Tag Archive for: evaluation

How to Choose an Evaluation Consultant in the UK

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How to choose the right evaluation consultant for your project

 

Evaluation proposals often share several positive features, including mixed methods, stakeholder engagement, opportunities for learning and a final report. If you are comparing quotes, the difficult question is not whether the right words appear. It is whether the proposed work will produce evidence you can trust—and whether the process will be manageable for your team.

The best evaluator for your project is not necessarily the biggest provider, the cheapest bidder or the proposal containing the highest number of interviews, workshops and site visits. More data collection can sound reassuring, but it may also create a significant workload for your team—particularly if you are expected to recruit participants, coordinate visits or gather the data yourselves. The right evaluator will understand what you need to learn, propose a credible and manageable approach, and have the systems and experience to turn the evidence into useful conclusions.

Here are the things we would look for—even if you are considering somebody else.

1. They understand the purpose, not just the specification

A good proposal shows that the evaluator has understood the project, its context and the decisions the findings need to support. It does more than repeat your brief back to you.

Look for a clear line between your aims, the evaluation questions, the proposed evidence and the outputs. If the method could be copied unchanged into almost any tender, it may not yet be tailored enough.

2. The scope is deliverable — not simply impressive

A long list of interviews, workshops, surveys and site visits can look reassuring. However, every activity requires recruitment, preparation, delivery, recording, analysis and interpretation. When comparing proposals, consider whether the available days and fee genuinely cover the work being promised.

You could also ask bidders to show how their time is divided between project management, data collection, analysis and reporting. This can reveal whether an apparently generous methodology leaves enough time to make sense of the evidence.

An experienced evaluator will make deliberate choices. They may focus interviews on the stakeholders with the clearest view of change, use existing evidence more intelligently or sample activity instead of attending everything. This is not a reduction in quality. It is what makes the work deliverable and protects the quality of the analysis.

3. The methods answer different questions

‘Mixed methods’ is valuable only when the mix has a purpose. Monitoring data might show reach. Surveys might show patterns. Interviews might explain how or why change happened. Observation might reveal something participants do not easily put into words.

The proposal should explain what each source contributes and how they will be considered together. Collecting several types of evidence without a plan for comparison can create more data without creating more confidence.

4. They distinguish contribution from attribution

Real-world projects rarely operate in isolation. People, places and organisations are influenced by many factors. An evaluator should be able to explore how your work contributed to change without automatically claiming it caused everything that followed.

That honesty does not weaken a report. It makes the findings more believable to funders, boards and partners.

5. They make limitations visible

Every evaluation has limitations: incomplete baselines, small samples, uneven monitoring, selection bias or changes to delivery. The question is whether those limits are understood and handled.

Ask how the evaluator will assess data quality, record gaps and test alternative explanations. Be cautious of anyone who appears to guarantee strong impact findings before seeing the evidence.

6. They understand delivery teams

An evaluation framework can be technically excellent and still fail because nobody has time to use it. A good evaluator will ask about capacity, existing systems and the moments when feedback can naturally be collected.

They should be able to simplify tools, provide training, check progress and adapt when delivery changes—without losing sight of the core questions. Evaluation has to survive contact with real life.

7. They can communicate clearly

Evaluation is not finished when the analysis is correct. Findings need to be understood and used. They should also create opportunities to discuss emerging findings while the project is still running. This allows teams to respond to evidence, strengthen delivery and address gaps before the final report. A good evaluation creates useful learning throughout the process—not only at the end.

Look at sample reports if they are available. Can you follow the argument? Can conclusions be traced to evidence? Are charts and case examples doing useful work? Are recommendations specific and proportionate? A polished report is valuable, but clarity matters more than decoration.

8. Quality assurance is more than proofreading

Ask who will challenge the analysis before it reaches you. Strong quality assurance includes checking calculations, testing interpretations, comparing sources, looking for contradictory evidence and making sure conclusions do not run ahead of the data.

