Journal
EVALUATION
Volume 18, Issue 1, Pages 5-25Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/1356389011431506
Keywords
applied research; design; rural development; validity; value-chain development
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This article describes a systematic process that is helpful in improving impact evaluation assignments, within restricted budgets and timelines. It involves three steps: a rethink of the key questions of the evaluation to develop more relevant, specific questions; a way of designing a mix of research methods to generate evidence that supports more valid conclusions; and a step that aims to make evaluation outputs more useful. The approach is illustrated through two examples: one on measuring income impacts in an irrigated horticulture programme in Nepal, Zambia and Ethiopia; and another on the assessment of changes in organizational capacities for collective marketing by smallholders in Bolivia. The article demonstrates that this simple, straightforward and structured three-step process helped to reduce the tendency to one-method designs. Enhanced critical reflection within the team allowed for greater sensitivity to validity threats and the creativity to find ways to handle them.
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