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Evaluation Manual
Evaluation Manual
Evaluation Manual
Manual
www.ifmsa.org 1
Evaluation Manual
IFMSA
The International Federation of Medical
Contributors: Students’ Associations (IFMSA) is a non-profit,
Saniya Sahasrabudhe non-governmental organization representing
Program Support Assistant 2017/18
associations of medical students worldwide. IFMSA
Pablo Estrella Porter
SCOME Director 2017/18
was founded in 1951 and currently maintains 140
Hana Lučev
National Member Organizations from over 129
Vice-President for Activities 2017/18 countries across six continents, representing a
Matteo Cavagnacchi network of 1.3 million medical students.
SCOME General Assistant 2017/18
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Index 1. Basic Concepts and Terms
2. Activity/ Project Cycle
Pg. 4
Pg. 7
3. Why evaluate your Activity? Pg. 11
4. When to start planning the evaluation? Pg. 12
5. Tools for Activity evaluation Pg. 13
f. Baseline Assessment
b. Backwards Mapping
c. Evaluation Methodology
□□ Qualitative
■■ Asking People (individual/ group
discussions)
o Structured Interviews
●● Open-Ended Questions.
(Qualitative value)
●● Close-Ended Questions
(Quantitative value)
o Semi-structured interviews
o Questionnaires
o Evaluation stories
www.ifmsa.org
■■ Physical Methods
o Photographic Records
o Direct measurements
o Participant Observation
□□ Quantitative
■■ Progress and calculation of the
data from/ by using the indica-
tors
■■ Grouping of data
■■ Statistical modalities.
o Mean
o Standard Deviation
d. SWOT Analysis
e. TWOS Matrix
f. Stakeholder Mapping
6. What to do after evaluation? Pg. 30
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Evaluation Manual
Activity:
In IFMSA an activity is defined as A unique set of planned interventions designed and
implemented to achieve certain specific objectives – within a given budget and a speci-
fied period of time. This definition corresponds to the definition of a project.
□□ It means that different audiences may assign a different value to the same infor-
mation.
□□ An activity evaluation can be used for evaluating the efficiency of the activity
management structure, human resources, technical resources, financial re-
sources etc.
■■ Effectiveness:- The extent to which the project or activity achieves the in-
tended objectives (outputs).
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●●Activity monitoring
Monitoring refers to collecting data and observing trends during the life of the activ-
ity further leading to Activity Evaluation and/or Impact Assessment.
●●Activity assessment
□□ Outcomes
Measures the change in behavior, resources or the acquirement of new skills and
knowledge. Used in relation to the goals and objectives of the project. Outcomes
are usually considered in terms of their expected timeframe:
■■ Intermediate
■■ Long-term
□□ Impact
Refers to the measures of change that result from the activity/intervention be-
ing completed, such as responses to surveys, requests for further information,
or number of products taken up (e.g. number of trainer participants; changes in
the pre and post evaluation for knowledge-based interventions; changes in the
attitude of people participating in workshop, etc.).
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Evaluation Manual
Whenever you are making an activity, it is important to know when you are assess-
ing or evaluating it. Both can be used at different times of the activity cycle.
Assessment Evaluation
Definition The process of collecting, reviewing The act of assigning value and comparing
and using data, to improve the cur- on the basis of a set of standards.
rent performance of the activity.
What does it Provides feedback on performance Determines the extent to which objectives
do? and areas of improvement. are achieved.
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Surbhi, S. (2016). Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation. Key differences.
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“
“ LIFE IS ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT
Activity management is the most important part of the activity planning stage in the
development of an activity. It is also known as activity design.
In order to have a well structured activity plan, and the evaluation according to the goals
we are planning to reach, it’s important to fulfill all the steps in the activity management.
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Evaluation Manual
●● Vision/ Goal:- long-term desired change, describes why the activity is being done.
●● Objectives (SMART):- How the activity is being done? The long-term goal is broken
down into SMART objectives so that the methodology of implementing the activity
and division of the resources are further concrete.
Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, giving the available
resources.
For example, if your goal is to improve the knowledge on mental health in the
universities, a SMART objective can be to deliver X lectures on the most prevalent
mental health issues during one year to university students in your city.
