From Minnesota Campus Compact. An introduction to basic evaluation principles focusing on the value and limitations of logic models.

1. LOGIC MODELS
(AND OTHER BASIC
EVALUATION IDEAS)

2. LOGIC MODEL - the graphic
depiction of the relationship
between your activities
and their intended effects

3. Headache
(SITUATION)
Get Pills
(INPUT)
Take Pills
(OUTPUT)
Feel Better
(OUTCOME)

4. Why use a logic model?

5. What is
the
situation?
What are
we going
to do?
PLANNING

6. Get everybody
on the
same page.
Build understanding &
promote consensus about
what the program is and
how it will work.
Make your underlying
assumptions explicit.
Summarize complex
projects to communicate
with stakeholders and
funders.

7. WHO is going to do
WHAT,
WHEN,
WHY, and
TO WHAT STANDARD?

8. Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

9. Limitations of Logic Models

10. They represent reality, but are not reality.
Human relationships are not mathematical formulas.

11. Programs/projects are not linear.
Nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

12. Logic models focus on expected outcomes, not on actual
outcomes (positive or negative unintended consequences).

13. They have a tendency to assess what is easiest to measure
rather than what is most valuable.

14. There can be causal attribution issues -- variables may not
be isolated and many factors are influencing outcomes.

15. Logic models don’t address whether you are doing the
right thing, only what you did.

16. Other Things to Remember

17. Your THEORY OF CHANGE should not be too complex.

18. "I think you should be more explicit here in step two."
Cartoon by Sidney Harris
Be realistic.

19. We tend to value what we
measure, so we must be sure
to measure what we value.

20. Never convey a
number without a
story; never a
story without a
number.
Image: Sam Brown, http://www.explodingdog.com/

21. www.mncampuscompact.org