Author: Marianne Kirsop, Communications Officer, Evaluation Support Scotland
What does “good” evaluation really look like in practice? In this guest blog, Evaluation Support Scotland share five principles—shaped by their experience working with organisations—to help make evaluation more meaningful, practical and useful.
Evaluation Support Scotland's five principles for good evaluation
At Evaluation Support Scotland we are clear that there is no absolute standard for self-evaluation. What is good enough depends on what your evaluation is for, your context, the needs of your service users, and practical considerations like time and resources. However, our 5 principles for good evaluation, which are the distillation of our many years of experience, can be used to help you judge if you are happy with your evaluation. Here we give an overview of each principle and include examples from organisations we have worked with to illustrate the principle.
1. Good evaluation should be about what matters
The focus of evaluation is outcomes – what difference you make (or not), how you make that difference, and to whom.
One organisation we worked with found that their outcomes focused only on the impact on their service users. However, the organisation also recruits volunteer tutors to deliver the service – feedback from the tutors prompted the CEO to think about the organisation’s impact on them too. We reviewed the evaluation plan and helped the CEO write outcomes that reflect changes in tutors’ attitudes and skills, as well as the impact for the service users.
2. Good evaluation should fit the way you do your work
Methods and recording should be as easy as possible for everyone, and evaluation should happen as part of your service delivery.
In one case, an organisation delivering its service by phone was able to reshape its evaluation approach to better match its day‑to‑day work. Instead of gathering information about call quality and satisfaction, they shifted to collecting data linked directly to their outcomes. They introduced indicators that call handlers could quickly tick off during the call itself.
3. Good evaluation should involve the people you support
The people you support (service users) should have the opportunity to share their experiences, and they should know what you do with their feedback. They should be able to reflect for themselves on progress and feel included. Ideally service users should also have a chance to lead on some aspect of evaluation such as setting outcomes, designing methods or analysing data. However, when involving people in your evaluation it is also important to ensure that you do no harm.
A great example comes from an organisation that involved people with learning disabilities in setting outcomes for service commissioning. Service users were shown large picture printouts representing different outcomes and used facial‑expression symbols to prioritise them. A semi‑structured interview then supported a discussion about how services had—or had not—helped them.
4. Good evaluation should be used by you
Your evaluation should be used to understand the value of your work, to celebrate, to improve, and to plan what to do next.
For example, one organisation we worked with found that although their outcomes were being achieved, there were also some negative side effects. The organisation took this learning on board, and as a result adjusted their service delivery.
5. Good evaluation should be communicated well
Funders, policy makers, and other stakeholders should be convinced, and should be able to use your evaluation to take action themselves.
One organisation we worked with took a creative approach to reporting by producing a short video for their funder. They felt this would better communicate the difference they make than a traditional written report. The funder responded positively, highlighting how the stories shared in the video brought the statistics to life and provided meaningful insight into the organisation’s impact.
Using these 5 principles for good evaluation can make a real difference to how useful and meaningful your evaluation is, both for your organisation and for the people you support. The principles help ensure that evaluation is not just something you do for funders, but something that supports learning and improvement.
Marianne Kirsop
Marianne joined Evaluation Support Scotland in 2023; her work involves promoting and sharing good evaluation practice among the third sector.