The outputs are the direct products of the activity that help achieve the immediate
outcome. Outputs need to be precise and verifiable.
Sometimes, we mistake outputs with outcomes, because both present results from
the activity.
For example, if you have an activity working on peer education, an output would be
that you’ve trained X people during Y number of classes. The outcome would be the
change in their behaviour/attitude/knowledge on the given topic.
●● Indicators
Indicators provide the basis for monitoring and evaluation of your activity. They in-
dicate the extent to which the objectives are achieved or are ways to measure the
progress of the objectives.
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They need to be concrete, which means they have to be a percentage, a number
(quantitative) and not just words indicating progress/ regress like “more, less, in-
crease, decrease” etc. (qualitative)
That means that all your indicators should be related to one or more objectives. Ide-
ally each objective should have at least one indicator.
As we mentioned the example of mental health lectures, in this case the indica-
tor would be: 80% of students attending the lectures have an increase of knowl-
edge on mental health topic done during the lecture.
□□ Specific
□□ Observable
□□ Measurable
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Evaluation Manual
approaching or going to hit that increase, and it also tells you whether
you are on track or not, so it can serve as a monitoring tool.
■■ Indicators can be broadly classified into two categories in relation to the spe-
cific objectives of the activity:
To summarize:
Indicators provide useful information that can measure processes and outcomes. They
should be related to the evaluation questions.
They should be feasible in terms of data availability and timely data collection, and are
adequate to capture the information you need.
You may need to develop more than one indicator, but avoid creating too many indica-
tors because they can detract from the evaluation goals.
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Why evaluate your activity?
Benefits of evaluation:
●● to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of an activity; ie: whether the impact
achieved is worth the time and resources invested.
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Evaluation Manual
The best time to start developing your evaluation plan is when you are
building your activity. Planning and evaluation go hand-in-hand together.
In order to have the evaluation done according to the goals of the activity,
it should be implemented every step of the way when planning the activity.
The results are then reflected on after the activity and used for further
improvement and sharing with stakeholders.
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Tools for Activity Evaluation
1. Baseline Assessment
2. Backwards Mapping
4. Evaluation Methodology
5. SWOT Analysis
6. TOWS matrix
7. Stakeholder Analysis
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Evaluation Manual
1. Baseline Assessment
Simply put, a baseline assessment is an analysis of where you are now, your com-
petitive advantages and disadvantages, what resources or sources do you have
at your disposal. Anything that helps you find out your current state is a baseline
assessment tool.
This is a very helpful process that is important for prioritization and defining the
focus of your actions. It also helps you to utilize your resources in order to dictate
the framework of your organization and decide on your next move.
Not all the topics that are worked on in IFMSA are relevant for all the countries,
regions etc, so in order to understand why you are doing this activity, it’s useful
to have a baseline assessment of the problem you are tackling.
For example, if you are starting to work on the topic of STIs in your communi-
ty, it would be good to check how big of a problem it is, how much work has
already been done and what kind of interventions are already done on your
target group.
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2. Backwards mapping (revising the activity design)
Backwards mapping is a tool we use in order to break down the process of activi-
ty on smaller steps and try to see what are the changes that will need to be made
in order to reach the final envisioned goal.
Evaluation (5)
Theory of Change is a model that assumes that if all the outcomes are achieved
at each step of the process, they will ultimately lead to achieving the final goal.
This is why the theory is based on the assumptions how each of the steps will
impact the target group and lead to the change.
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Evaluation Manual
The outcomes are arranged based on their timeline in short term, intermediate
and long term outcomes, based on the steps that need to be fulfilled before the
other can take place.
The next step will be to implement the project (4), where we will create a
set of lectures/workshops for medical students in which the lack of access
to healthcare will be discussed. During these workshops, we will ask partic-
ipants to fill an input form, where we will be able to monitor (4) the project,
and improve it if necessary for the following lectures/workshops. When the
project is over, we will make a final evaluation (5) to our participants, to know
the impact we had with the intervention.
Finally with those results, we will reflect (6) and analyze what was done right,
what can be improved, and make changes for similar events in the future (7).
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Review (step-by-step) activity management and activity evaluation map.
