Working with evaluation data often involves several people or organizations. Each of these may have a different expectation for how the data is used. It’s important from the start of an evaluation project to have discussions to create a mutual understanding of how the information and data will be managed, secured, stored, shared, and communicated. While working on a recent evaluation project with multiple stakeholders we developed a discussion framework that was very helpful for the teams involved to talk about and establish a clear understanding of each other’s needs. This assisted in establishing a clear process for information sharing and data stewardship.
It is important that each organization/partner on an evaluation project reflect on its approach to data with the aim of communicating its expectations and needs. This framework helps to clarify some areas of discussion, a starting point for a collaborative path forward. The discussion framework consists of six sections. Each section includes some discussion questions. Some sections include additional links to other learning resources. These aren’t to be exhaustive and there are many ways teams could use this tool. These sections are:
- Who are the parties involved, how are they involved, and what do they want/need?
- What does informed consent look like?
- Who owns the data?
- Who can use the data?
- How will the data be protected?
- How will communications work?
By taking the time early in the development of the evaluation to establish these understandings we found the whole process was able to run much more smoothly with all involved having a clear understanding of the process that would be used.
Please check out: PAN’s Discussion Framework: Supporting Teams to Build a Common Understanding about Information Sharing and Data Stewardship for Evaluation Projects
This post was prepared for PAN’s Research and Evaluation Treehouse by Janice Duddy and Paul Kerber
Questions? Feedback? Get in touch!
Joanna Mendell, Director of Research and Evaluation
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