Evaluation is a critical tool in understanding the effectiveness of your interventions and strategies. Systematic analysis of outcomes and processes provides essential insights, crucial for shaping evidence-based strategies to influence public policy.
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A well-designed evaluation of policy impact tailored to your policy engagement activities can:
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Deepen understanding. Enhances comprehension of the policy context, including relevant parties’ needs, interests, motivations, and communication preferences, which is essential for effective engagement.
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Guide strategic planning. Aids in developing impactful strategies by identifying the best channels and methods for influencing policy, ensuring directed and meaningful efforts.
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Assess achievement of objectives. Evaluates whether and how research outcomes have influenced policy decisions and checks the extent to which intended objectives are met, crucial for validating research significance.
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Refine engagement strategies. Uses evidence-based feedback to refine and improve future policy engagement efforts, learning from past successes and failures to increase effectiveness.
To navigate the complexities of assessing research’s impact on policy, a well-structured evaluation design is indispensable.
Draw on the insights from your 3i analysis and impact plan to determine key areas of your policy engagement to evaluate and develop your evaluation questions. These tools help pinpoint which aspects of your plan need refinement and testing.
Draft your evaluation question following these steps:
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Start by thinking about what impact you are aiming to evaluate.
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Write an initial draft of your evaluation question(s).
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Review for clarity, relevance, and feasibility. Ensure it is narrow and focused. This includes reflecting on the resources at your disposal, the time available, and the accessibility of the data.
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Share your question with a peer or mentor for feedback. Reflect on their input and make necessary adjustments.
If you want to learn more about impact planning, this training introduces you to two powerful tools that will enable you to think systematically about your pathway to impact evaluation, including risks and assumptions you might need to take into account and indicators to help you track your progress.