancing Multicultural Competency in Evaluation
Teresa Boyd Cowles of the Connecticut Department of Education offers self-reflective strategies evaluators can use to enhance their multicultural competency.
The Evidence Base for Increasing High-Achieving Minority Undergraduates
Mehmet Öztürk discusses findings from a review of evaluations of programs at selective colleges and universities to be used for improving undergraduate academic outcomes for underrepresented minority or disadvantaged students.