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Communicating Results

Module 13

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Introduction

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By the end of this module, you will be able to ...

Understand why it is important to communicate findings from your evaluation,�
Craft a communication plan, and �
Identify different options for communicating results.

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Why do we communicate results?

Share knowledge with others.�
Confirm or challenge ideas about �your program. �
Make informed decisions for �improvements or changes.

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Who is your audience?

Who needs to know what you learned from your evaluation?

Funders

Community members

Coworkers

Participants

Policymakers

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Talk about: what you did

The program itself

What is it?
Who participates?
What’s the goal?�

The evaluation

What were you looking for?
What questions did you ask?
Why did you choose them?
What were the main, overall findings?

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Who is your audience?

Who needs to know what you learned from your evaluation?

Funders

Community members

Coworkers

Participants

Policymakers

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Talk about: what you did

Executive

Summary

The program itself

What is it?
Who participates?
What’s the goal?�

The evaluation

What were you looking for?
What questions did you ask?
Why did you choose them?
What were the main, overall findings?

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Talk about: how you did it

Quantitative vs. qualitative

Why did you choose it?

Tools and instruments

Homemade or preexisting?

Analysis

How do you know what you know?

Evaluator

You or someone else?

Funder

Internal or external?

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Talk about: why it matters

What did you find?
What are the implications?
Does the program need changes?

What do you recommend?

“The critical thing is not that we succeed, but that we generate useful findings.”

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Then, tell people what the results of your evaluation mean.

Is your program achieving your intended goals and outcomes?

If not, why not?

Did you run into any unexpected outcomes? Should we explore some of these more? Maybe you were trying to figure out what children are learning from one of your exhibits, but during your evaluation, you found that only certain children visit it in the first place. Perhaps you now need to look more into who is visiting that exhibit and why.

Maybe your program is working really well already; That’s great! How do we think about sharing that with other, similar organizations?

Does the program needs changes? What kind? Recommendations should be realistic and specific but should have significant impacts.

Did we learn that certain groups of people are less likely to participate than others? How can we fix that?

An evaluation that shows your program is NOT working as you intended is not a failure. You collected important information that you can use to improve your program for the future.

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Reporting your results

What is most useful for �your audience?

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After you’ve thought about all these things, now you have to decide how to present this information.

Earlier we talked about choosing the audience, the people we want to know the results of our evaluation.

Not only does this help us think about what information to present, it also helps us think about HOW to present it.

How interactive do you want the communication to be for your intended audience? For example, written and print materials are least interactive while discussions and working

sessions are most interactive. Verbal and video presentations fall somewhere in the middle.

How text heavy do you need the communication to be?

On one end of the spectrum we have traditional written reports. These might have lots of text and require a certain level of literacy or previous knowledge.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have video, photography, or drama. These will have much less text, but might be particularly useful for audiences with lower levels of literacy, or from cultures with strong traditions of oral history.

What about social media, newspapers, infographics or webinars?

What format will be most useful for your intended audience?

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(Torres, Preskill and Piontek, 2005)

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Examples

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Examples

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Wrap up/Highlights

Understand why it is important to communicate findings from your evaluation,�
Be able to craft a communication plan, and �
Identify different options for communicating results.

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Conclusion

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For further information

W K Kellogg Foundation. The step-by-step guide to evaluation: How to become savvy

evaluation consumers. Battle Creek, Michigan: W K Kellogg Foundation, 2017. �Available online at: https://www.wkkf.org/resource-directory/resources/2017/11/the-step-by-step-guide-to-evaluation--how-to-become-savvy-evaluation-consumers

Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE). (2011). Principal Investigator's Guide: Managing Evaluation in Informal STEM Education Projects. [online] Available online at: https://www.informalscience.org/principal-investigators-guide-managing-evaluation-informal-stem-education-projects-pi-guide�

Phillips, T., Ferguson, M., Minarchek, M., Porticella, N., & Bonney, R. (2014). Evaluating Learning Outcomes from Citizen Science. Available online at: https://www.citizenscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/USERS-GUIDE_linked.pdf

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Stay connected

Visit us: https://research.ced.ncsu.edu/impactnc/

Dr. K.C. Busch

Assistant Professor of STEM Education

North Carolina State University | College of Education

kbusch@ncsu.edu

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Credits

K.C. Busch

Lynn Chesnut

Regina Ayala Chávez

Aimee Fraulo

Kathryn T. Stevenson

Katy May

Lincoln Larson

Madeline Hinckle

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