(indicators need to be
(Problem effectively specific, measurable
solved with help of and
the activity / goal
observable)
achieved)
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Evaluation Manual
3. Timeline mapping
It is a process of arranging important outputs (events, grants, actions, achieve-
ments and other milestones) of the activity in a chronological order and observ-
ing them in temporal relationship to one another. The outputs are based on the
outcomes we are trying to achieve and we are also taking into account the key
contextual factors (social, economic, political, cultural events and trends).
A basic timeline map is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled
with dates/activity schedule/deadlines and the to-do output of every objective
of the activity. A Gantt chart is a form of timeline used in activity management.
Gantt Chart can be modified to simultaneously show progress (linear bar shad-
ed in proportion to the degree of the output completion). Further each liner bar
can be connected to another to represent the dependency of the tasks.
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4. Evaluation methodology
Evaluation can be generally divided into 2 different types: qualitative and quan-
titative. Qualitative evaluation is mostly relying on questions or interviews which
give us more information about the process/activity/results; while the quantita-
tive evaluation is focusing on numbers, concrete results and measurable change
which is or isn’t achieved.
Below you can find some examples of both types of the evaluation methodol-
ogies. Sometimes it’s hard to draw a line between qualitative and quantitative
analysis. You can always combine multiple methodologies in order to achieve
your goal.
Choosing one or another is mostly based on the objectives that you’re set up on
your activity and the indicators which show the success of it.
On the other hand, if your objective would be that the experience for the
people participating has been good or that their comments or suggestions
would be one of the outcomes of the activity, then the qualitative evaluation
would be suitable.
OUTLINE
□□ Qualitative
o Structured Interviews
o Semi-structured interviews
o Questionnaires
o Evaluation stories
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Evaluation Manual
■■ Physical Methods
o Photographic Records
o Direct measurements
o Participant Observation
□□ Quantitative
■■ Grouping of data
■■ Statistical modalities.
o Mean
o Standard Deviation
DETAILS
□□ Qualitative
o Structured Interviews
You would want to use these questions when you know for sure
that you have all the options possible included, for example if you
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wanted to see how many people ordered food at a restaurant
that only serves 3 meals (Pancakes - Spaghetti - Steak). Another
example is when you have a positive or negative result, for exam-
ple if you want to know how many students passed their Biology
exams you’d have two options (Passed - Did not pass).
o Semi-structured interviews
o Questionnaires
o Evaluation stories
Example questions after the project: What was the project area
like before the project was undertaken? How do you believe it
has changed?
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Evaluation Manual
■■ Physical Methods
□□ Quantitative
■■ Grouping of data
■■ Statistical modalities.
1. Mean
The arithmetic mean, more commonly known as “the average,” is the
sum of a list of numbers divided by the number of items on the list.
The mean is used in determining the overall trend of a data set or
providing a rapid snapshot of your data. Another advantage of the
mean is that it’s very easy and quick to calculate.
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Pitfall:
Taken alone, the mean is a dangerous tool. Iin a data set with a high
number of outliers or a skewed distribution, the mean simply doesn’t
provide the accuracy you need for a nuanced decision.
2. Standard Deviation
The standard deviation, often represented with the Greek letter sig-
ma, is the measure of a spread of data around the mean. A high stan-
dard deviation signifies that data is spread more widely from the
mean, where a low standard deviation signals that more data align
with the mean. The standard deviation is useful for quickly determin-
ing dispersion of data points.
Pitfall:
Just like the mean, the standard deviation is deceptive if taken alone.
For example, if the data have a very strange pattern such as a non-nor-
mal curve or a large amount of outliers, then the standard deviation
won’t give you all the information you need.
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Evaluation Manual
5. SWOT Analysis
Positive Negative
Each side presents a perspective, the upper rows (Strengths and Weaknesses)
presents your internal aspect and the lower rows (Opportunities and Threats)
presents you external aspect.
You should know that you can impact and have a direct influence on your inter-
nal aspects, but when it comes to your external ones you can only have some
influence but not a direct impact.
Data sources are the sources you use to fill your SWOT analysis with information
about the 4 categories (strengths - weaknesses - opportunities - threats) in or-
der to find out what are you dealing with from each category. The data sources
themselves can also be categorized into:
*Mega Trends: They are global, sustained and macro-economic forces of de-
velopment that impact economy, business, society, cultures and personal lives,
thereby defining our future world and its increasing pace of change. Phenome-
na that affect our lives like women empowerment, virtual reality, wireless intelli-
gence, renewable power, veganism, artificial intelligence,
There should always be more weaknesses than threats as a general rule of thumb.
