1.
Using logic diagrams to
aid critical reflection
Paul Ducker, DAPA Day, 23 March 2010

2.
What is a logic model?
“If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you
gonna’ know when you get there?”
Yogi Berra, Former major league baseball player and manager
• a logic model is a picture of how you believe your
programme will work
• it lays out what the programme is expected to
achieve, based on an identified chain of events
• it helps create shared understanding
• it enables you to anticipate the data and
resources you will need to achieve success

3.
What do they look like?

4.
What do they look like?
INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES IMPACT

5.
How are they used?
“Most of the value in a logic model is in the process
of creating, validating and modifying the model....”
W.K.Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook (1998)
• during design and planning to help develop and
communicate programme strategy
• during programme implementation and
management to focus energy
• throughout development and delivery to ensure
evaluation and strategic reporting are
embedded and encourage reflection and learning.

6.
Birthday
greetings!
A simple logic model

7.
Paulʼs 2010 Birthday Greetings Campaign
ASSUMPTIONS INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES

8.
Paulʼs 2010 Birthday Greetings Campaign
ASSUMPTIONS INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES
There is a
tradition of
celebrating
birthdays at
CABE
People need an
excuse to
celebrate
Not everyone in
DAPA knows
how important it
is to celebrate
my birthday

9.
Paulʼs 2010 Birthday Greetings Campaign
ASSUMPTIONS INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES
There is a That the majority
tradition of of people in DAPA
celebrating remember my
birthdays at birthday and wish
CABE me well!
People need an 31 March is a little
excuse to less serious than it
celebrate would otherwise
have been
Not everyone in
DAPA knows
how important it
is to celebrate
my birthday

10.
Paulʼs 2010 Birthday Greetings Campaign
ASSUMPTIONS INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES
There is a At least 20 That the majority
tradition of members of DAPA of people in DAPA
celebrating have heard me say remember my
birthdays at that my birthday birthday and wish
CABE coincides with the me well!
end of the financial
People need an year 31 March is a little
excuse to less serious than it
celebrate At least 20 people would otherwise
say ʻHappy have been
Not everyone in Birthday!ʼ to me on
DAPA knows 31 March 2010
how important it
is to celebrate
my birthday

11.
Paulʼs 2010 Birthday Greetings Campaign
ASSUMPTIONS INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES
There is a My time Opportunistic links At least 20 That the majority
tradition of are (appropriately) members of DAPA of people in DAPA
celebrating Advocacy of made between my have heard me say remember my
birthdays at colleagues who birthday and year that my birthday birthday and wish
CABE have worked end in meetings coincides with the me well!
with me before and conversations end of the financial
People need an year 31 March is a little
excuse to Intranet Time limited less serious than it
celebrate programme of At least 20 people would otherwise
Internal meetings ingratiation have been
say ʻHappy
Not everyone in instigated: making Birthday!ʼ to me on
DAPA knows tea, smiling, 31 March 2010
how important it offering
is to celebrate compliments
my birthday

12.
Including assumptions
• A logic model only has to be logical and sequential
• It becomes more powerful when you say why you
expect the desired change to happen
• Adding the causal mechanism moves the model
from programme logic to programme theory

13.
“A logic model brings program concepts and dreams to life”
W.K.Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide
“These models help build a common understanding between managers
and evaluation ... such agreement is a pre-requisite for evaluation work that
is likely to be useful to management. [These models] display the key events
(inputs, activities, outcomes) that could be monitored and the assumed
causal linkages that could be tested in evaluations of the program”
Joseph S. Wholey, Harry P. Haltry and K.E Newcomer quoted in W.K.Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide
“The idea that evaluation should include conceptualising and testing a
program’s theory of change emerged in the 1970s as part of a more general
concern about assessing a program’s readiness for evaluation........
evaluability assessment was the evaluator’s version of foreplay: getting the
program ready for the act itself - the act being evaluation”
Micheal Quinn Patton, Utilization-Focused Evaluation

14.
Limits of logic (criticisms of logic models)
• Over simplifying complex problems
clear how model relates to wider environment)
(include assumptions, be
• Encourages narrow, linear thinking based on past
experience (start with need and desired outcomes, and then work back to activities)
• All very well but .... (start from the premise that evaluation is about helping focus
effort on the right things, not just be about reporting on progress to funders, otherwise it is not worth
the effort)

15.
For real
Using the CABE template

16.
The end
Good luck