It is also worth understanding who will actually undertake the work. Who will design the tools, conduct the fieldwork, analyse the evidence and write the report? How involved will the named senior evaluator remain?

A senior name on the front of a proposal offers limited reassurance if most of the work is delegated without clear oversight. Equally, relying entirely on one consultant can create risks around continuity and internal challenge. Look for a clear delivery team, defined responsibilities and meaningful senior involvement throughout.

9. You know how the relationship will work

A good quote should make the practicalities visible: named contacts, responsibilities, meeting rhythm, milestones, outputs, assumptions and what the client needs to provide. It should explain how changes will be handled and how continuity will be maintained if somebody is unavailable.

You are not only buying a methodology. You are choosing people who will work alongside your team, speak to participants and represent the evaluation with partners. Calm, clarity and responsiveness matter.

Questions worth asking before you appoint

  • Can you show how the proposed days realistically cover recruitment, fieldwork, analysis, project management and reporting?
  • What is/are the most important evaluation question(s) here?
  • What choices have you made to keep the evaluation proportionate and deliverable?
  • How much data collection will our team need to do?
  • How will you know whether the evidence is strong enough?
  • How will you compare different sources and deal with contradictions?
  • Who will conduct the fieldwork, analysis and writing?
  • What happens if delivery or timescales change?
  • How will findings be shared so that people actually use them?

The answers will often tell you more than an extra page of methodology.

What choosing well feels like

The right evaluator will not make every uncertainty disappear at procurement stage. Good evaluation involves learning. But they will make the route feel clearer. You should understand what they are trying to find out, why the approach is proportionate, what your team will need to do and how quality will be protected.

At The Evaluator, our role is to hold the complexity without passing it back to the client. We design rigorous evaluation underneath while keeping the experience straightforward for delivery teams and participants.

Our proposals set out what we will do, who will do it and how the available time will be used. We do not inflate the methodology to make a tender appear more impressive. We propose the work we believe can be delivered properly, with sufficient time for thoughtful analysis, internal challenge and clear reporting.

Our team works together across project management, data quality, fieldwork, analysis and quality assurance. Clients receive a managed consultancy service, with senior oversight and continuity built in, rather than depending on one person holding everything in their head.

If you are preparing an evaluation brief or comparing possible approaches, send us your project outline. We will give you an honest view of what the evaluation needs, what is achievable within the available budget and where we could add the most value.

Seven Signs Your Project Needs an External Evaluator

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Seven signs your project would benefit from external evaluation

 

You don’t always need an external evaluator. Sometimes a clear internal framework, a few well-designed tools and protected time for reflection are enough.

But there are points when evaluation becomes difficult to hold alongside delivery. The project may have grown more complex, several partners may need a shared view, or the findings may now carry real weight with funders, boards and future decision-makers.

At that point, external evaluation is not simply about producing a report. It can bring structure to a complicated programme, protect the quality of the evidence and take some of the analytical burden away from a busy team.

Here are seven signs that outside support could be useful.

1. Your funder, board or partners need independent evidence

Internal monitoring can tell you a great deal, and delivery teams often hold vital knowledge about what is changing. But sometimes the people using the findings need a degree of independence too.

That may be because a funder expects an external view, a board will use the evidence to make a significant decision, or several partners need confidence that the findings do not reflect one organisation’s perspective alone.

An external evaluator can examine positive, negative and unexpected evidence, make limitations visible and distinguish what the project contributed from changes it cannot reasonably claim. Independence does not mean standing at a distance from the work. It means being close enough to understand it while retaining enough separation to test the story fairly.

2. The project has several strands, audiences or partners

Complex projects rarely arrive in one tidy shape. There may be different activities, places, audiences, delivery models and funding requirements. Partners may describe success differently or collect information in ways that do not easily fit together.

When that happens, the first value of evaluation is often clarity. An external evaluator can help the partnership agree the important questions, identify how the different strands connect and create a shared framework without flattening meaningful differences.

