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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Bringing Together Information Technology and Professional Development to Transform the Settlement Sector
Etagegnhue Woldeab and the Information and Technology team from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants describe two web-based tools that are helping immigrant-serving agencies to operate more effectively.
A Conversation With Jonny Morell
Jonny Morell of the Altarum Institute discusses, among other things, the relationship between innovation and efficiency in technology application.
Girls Make the Message: Community Action Through the Girls Incorporated Lens
Faedra Lazar Weiss and Deborah Aubert describe a program in which young women use video production technology for community needs assessment and action.
Harnessing Technology for Evaluation
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange explores the contribution of technology to evaluation practice, with articles centering on four key areas in which evaluators are using technology: data collection and analysis, collaboration, knowledge mobilization, and evaluation capacity building. Rounding out the issue is a special feature on the role technology plays in fostering youth civic engagement and in evaluating programs for youth.
Free. 28 Pages.
Information Technology and Outcome Measurement at Girls Incorporated
PeiYao Chen discusses how information technology is used in outcome measurement at Girls Incorporated.
A Lens on Learning: Teaching Youth to Produce Documentaries
Steven Goodman, director of the Educational Video Center and author of Teaching Youth Media, describes a program that teaches media literacy and documentary production skills to youth in New York City, with an eye toward fostering civic engagement.
YouthLearn: Using Technology to Create Meaningful Learning Experiences for Youth
Tony Streit, from Education Development Center, discusses the challenges and potential rewards of using technology to enhance learning in both formal and informal settings.
The Child Trends DataBank: An Evolving Resource for Policymakers, Researchers, and Practitioner
Brett Brown, Kristin Moore, and Sharon Bzostek describe Child Trends' “one-stop data shop” for the latest indicators on child and youth well-being.
Making Voices Heard: Using Multimedia to Give Evaluation a Cutting Edge
Suresh Balakrishnan describes the use of multimedia to disseminate evaluation results in Bangalore, India.
Using Internet and Communications Technology to Foster Evaluation in Africa
Zenda Ofir and Jean-Charles Rouge reflect on how Internet-based communication strategies have contributed to building evaluation capacity in Africa.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Harnessing Technology for Evaluation by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Electronic Collaboration Tools: Opening Up a New World of Possibilities for Evaluators
Benoît Gauthier talks about the ways electronic collaboration tools are facilitating evaluation around the world.
Taking the Next Step: Harnessing the Power of Technology for Evaluation
Arnold Love, an internationally recognized independent consultant with more than 20 years' experience in evaluation and the guest editor of this issue, provides a conceptual map of the issue's theme
Software Programs for Nonprofit Evaluation
Erin Harris from HFRP provides an overview of software programs for nonprofit program evaluation.
Wearable Computers and Evaluation
Edward Dieterle, from Harvard University's Handheld Devices for Ubiquitous Learning Project, discusses the potential of using wireless handheld devices for evaluation.
Using Internet Technology to Develop Evaluation Capacity and Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean
Ada Ocampo and Marco Segone describe the ways electronic networks are being put to use in Latin America and the Caribbean to build evaluation capacity.
Internet Surveys: Back to the Future
Internationally recognized survey expert Don Dillman discusses the advantages and limitations of conducting surveys via the Internet.
The National Youth Participation Study: Using Online Surveys to Reach Large Numbers of Youth
Lynne Borden, from the University of Arizona, describes the use of online surveys in a national study of the out-of-school time activity participation of middle and high school youth.
Videotaped Interactions in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project
Rebecca Ryan, Christy Brady-Smith, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn describe the use of videotapes in the national evaluation of Early Head Start.
Evaluating Family Support: Thinking Critically, Thinking Internationally (Keynote Address)
Evaluation plays a major role in shaping new directions for the field of family support. In her keynote address at the Participatory Evaluation and Parent Engagement Institute, sponsored by Family Support America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in Kansas City, Missouri, September 20–22, 2004, Heather Weiss, Founder and Director of HFRP, described how evaluation can support learning, continuous improvement, and innovation. The four components of a family support evaluation strategy that she outlined were experimental studies to show program impact on families, utilization-focused evaluation to support policy and practitioner decision making, action research and empowerment evaluation, and performance standards based on solid research and evaluation.
Free. Available online only.
Working It Out: The Chronicle of a Mixed-Method Analysis
Chapter in Discovering Successful Pathways in Children's Development: Mixed Methods in the Study of Childhood and Family Life. Edited by Thomas S. Weisner. Published by University of Chicago Press. This chapter chronicles a mixed-method analysis of family involvement in children's learning, drawing observations about the process and added value of combining methods.
Promoting Quality Through Professional Development: A Framework for Evaluation
Recognizing the critical role that staff play in promoting quality OST programs, in this brief we examine OST professional development efforts and offer a framework for their evaluation.
Free. 12 Pages.
Understanding and Measuring Attendance in Out-of-School Time Programs
This brief reviews developmental research and out-of-school time program evaluations to examine three research-based indicators of attendance—intensity, duration, and breadth—offering different models for how attendance in out-of-school time programs can influence youth outcomes.
Free. Available online only.
Detangling Data Collection: Methods for Gathering Data
This Snapshot describes the common data collection methods used by current out-of-school time programs to evaluate their implementation and outcomes.
Free. 6 Pages.
Moving Beyond the Barriers: Attracting and Sustaining Youth Participation in Out-of-School Time Programs
This brief culls information from several implementation and impact evaluations of out-of-school time programs to develop a set of promising strategies to attract and sustain youth participation in the programs.
Free. 16 Pages.