Hunter Consulting LLC

Rating the Social Value of Programs

We are currently working with Social Solutions, Inc. - one of our Strategic Partners - to develop a tool that human and social service agencies, and funders too, can use to assess the degree to which an organization's claims for a program's value are supported by data.  The tool looks at: (a) what kinds of data an organization presents to show that its programs work as advertised; (b) the ways in which the organization uses data to to manage program performance; (c) how it works to maintain or improve program quality; (d) what it does to keep the program in conformance with its original design and implementation standards; and (e) how it uses data both strategically and tactically to keep its program(s) aligned with and able to create the social value promised by its mission.

We expect to publish a major paper describing the tool and the thinking behind it by the the summer of 2008.

Client Performance Reports

(This part of the website is under construction.)

faq:

Should all programs be evaluated using randomized control trials?

No!  Randomized control trials should only be undertaken after a program has been delivered to a well-defined target population reliably, consistently, and with high fidelity to a codified program model for several years.  Moreover, before a randomized control trial is undertaken, an implementation (or formative) evaluation should be used to document these facts and allow for program modifications to improve effectiveness.

This topic is covered in depth in the article Daniel and the Rhinoceros.