Six hacks for renovating your evaluation report

PART 6

This article is Part 6 in a six-part series that walks you through how to reno your evaluation reports using six of Canva’s design lessons.

• Part 1 focused on how to take your audience on a journey using storytelling techniques.

• Part 2 focused on how to format your report with a consistent, cohesive look using colour and font.

• Part 3 dove into grouping and spacing elements in your reporting.

• Part 4 explored how to make elements in your report pop using focal points.

• Part 5 explored how to use images as focal points.

This last article explores how to simplify data presented in graphs and tables in your report.

Simplifying data starts by having a clear message to convey

In the past, I have been guilty of putting any and all data I could into a report. I’m talking pages of charts to show ALL the results. If I’m being honest, in some instances, I didn’t know what the point was. I put in as much detail as I could to shift the burden of deciphering the meaning behind the data to my reader. Or, I fell back on my training that ingrained in my brain that I should be objective and not provide any insights into what the data might mean (see Part 1).

Regardless, what I learned the hard way is that I need a big idea (see Part 1), position, thesis, point, message, whatever you want to call it, when I am pulling my evaluation report together. Your big idea is your filter for determining what should and should not be included in your report; it will also help you determine how to present it. 

Choosing how to present your data is no longer limited to simple column and bar graphs. In fact, the number of different charts and ways to present the data in your report is sometimes overwhelming. Should you use a line chart? Bar chart? Column chart? Bubble chart? Scatter plot? Tree map? Heat map – the list goes on.

There are a number of different chart chooser tools out there you can find. Stephanie Evergreen has both quantitative and qualitative chart chooser tools. The Data Visualization Catalogue is another great online resource for selecting and understanding the various chart available to you. What you’ll notice though, is regardless of the tool you choose, they all rely on you being able to identify your story.  

Once you know what it is you are trying to convey, selecting the right chart becomes a whole lot easier – and more impactful. Take for example the chart below.

It probably took you some time to figure out the message – engagement within the HR department has tanked. The column chart is not doing anything to highlight that story. Compare that column chart to this slope chart.

The slope chart immediately highlights the change in scores from 2015 to 2017. Of course, there are many other formatting elements that help to convey our message, which brings me to my next point….

Don’t default to the defaults

Your software is smart, but not smart enough to know the message you are trying to convey. The column chart example highlights how default charts will only get you so far. Choosing the right chart (i.e., the slope chart as opposed to the column chart) helps to convey your message; however, formatting your chart to hone your message is where the magic happens. The slope chart highlights three ways we did that. We….

1. Got rid of distractions – We removed the gridlines from the default column chart. I tend to always remove those since I find them distracting to the eye. We also removed the y-axis. If you include data labels, then often one of the axes becomes redundant and can be removed. You can also remove the tick marks on the remaining axes to dial down another default distraction. 

2. Used colour intentionally – The blue and orange columns tell our eyes to look at the columns, but the colours compete with each other and for our eyes’ attention. The slope chart uses red intentionally to highlight the HR department and mutes out the rest of the data with grey. Immediately, the red draws attention to the message we want to highlight without being distracted by competing colours. 

3. Stated the story – The column chart contains a generic title “Employee Engagement Scores Over Time.” The slope chart clearly states the key message the audience needs to know. 

Dialing down your data means you have a dialed message. That dialed message frames not only what data goes into your report, but how that data is presented. Take a look at some of the reports you are creating. Are there opportunities to dial down your data? Try it out! And don’t forget about the other five hacks outlined in this series.

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New and Noteworthy — Reads

Applying Evaluation Criteria Thoughtfully

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Network on Development Evaluation (EvalNet) laid out six evaluation criteria to support consistent, high-quality evaluation in the early 2000s. However, there was never a document to help evaluators and others understand these criteria and improve their use. OECD just released Applying Evaluation Criteria Thoughtfully. This document is meant to explore the criteria in detail by explaining what they are and how they are meant to be used.

Tools and Tips for Implementing Contribution Analysis

The Centre for Evaluation Innovation recently published a quick guide for implementing contribution analysis. The guide outlines what contribution analysis is and the six steps practitioners can take to implement it. The author also outlines challenges they have seen when conducting these types of evaluations and some ideas of how to mitigate those challenges. As always, the Centre for Evaluation Innovation has provided a very simple, practical document to help guide your practice.

Indigenous Made in Africa Evaluation Frameworks

The most recent American Journal of Evaluation published this article by Bagele Chilisa and Donna M. Mertens. This article discusses how issues of culture, ethics, and values from an Indigenous paradigm perspective have largely been ignored by international agencies when framing evaluations. This article describes an “Indigenous paradigmatic framework and then narrows the focus to a Made in Africa approach to evaluation that is designed to redress the epistemic violence perpetrated by the use of a Western Cultural lens to determine evaluation approaches.”

Using Twitter Data for Development Research and Evaluation

The World Bank and IEG staff shared their experience in a webinar using sentiment analysis (including using Twitter data) as a tool for collecting data for development research and evaluation. This article is a summary of the lessons from that webinar. If you are interested in using social media data for data collection, this is a good high-level overview of the benefits, opportunities, and risks.

New and Noteworthy — Events

A Conversation on Evaluative Thinking: A discussion with Chari Smith (Evaluation into Action) and Hayat Askar (EvalJordan)

Organized by: Evaluation into Action and EvalJordan 

Date: April 9; 9:00-10:00am (Pacific Standard Time) 

Facilitator: Chari Smith and Hayat Askar 

Using Art in Creative Data Collection and Evaluation

Organized by: Canadian Evaluation Society 

Date: April 15; 12:00-1:00pm (Eastern Daylight Time) 

Facilitators: Jennica Nichols and Maya Lefkowich 

Decolonizing ‘Development’ Evaluation

Organized by: Virginia Tech 

Date: April 15; 12:00-1:00pm (Eastern Time) 

Speaker: Candice Morkel  

Evaluation for Transformative Change

Organized by: Tamarack Institute  

Dates: April 20, 22, 27 and 29 

Facilitators: Michael Quinn Patton and Mark Cabaj 

Courses

Most Significant Change

Instructor: Clear Horizon Academy 

Start Date: April 16, 2021 

Evaluation Systems Change and Place-Based Approaches 

Instructor: Clear Horizon Academy 

Start Date: May 21, 2021