Evaluation

Our evaluation approach is based on the ‘realist evaluation’ design described by Pawson and Tilley (Pawson R. & Tilley N. (Realistic Evaluation 1997, London: Sage Publications). This approach is favoured over other evaluation designs because the outcomes of change programmes are usually long-term and are likely to be influenced by a range of external variables for which it is not possible, or necessarily desirable, to control.

Although traditional evaluation designs can shed light on what is or is not effective, they are often unable to answer the crucial questions of why something works, who it worked for, and the circumstances in which it was made to work. This is what a realist style of evaluation does, by examining the mechanisms through which particular initiatives achieve particular outcomes for different populations in certain contexts (insert link).