This is particularly useful in place-based, cultural, heritage, nature and community programmes, where outcomes develop through relationships and context as well as individual activities. The evaluator holds the overall picture while helping each partner understand their role within it.

3. You are collecting plenty of information but still cannot see the answer

Many organisations do not have a data shortage. They have attendance figures, spreadsheets, survey responses, case studies, meeting notes, photographs, analytics and informal feedback. What they lack is the time and structure to turn all of that into a clear judgement.

More collection will not necessarily solve that problem.

An evaluator can work backwards from what you genuinely need to know, assess what the existing evidence can answer and identify the important gaps. They can compare sources, look for patterns and differences, and test whether an appealing explanation is actually supported.

That process reduces noise. It helps teams move from ‘we have a lot of information’ to ‘we understand what this is telling us and what we need to do next.’

4. Evaluation keeps slipping behind delivery

This is extremely common. Delivery deadlines are immediate. Evaluation tasks feel as though they could happen next week, so next week becomes next month and important evidence is missed.

It is not usually because the team does not care. It is because the same people are managing activities, participants, partners, finances, communications and funder requirements. Evaluation becomes one more responsibility competing for attention.

External support creates ownership and rhythm. A good evaluator agrees responsibilities, introduces manageable tools, checks what is coming in and raises gaps while there is still time to respond. They do not expect delivery staff to become researchers. They create a process that fits around the work and keep hold of the parts that need specialist time.

This can bring a real sense of calm. Somebody is maintaining the framework, watching the evidence and keeping the final questions in view, rather than leaving the whole evaluation in an unfinished loop in the team’s heads.

5. You need to understand change, not simply count activity

Outputs matter. You need to know how many people participated, what was delivered and whether the intended audiences were reached. But those figures do not tell you, on their own, what difference the work made.

If the important questions involve confidence, wellbeing, belonging, skills, behaviour, organisational practice, environmental action or community change, you need evidence that can explore outcomes as well as activity.

An evaluator can help establish realistic baselines or comparison points, choose appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods, and consider change across different groups. They can also investigate how and why outcomes developed, including the conditions that helped or hindered them.

That prevents the final evaluation becoming either a list of impressive numbers or a collection of positive stories. Both can be valuable, but neither is enough on its own.

6. The findings will shape future funding or important decisions

Evaluation becomes especially valuable when the organisation needs to decide what to continue, change, scale or stop.

Perhaps a pilot is approaching its next funding stage. A successful model could be expanded. A partnership needs to agree its future direction. Or the organisation wants to make a stronger case for investment without overstating what the current evidence proves.

An external evaluator can help identify which elements are doing the most useful work, where outcomes are strongest, what remains uncertain and what would need to be in place for the approach to work elsewhere.

The aim is not to make every project look successful. It is to give decision-makers a credible account of what has been learned. Honest findings are often more reassuring than a report in which everything appears to have gone perfectly, because they show that the organisation is paying attention and knows how to improve.

7. The final evaluation needs to withstand scrutiny

A clear, attractive report is important, but reassurance comes from what sits underneath it.

Can each conclusion be traced to evidence? Have different sources been compared? Are sample limitations explained? Have differences between groups been examined where they matter? Are recommendations proportionate to what the findings can genuinely support? Has someone challenged the emerging interpretation before it becomes the final story?

External evaluation can provide analytical discipline and quality assurance. It also helps translate a complicated body of evidence into conclusions that funders, boards, partners and delivery teams can all understand.

The simplicity clients see at the end should be the result of difficult thinking being handled well—not difficult questions being avoided.

What does an external evaluator actually take on?

The answer depends on the project. External support could include refining a theory of change, developing an evaluation framework and practical tools, training delivery teams, undertaking selected interviews or fieldwork, checking data quality, analysing existing evidence, facilitating learning sessions and producing an independent report.

