In this webinar, experienced STEM education evaluator Kirk Knestis will share strategies for effectively communicating with evaluation clients to avoid three common “evaluation fails.” (1) Project implementation delays; (2) evaluation scope creep (clients wanting something more or different from what was originally planned); and (3) substantial changes in the project over the course of the evaluation. These issues are typical causes for an evaluation to be derailed and fail to produce useful and valid results. Webinar participants will learn how clear documentation—specifically, an evaluation contract (legal commitment to the work), scope of work (detailed description of evaluation services and deliverables), and study protocol (technical details concerning data collection and analysis)—can make potentially difficult conversations go better for all involved, averting potential evaluation crises and failures. Getting these documents right and using them in project communications helps ensure a smoothly operating evaluation, happy client, and profitable project for the evaluator. For a sneak peek of some of what Kirk will address in this webinar, see his blog post, http://www.evalu-ate.org/blog/knestis-apr18/.

Presenter: Kirk Knestis
Moderator: Michael Lesiecki