Building Evidence in Education:Conference for EEF Evaluators

11th July: Theory12th July: Practice

www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk

Panel session 2: All in the process

Pleasure and pain of process

July 2013

Introductions and purpose

Becky Clarkson

Look at some of the issues I’ve encountered with process evaluations, and hopefully some of the positive aspects.

Overview of the five transition RCTsName The partner How many

schools / pupils

Length of delivery

Who is actually delivering

What the intervention involves

Chatterbooks Academic at Coventry Uni

12 / 577 10 weeks Researchers hired especially

2 arms – 1 enhancedBook club style meeting once a week

R4R Academic and cellist

6 / 421 10 weeks The cellist! 10 min session once a week

Vocab Enrichment

Bolton Council not finalised 6 months Normal teachers ?

Speaking and Listening

Greenford High

not finalised 8 months TAs hired specifically

?

One to one tuition

Perry Beeches Academy

not finalised full school year

Graduates hired specifically

Five sessions per fortnight

What the process evaluations consist of

• Observations of training sessions• Observations of intervention sessions• Interviewing deliverers• Teacher log

The first pain

TIME

The second pain (the biggy really!)

RELATIONSHIPS• non-contactable• too interested• over-friendly

The pleasures

Personal interest

Continuity

Questions or comments?

My contact details:r.clarkson@nfer.ac.uk

Some Issues in Process EvaluationPresentation to the EEF evaluators conference

Caroline SharpJuly 2013

What is a process evaluation?

Process evaluation: documents and analyses the development and implementation of a programme, assessing whether strategies were implemented as planned and whether expected output was actually produced. Bureau of Justice Assistance (1997) quoted in EEF (2013)

What does process evaluation involve?It:• explores the implementation and/or development of

a programme• considers how the programme has been

implemented and/or developed• can assess whether the programme has been

implemented and/or developed as planned• considers which activities/outputs have been

implemented.

Why implementation is important

Interventions are rarely implemented as designed and, crucially, variability in implementation is related to variability in the achievement of expected outcomes (Lendrum and Humphrey, 2012, p.635).

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Because we need to know why and how an initiative has achieved its outcomes and impact in order to draw valid conclusions and improve practice.

Some issues and challenges• Process evaluation may be confused with qualitative

evaluation• It can be difficult to establish intended activities and

outputs• How to respond to new/developing initiatives?• Difficult to achieve good measures of resources and costs• How to deal with issues of fidelity versus responsiveness

to context?• How to make good judgements about scaleability?

What helps?• A clearly defined intervention (rather than a loosely

defined ‘programme’)• A more established programme model• A clear logic model or Theory of Change• Participation in key events (e.g. observing staff

training; attending project meetings)• Good communication between the programme

managers and the evaluation team(s)• Understanding the broader context of going to scale.

Process evaluation of Changing Mindsets: challenges and lessons

Process evaluation of Changing Mindsets: challenges and lessons

Changing Mindsets•Primary school intervention (Year 5)•Managed and delivered by Portsmouth University and partners•In Portsmouth and Hampshire•Testing theory of ‘fixed’ and ‘growth’ mindsets•2 separate interventions: Pupil; Teacher Inset•RCT with tests in English, Maths, and Mindset measures

Process evaluation of Changing Mindsets: challenges and lessons

Process evaluation – general objectives•To establish whether the programme was delivered as planned•To identify:

• factors which could explain why the intervention did/didn’t work

• contextual reasons for variation• Issues which should inform plans for future roll-out

Process evaluation of Changing Mindsets: challenges and lessons

Design of the process evaluation•Include experiences and perspectives of participants (project workers, teachers, head teachers, project partners)•Cover all key components of the intervention•Keep to the ‘light touch’ EEF principle•Use project’s own evaluation

Process evaluation of Changing Mindsets: challenges and lessonsProcess evaluation of Changing Mindsets – challengesNot over-burdening the project or participantsGaining cooperation without jeopardising projectAvoiding confusion between project team and evaluator teamFitting in with the project: timing and placeKeeping up with changes to the projectStaying objective

Process evaluation of Changing Mindsets: challenges and lessons

Process evaluation: some lessons from Changing MindsetsWork with the project team Don’t duplicate data collection•Use project’s own evaluationKeep it ‘light’ – don’t over-collect targeted visits & observationskeep interviews short & focusedFlexible methods - phone rather than face to face, email responses