The evaluator does not necessarily need to collect everything. Often the strongest arrangement is a partnership: the delivery team gathers routine information at natural points, while the evaluator focuses on design, deeper enquiry, analysis, challenge and interpretation.

A good evaluator will help you decide what is proportionate rather than adding methods for the sake of making the evaluation look substantial.

You may not need a finished brief to get started with evaluation. Organisations sometimes wait to approach an evaluator because they think they need to specify the entire methodology first. You do not.

It is useful to know what the project is trying to change, who needs the findings, what evidence already exists and when important decisions or reports are due. The evaluator can then help shape the questions and recommend a realistic route.

At The Evaluator, we specialise in holding complexity without passing it back to the client. We create robust evaluation underneath and a process that feels straightforward on the surface. Our role is to bring clarity, honest independent judgement and evidence that people can confidently use.

If several of these signs feel familiar, send us your project outline or an early version of your brief. We can help you work out whether external evaluation would add value—and what level of support would be genuinely useful.

Often we can design a detailed evaluation quote in a 20 minute scoping call, and we are happy to do those. Why not reach out on info@theevaluator.co.uk ?

 

What funders really need from evaluation — and what delivery teams need too

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Useful evidence for real teams

People sometimes talk as if funders and delivery teams want completely different things from evaluation.

Funders, supposedly, want hard evidence, clean reporting and polished success stories. Delivery teams, meanwhile, want something practical, lightweight and not too disruptive.

There is some truth in that. But in reality, the gap is often smaller than people think.

What funders really need is confidence that a project is being run thoughtfully, that the evidence is credible, and that the team is honest about what is working and what is not. What delivery teams really need is something manageable, clear and useful enough to help them do the work well.

Good evaluation should do both.

Funders do not just want positive stories. They want credibility.

One of the biggest misconceptions about evaluation is that funders mainly want proof that everything is going brilliantly.

In our experience, that is not quite right.

What builds trust is not pretending a project is perfect. It is being clear about what has gone well, what has been harder, what has been learned, and what needs to improve next. That kind of honesty builds credibility. It shows that the team is paying attention, taking the work seriously and not simply producing a glossy version of events.

That matters.

Once funders trust that a team is genuinely looking at what needs fixing as well as what is succeeding, the relationship tends to become much stronger. The evidence feels more believable. The reporting feels more useful. The organisation looks more capable, not less.

In that sense, good evaluation is not just about accountability. It is about trust.

Delivery teams need something they can actually live with

On the delivery side, the biggest need is often much simpler.

Most charities, arts organisations, heritage projects and community programmes are trying to do a great deal with limited time and limited capacity. It is very rare to find a team sitting around with spare hours and no pressure on delivery.

That means the secret to a good evaluation system is often not complexity. It is simplicity.

It needs to be easy enough to do properly. Clear enough to understand. Light enough to fit around real work. If it becomes too heavy, it does not matter how clever it looks on paper. It will either be done badly, done inconsistently, or quietly abandoned when things get busy.

That is not a failure of the team. It is usually a failure of the evaluation design.

Where people get it wrong

The most common mistake is trying to do everything.

Teams collect too much, ask too much, track too much and promise too much. They end up with forms, spreadsheets, feedback tools and reports in every direction, but not enough time to step back and ask what any of it means.

That is how organisations end up gathering lots of data and using very little of it.

And that has a cost.

If you do not build in time to analyse and interpret what you are collecting, the effort is largely wasted. Worse than that, people who have taken the time to give feedback can end up feeling let down, because nothing visible comes from it. Over time, that contributes to survey fatigue, which is already a real problem.

So poor evaluation does not just create internal clutter. It can slowly damage trust with participants too.

Good evaluation slims the picture down

This is where good evaluation does something much more useful.

It asks: what do we actually need to know?

Not everything. Not every possible metric. Not every interesting question. The right things.

