Evaluation Rigor in Action—The Outcome Harvesting Methods Memo
For the last 9 months, we have had something big in the works, and we are finally ready to share it. Headlight Consulting Services has compiled our first Methods Memo to provide guidance for professionals of all levels to implement stronger CLAME practices. This particular piece’s goal is to provide evaluators practical guidance for deciding
Introduction to Secondary Analysis
By: Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the third in a 3-part series on components of qualitative methods. This blog continues the discussion on how we at Headlight conduct Qualitative Analysis from the previous post called Intro to Primary Analysis. This blog post will build on the information from
Introduction to Primary Analysis
By: Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the second in a 3-part series on components of qualitative methods. This blog post (as well as the previous post with tips on qualitative coding and the upcoming post on Secondary Analysis coming on April 7) is intended to expand on our
Top 5 More Dos and Don’ts of Qualitative Analysis
By: Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC and Chelsie Kuhn, CLAME Specialist, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the first in a series of 3 posts on components of qualitative methods. Welcome back to Headlight’s educational blog series on all things collaborating, learning, adapting, monitoring, and evaluation (CLAME). You may have noticed
Upcoming Training: Fundamentals of Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA)
By: Monica Matts, Director of Strategic Learning, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP, and Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP Stay tuned for a blog mini-series on Headlight’s approach to all things CLA and M&E, coming early 2022! Are you interested in improving your skills around knowledge management, working with others, and tackling complex development
Learning Reviews: Using What You Already Know
By: Chelsie Kuhn, MEL Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP This is the second post in a series of two about Learning Reviews. So you’ve decided it’s time to use a Learning Review? As a refresher, a Learning Review is a way to systematically look at past assessments, evaluations, reports, and any other learning documentation in
A Quick Overview: Differences Among Desk, Literature, and Learning Reviews
By: Chelsie Kuhn, MEL Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP This is the first post in a series of two about Learning Reviews. In order to chart the wisest path forward, we need to understand where we have been. Reflecting on past learning can ensure more effective and efficient efforts in the future, regardless of discipline
Establishing Evaluation Offices Part 3
By: Cindy Clapp-Wincek, Senior Evaluation Advisor How to balance evaluation with other types of evidence We ended the first blog in this series talking about the ups and downs of evaluation as a Federal agency priority. Sometimes evaluation is traded off for and put at odds with implementation. I remember when a manager involved in budget
Establishing Evaluation Offices Part 2
By: Cindy Clapp-Wincek, Senior Evaluation Advisor What can help to build an agency culture that values, conducts, and uses evaluations? Particularly for an agency that has not had evaluation before, strengthening evaluation knowledge and culture can be an uphill climb. I have recently worked with an agency that had not been doing monitoring or evaluation
Establishing Evaluation Offices Part 1
By: Cindy Clapp-Wincek, Senior Evaluation Advisor Evaluation has now been around a good long time. Some Federal evaluation offices have been around for decades, some agencies do not yet have evaluation offices, and some agencies have had evaluation offices that have started and stopped. In any of these contexts, there are enduring issues. What choices
Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations Matrices
By: Chelsie Kuhn, MEL Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP This blog post is the last in a series about qualitative methods. Up to this point, our series has covered thoughts on qualitative rigor truths, things to keep in mind for implementation, and recommendations to help with qualitative data analysis software and coding setup considerations. To
Top 5 Dos and Don’ts of Qualitative Analysis
By: Chelsie Kuhn, MEL Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP In full disclosure, prior to joining Headlight, I was a quantitative methodologist who had some experience building surveys, building quantitative datasets from secondary sources, and running statistical analyses. When I started, I had facilitated a few semi-structured interviews and focus groups to gather data, but I
Choosing the Right Qualitative Analysis Software
By: Chelsie Kuhn, MEL Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP To facilitate the implementation of recommendations from our last post on Qualitative Rigor, we thought it might be helpful to offer up some considerations for choosing a qualitative analysis software before getting further into the process. Qualitative analysis software allows researchers and evaluators to better organize,
Designing Rigorous Qualitative Practice (part 2)
By: Rebecca Herrington Picking up where we left off last time with Qualitative Rigor in Design, this week’s blog focuses on ensuring Qualitative Rigor in Implementation, Data Cleaning, and Analysis. If you have not had time to read our first blog on Qualitative Rigor, we highly recommend that you start there as it lays out
Designing Rigorous Qualitative Practice (part 1)
By: Rebecca Herrington As researchers and evaluators work to monitor, evaluate, and learn from developments in the field, we often collect qualitative data from beneficiaries and stakeholders via observational interactions and documentation, focus groups, key informant interviews, and more. Many are apprehensive to trust findings and recommendations from qualitative data, and they critique the qualitative
What is data-driven decision making?
By: Rebecca Herrington Data-driven decision making may sound like jargon, but when approached honestly, data-driven decision making is a tangible practice to support more effective and efficient planning and operations. While the phrase may be overused and often lacking in the rigor of its application, this blog will hopefully demystify and provide practical guidance on
Welcome to Headlight Consulting Services, LLP
Welcome! We are Headlight Consulting Services, LLP. Headlight Consulting Services, LLP delivers data-driven decision making through systematic design support, in-depth monitoring, evaluation, and learning technical services, and facilitated organizational change processes. Headlight offers fit-for-purpose, agile solutions to improve the efficiency and efficacy of international development programs around the globe, focusing on the structures and systems