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6. TOWS Matrix
By doing a SWOT analysis you have identified internal and external factors that
influence your activity in advantageous and disadvantageous ways. But how do
you move on from here? How do you utilize your new knowledge? Answer is
TOWS
The TOWS Matrix is a relatively simple tool for generating strategic options.
By using it, take the best advantage of the opportunities open to you, minimize
the impact of weaknesses and protect against external threats.
Used after detailed analysis of your threats, opportunities, strengths and weak-
nesses, it helps you consider how to use the external environment to your stra-
tegic advantage, and so identify some of the strategic options available for you.
Threats, Opportunities (in the environment) Weaknesses, Strengths (of the ac-
tivity) should be analyzed in the order.
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Evaluation Manual
( Strength + Threat) ST–Actions: These are the risk management actions, where
the organization finds a way to use its internal strengths to eliminate threats.
The threat is external and cannot be controlled.
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Strengths Weaknesses
(S) (W)
Opportunities Threats
(O) (T)
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Evaluation Manual
7. Stakeholder Mapping
Due to the different nature of stakeholders, different interests and different ben-
efits gained from the organization, you’ll find out sometimes that there is what
is called a “stakeholder conflict” which means that a decision that you make or
an action that you take as an organization may sometimes be supported by a
certain stakeholder and opposed or not supported by another.
So as an organization, the trick is that you have to draw the interest of people
or organizations that support and believe in your cause and try to satisfy them
while not creating opposers who’d want to stop your action.
Now- Stakeholder Mapping is a simple process that depends on two simple con-
cepts:
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As you can see stakeholders are plotted or categorized into 4 different categories
by cross-matching. And you deal with each one depending on their respective
category as demonstrated by the table.
This is how you perform a stakeholder analysis, and the map that results can be
used as a tool of assessment in order to know when, how and why to approach
and deal with each stakeholder.
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Evaluation Manual
There is also a more complex version of it - SMARTER. The SMART letters are the same,
but with addition of Evaluate and Reflect.
Since this manual is all about evaluation, after it comes the reflection on the results
you’ve achieved.
As mentioned in the Activity Circle, after you’ve gathered your evaluation results, now is
time to focus on what to do with them. Here are some options:
●● Reflect on the results in order to improve your activity, whether in its methodology,
reach or objectives.
●● Present the data to your stakeholders (this is why it’s important to do the stakehold-
er mapping - to see who would be interested in your results)
●● Use the data for the advocating on the issue. If you have a good data, you can always
achieve more. Think big and try to imagine what would your activity do if imple-
mented on a larger scale.
There are a couple of more important things that we would like to mention:
●● Don’t forget about the ethical implications of your activity. Think about the conse-
quences that it can cause and how to prevent them.
●● Don’t forget about the privacy of the data you are collecting. Especially in Europe
with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), all the personal information col-
lected needs to have specific permissions in order to collect them. Get informed
about them!
If you’d like to get inspired by more examples than the ones mentioned in this manual,
check the IFMSA Activities Database at https://ifmsa.org/activities/.
To finalize, we have gathered some further reading materials from which we’ve
extracted our materials, check them in the annex.
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Further reading and resources
2. https://www.cdc.gov/std/Program/pupestd/Developing%20Evaluation%20Indicators.
pdf
3. http://devinfolive.info/impact_evaluation/img/downloads/Theory_of_Change_ENG.
pdf
4. https://ceopedia.org/index.php/TOWS_analysis
5. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/evaluation.html
7. Strategy - Europe
8. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5JqiqOUqcG6OUFkQnFjR0liaUE
9. https: //www.bigskyassociates.com/blog/bid/356764/5-Most-Important-Meth-
ods-For-Statistical-Data-Analysis
11. https://brungerblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/tows-matrix-for-marketing-brain-
storming/
12. https://www.pm4ngos.org/download/project-management-for-development-pro-
fessionals-guide-pmd-pro-guide-english/
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medical students worldwide
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