Then it helps teams measure those things properly, measure them regularly enough to be useful, and make space to analyse and act on what comes back.

That is the part people often miss. Collection is only one stage. The real value comes from interpretation and use.

A good evaluation process keeps a team on track. It helps them focus on the evidence that matters most. It turns data into something practical, not just something stored.

Good evaluation should help both sides at once

At its best, evaluation does not force a choice between funder needs and delivery needs.

It gives funders a clearer, more trustworthy picture of what is happening.

And it gives delivery teams something just as valuable: a way of seeing their own work more clearly.

That might mean showing where outcomes are strongest. It might mean identifying where more attention is needed. It might mean noticing that one part of the work is doing far more than another, or that a process feels heavier than the value it is generating.

This is where evaluation becomes genuinely useful. Not just because it helps produce a final report, but because it helps people steer.

Usability matters as much as rigour

Another important part of this is how findings are shared back.

Even good evidence can lose its value if it is presented badly.

We spend a lot of time thinking about how to make findings understandable, usable and easy to act on. That means clear writing, simple presentation of information, and working with clients in ways that help the ideas land properly. Sometimes that means presentations. Sometimes it means workshops. Sometimes it means creating tools or visuals that make the evidence feel tangible rather than abstract.

Because if people cannot grasp the learning, they cannot use it.

And if they cannot use it, the evaluation has not really done its job.

What funders and delivery teams both need

In the end, the best evaluation is not about pleasing one side and burdening the other.

It is about creating something credible enough to build trust and simple enough to be sustained.

Funders need honesty, seriousness and evidence they can believe.

Delivery teams need clarity, manageability and feedback they can actually use.

Good evaluation gives both by being proportionate, focused and genuinely useful. It does not try to measure everything. It does not create noise for the sake of looking thorough. It identifies what matters, measures it well, and helps people act on what they learn.

  • That is what makes it valuable.
  • Not just more reporting.
  • Better judgement, stronger trust and a clearer sense of what to do next.

Need evaluation that satisfies funders without burying your team in admin? We help organisations build evidence that is credible, proportionate and actually usable.

How to make evaluation useful in complex projects

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Good evaluation in complex projects should bring clarity, not confusion. When projects are collaborative, fast-moving or evolving as they go, evaluation can quickly become heavier than it needs to be.

 

When projects are collaborative, fast-moving or evolving as they go, evaluation can sometimes become heavier than it needs to be.

People worry because the work is complex, the evaluation has to be too. They are concerned that they need to measure everything, hear from everyone and produce huge amounts of data to prove value.

Good evaluation in real-world projects does not work like that.

It is not about collecting the maximum possible amount of information. It is about collecting the right evidence, in the right way, at the right level, so it fits delivery and actually gets used. That’s what makes for good evaluation in complex projects.

Complex does not mean measuring everything

One of the most common mistakes we see is the assumption that every participant needs to fill something in, and every part of the project needs to be measured in detail.

Usually, that is neither realistic nor useful.

A good sample is a good sample. If it is worked out carefully, it can give you robust insight without requiring every single person to complete a survey. That matters especially in busy, public or time-limited settings, where asking too much can damage the experience rather than improve the evidence.

Good evaluation is not about exhausting your audience. It is about making sensible choices.

Proportion matters

This is where proportionate evaluation really comes in.

If someone has volunteered on a project every week for almost a year, has given a lot of time and built a meaningful relationship with an activity, then a 20 or 30 minute conversation may be entirely proportionate. In fact, that kind of deeper reflection can be exactly what helps you understand change, value and learning.

But if someone is attending a one-off training session, festival or short event, the right ask may be only a few seconds. A quick question, a simple rating, a brief reaction. In that context, a long survey is not good evaluation. It is a bad fit.

The method should match the nature of the participation.

The real problem is often not too little data, but too little focus

Sometimes organisations have not had enough time to get clear on what they are really trying to achieve.

