A Duignan on Outcomes Article
Please reference this article as: Duignan, P. (2012). Building a simple DoView visual evaluation plan (for IPDET training). Duignan on Outcomes Article (No. 301). http://OutcomesCentral.Org/do/ipdet301.
Introduction
The International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) is a collaboration between the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) at the World Bank and The Faculty of Public Affairs (FPA) at Carlton University. As part of IPDET evaluation training courses, participants are asked to build an evaluation plan.
This article shows how you can quickly build such a plan in the form of a DoView Visual Evaluation Plan using a DoView Software Template. DoView software is logic modeling (theory of change) and evaluation planning software.
The advantages of building your real-world evaluation plan in DoView are: 1) DoView was designed to help you quickly build logic models as large as you like when working with a group in a meeting; 2) DoView lets you quickly 'map' your evaluation questions onto you logic model; 3) you can detail your evaluation questions using the IPDET Evaluation Design Matrix headings within DoView; 4) you can also use the DoView Evaluation Plan to do all of your stakeholder presentations about your evaluation; 5) you can use the DoView Plan to control your evaluation implementation; and, 6) you can use the DoView Plan to report back on the results of your evaluation.
All this saves you time because you do not need to have multiple files to plan, manage and report on your evaluation (e.g. Word files, Powerpoints etc.). You can do most of your evaluation work from within the one DoView Visual Evaluation Plan file.
Note that any international development project which cannot afford DoView can apply to the DoView Donor Program for a no-cost copy (see http://DoView.com/doviewdonorprogram.html).
How To build your IPDET DoView Plan
- Download and install a 30-day trial copy of DoView software onto your computer (PC or Mac)
- Download the IPDET DoView Visual Evaluation Plan Template and open it in DoView software by going to http://outcomescentral.org/t/ipdetevalplan86.doview. (To see what is in the template if you do not have DoView, look at the PDF at http://outcomescentral.org/t/ipdetevalplan86.pdf and a webpage version of it at http://outcomescentral.org/t/ipdetevalplan86.html).
- Look at the two-part 'Duignan on Outcomes' videos on how to use the IPDET DoView Template below. (You might like to look at the videos on your mobile phone as you progressively fill in your IPDET DoView template on your computer).
- If you would like further information on how to build a Theory of Change (logic model) look at the Youtube at http://youtu.be/4kjew1fhQnM. Note that in this video the logic model headings include 'intermediate outcomes', 'outcome', and 'final outcome'. In the IPDET format, the terms which are used are: immediate outcomes, intermediate outcomes and impacts.
- In addition to using the DoView file, you can create a PDF of your plan to email to others, or cut and paste individual pages into Powerpoint or Word.
- You can also publish a webpage version of your plan to the internet (if you have the free Dropbox service installed on your computer). See how to at http://doview.com/howtoguides/d3dropbox.html. See an example of a webpage version of a DoView http://doview.com/doviews/school84.html.
If you have any questions about how to use features in DoView, go to the DoView Software Linkedin Group and ask them there. http://tinyurl.com/doviewsoftwareln.
You can get more information on working with the DoView approach to evaluation on this website http://outcomescentral.org/dplan/eval.html.
Building an IPDET DoView Visual Evaluation Plan Part 1
Building an IPDET DoView Visual Evaluation Plan Part 2