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30
Posted by nnlmneo on January 30th, 2014
Posted in: Blog
Last week I attended an excellent webinar session presented by Kylie Hutchinson of Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation about the vast and often jargony world of evaluation terminology. As part of Hutchison’s research she consulted three online evaluation glossaries* and counted thirty six different definitions of evaluation methods within them. What accounts for so much variation? Common reasons include the perspectives and language used by different sectors and funders such as education, government, and non-profit organizations.
A helpful tip when working with organizations on evaluation projects is to ask to see copies of documents such as annual reports, mission and vision statements, strategic planning, and promotional materials to learn more about what language they use to communicate about themselves. This will assist you in knowing if modifications in assessment terminology language are needed, and can help guide you with discussions on clarifying the organization’s purpose of the evaluation.
Hutchinson identified several common themes within the plethora of evaluation methods and created color-coded clusters of them within her Evaluation Terminology Map, which uses the bubbl.us online mind mapping program. She also created a freely available Evaluation Glossary app for use on both iPhone and Android mobile devices and has a web-based version under development. For additional resources to better understand health information outreach evaluation, be sure to visit our tools website.
* Two of the three online evaluation glossaries referenced are still available online
Note: Link updated 9/20/2017.
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