When that happens, evaluation spreads too thin. People try to measure too many things, worry about every target at once, and collect information without a clear sense of what matters most. The result is often lots of data, but not much insight.

We also regularly see organisations holding pages of analytics, reporting dashboards or monitoring returns that they do not really know how to interpret. The challenge is not always collecting the data. More often, it is understanding what it means and how to use it.

Data becomes powerful when it has context

A single big number is rarely enough on its own.

Data starts to become useful when it is compared to something else: a baseline, a previous month, a different group, a previous phase of delivery, or the change a project was actually trying to create.

For example, knowing what result you got in April may be mildly interesting. Knowing how April compares to March is often much more helpful. That is what begins to show direction, pattern and change.

This is where evaluation becomes practical. It helps people make sense of what is happening, not just record that something happened.

Good evaluation should help people use their limited time well

At its best, evaluation is not just there to satisfy a funder or complete a report. It should help delivery teams think more clearly, focus their energy and improve what they do.

That is why we put so much emphasis on proportional evaluation. We want it to feel reasonable for participants, manageable for staff and suited to the scale of the work. We want to collect less, but use it better.

If we come in early enough, we can often help sharpen that focus from the start: what matters most, what is realistic to gather, and where evidence will actually help people make decisions. If we come in later, we can still help make sense of what exists. But the strongest evaluation is usually built in early, with enough structure to be credible and enough flexibility to work in the real world.

  • Complex projects do not need evaluation that is heavier, louder or more complicated.
  • They need evaluation that is thoughtful, proportionate and useful.
  • Because messy does not mean unmeasurable. It just means the approach needs to be smarter.

Working on something complex, collaborative or still evolving? We help charities, cultural organisations and partnerships build evaluation that is proportionate, credible and genuinely useful.

 

How to Run Great Workshops

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How to Run Great Focus Groups (The Evaluator’s Way)

At The Evaluator, we’re often asked: “What makes a great focus group?” Whether someone is searching for a focus group facilitator UK or a qualitative evaluator UK, the answer comes back to the same things: warmth, structure and purpose.

We’ve run dozens of community focus groups as part of social impact and evaluation work—small towns to big cities. And while each session is different, the underlying principles remain consistent.

1. Warm the room before opening the agenda

When people look for focus group moderation services, they expect polished execution. But many participants first remember how they were greeted. We begin with a low-stakes icebreaker or chat — no data talk yet. Creating human connection early helps people drop guard and share more honestly.

2. Pose questions that invite stories, not yes/no

A focus group facilitator UK worth their salt doesn’t lead a session like an interrogation. Instead we ask prompts like, “What changed for you when you joined?” or “Tell me about a moment you felt seen.” That shifts the tone from test to conversation.

3. Mix formats to keep energy alive

In many focus group evaluation services, you see one static round of questions. We prefer to shift — pair work, small groups, full-circle reflection. This ensures more voices come through, including quieter ones.

4. End by acknowledging & learning

When clients hire an evaluator who runs focus groups, they want usable insight. We wrap with three words or reflections from participants. It’s both closure and data. That final instinct often yields the richest themes.

5. Be transparent about use & respect

Clients often ask us how to run focus groups ethically. We always clarify confidentiality, how comments will be used, and how participants can access outcomes. It’s essential when working in evaluation projects where trust is everything.

Focus groups done well are both simple and deliberate. They feel effortless — but that’s because every twist, pause and question has been designed to allow insight to emerge naturally.

If you’re exploring focus group research methods UK or need help with focus group evaluation services, we’d love to talk you through your project.

📧 info@theevaluator.co.uk | 📞 01756 532 538

New Client: Durham County Council – Heritage Places

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New Client: Shildon & Newton Aycliffe – Shaping the Future Through Heritage

We’re delighted to be working with Durham County Council on an exciting new project that’s putting heritage at the heart of regeneration across Shildon and Newton Aycliffe – two County Durham towns with proud industrial roots, strong communities, and huge potential for renewal.

Building futures from proud pasts

As part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Places programme, the Shildon and Newton Aycliffe initiative aims to show how local heritage can power skills, creativity, and pride in place. From railways and engineering to community stories, this project is all about connecting people with the heritage that built their towns – and inspiring the next generation to shape what comes next.

What we’ll be doing

At The Evaluator, we’re leading on data analysis and project evaluation, helping the partnership to understand what works, why it works, and how heritage can drive positive, measurable change.

Our role will include:

  • Bringing together heritage, community and demographic data into a single evidence base – spotlighting where activity is strong and where there are gaps to fill.
  • Designing and running a population survey to capture voices from across both towns – with a special focus on children and young people as heritage champions.
  • Facilitating creative engagement sessions with residents who are often under-represented in consultations, so that everyone can contribute to the future of their place.
  • Co-creating a Theory of Change and a practical evaluation toolkit for partners to use long after the project ends – making evaluation simple, useful and built to last.

By combining robust analysis with real stories, we’ll help Durham County Council and partners to turn data into action – informing future investment and keeping heritage at the heart of local development.

Why it matters

This commission isn’t just about measuring outputs. It’s about understanding how heritage strengthens places and people – from boosting local economies to nurturing confidence and belonging. Our work will:

  • Map heritage assets and skills across both towns, highlighting opportunities for learning and employment.
  • Evidence how heritage engagement supports wellbeing, community cohesion and pride in place.
  • Identify investable propositions – clear, evidence-based opportunities to attract future funding and partnerships.
  • Celebrate the voices of local people – especially children and young people – so that they can see themselves as part of their town’s story and future.

A collaborative approach

Our methodology will align with the Heritage Places initiative at national level, ensuring local findings feed into wider learning about how heritage can transform communities. The evaluation will be co-created with partners and participants, grounded in both data and lived experience – because we believe the best insights come from listening as well as measuring.

We’re proud to be part of this next chapter for Shildon and Newton Aycliffe – towns that have always led the way in making and movement, and now stand ready to shape the future through heritage.

If you’re involved in heritage, education, or community work in County Durham and would like to learn more about how to get involved, we’d love to hear from you.

📧 info@theevaluator.co.uk | 📞 01756 532 538

Recent Client Feedback: Social Return On Investment

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Recent Client Feedback: Social Return On Investment

Client testimonial: The Evaluator’s Impact on Our Social Return on Investment Study

“Working with The Evaluator on our Social Return on Investment for the Love to Move programme was a truly enjoyable experience. They brought the perfect balance of professionalism and warmth, making the entire process seamless and engaging. Their empathy and understanding of our demographic—older people—stood out, as they took the time to create a kind, fun, and motivational approach to data collection. This ensured that the insights gathered were not only robust but also reflective of the real experiences of those we support.

What makes The Evaluator truly unique is their attention to detail and commitment to delivering exactly what is needed. They take the time to fully understand the brief, ensuring that the evaluation process is both meaningful and impactful. Their work on our Social Return on Investment study has been invaluable in demonstrating the impact of our Love to Move programme to major partners, potential funders, and health and social care organisations. Their findings have given us strong, evidence-based insights that continue to shape our conversations and drive our programme forward.”

Louise Roberts, Head of Programmes, British Gymnastics Foundation

You can see more about British Gymnastics Foundation here 

 

Process evaluation

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Process Evaluation

At The Evaluator, we specialise in process evaluations that provide organisations with a clear understanding of how their work is being delivered and where it can be optimised. Our approach focuses on uncovering what’s working well, identifying challenges, and refining processes to maximise effectiveness. By examining implementation, decision-making, and operational dynamics, we help organisations strengthen their approach in real-time rather than waiting until a project’s end. Our evaluations are designed to be practical and insightful, offering clear recommendations that enhance efficiency, improve delivery, and ensure resources are being used to their full potential.

What makes our process evaluations stand out is our commitment to making them both reflective and action-driven. We don’t just map out workflows—we identify opportunities for streamlining, innovation, and growth. We work closely with organisations to ensure that their processes are not only effective but also sustainable and scalable. By embedding evaluation within delivery, we enable teams to adapt quickly, build resilience, and drive continuous improvement. Our evaluations turn operational insights into strategic advantages, helping organisations refine their work, strengthen their impact, and deliver with even greater confidence.

We know that setting up new teams can be tricky at first, and have developed tools which not only evaluate projects, but also help you during the project itself. We offer the following, in larger projects, to keep you on track:

Monitoring support and tools

Monitoring your activity is essential because it ensures that your efforts are making an impact and that you’re using your resources effectively. Without a clear way to track progress, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s working well and where adjustments are needed. That’s why we provide monitoring spreadsheets that offer a quick, at-a-glance overview of key metrics, making it simple to see trends, spot challenges, and identify opportunities for growth. These tools help you stay focused, prioritise your time and energy, and make informed decisions based on real data. Whether it’s tracking outputs, engagement, or project milestones, our monitoring systems empower you to stay on course, adapt when needed, and ultimately achieve greater success.

Innovative process measurement

The Reflex Survey system designed by The Evaluator is a brilliantly simple yet highly effective way to track team progress in real-time. By implementing regular self-assessment measures, the programme team can quickly reflect on their work, providing a gut-reaction assessment rather than an over-analysed response. This allows for a more accurate and honest snapshot of how the project is evolving. The inclusion of the Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing (FSNP) framework ensures that team dynamics and project challenges are recognised, allowing leadership to identify patterns, pinpoint challenges, and celebrate progress. By aligning these team insights with feedback from the board and steering group, the Reflex Survey ensures a balanced, multi-level perspective on the programme’s development.

One of the most powerful aspects of this system is its flexibility and responsiveness. Unlike traditional assessments that assume linear progress, the Reflex Survey acknowledges that teams may move back and forth between phases, adapting to new challenges as they arise. The data from the team’s assessments demonstrates this in action – here is an example “an initial dip in scores reflects the complexity of external challenges, while the sharp rise to ‘norming’ in January highlights the team’s resilience and adaptability.” This real-time insight allows for targeted support, proactive problem-solving, and a deeper understanding of team dynamics, making it an invaluable tool for monitoring project health and guiding strategic decisions.

 

 

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to strengthen an existing project, our process evaluation tools are designed to support you every step of the way. We bring clarity, insight, and momentum—helping your team stay aligned, adapt quickly, and deliver impact with confidence. If you’re ready to gain a deeper understanding of how your work is unfolding and how it can be even more effective, we’d love to talk. Get in touch with us today – info@theevaluator.co.uk or call 01756 532 538, to explore how we can tailor our approach to fit your needs and elevate your project from the inside out.

 

Evaluation In Action: Working With Volunteers

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The National Festival of Making took place on 6th and 7th July across Blackburn town centre and was supported by a wonderful team of volunteers, including an evaluation team of volunteers.

Volunteers

Each volunteer brought different skills to the festival, with some speaking multiple languages, helping the diverse audience with finding venues across the festival and being a friendly face to converse with. In fact, the team spoke the following languages; Persian, Urdu, French, Polish, Zulu, Bengali and more. What a skilled bunch!

The volunteers were a valuable support to our evaluation team. Over the festival weekend, they helped us to conduct surveys with festival attendees and gather valuable data and feedback, which supports funding for future events and helps the festival to make improvements year on year.

 

Artwork in church - festival of making

Photograph, above, reproduced from the National Festival of Making website. You can see more about the festival by clicking here.

At The Evaluator we enjoy working with volunteers to make the most of our clients resources.

 

Why not keep in touch if you want to know more about how volunteers could be included in your evaluation? Sign up for our mailing list below.

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Simple evaluation you can do yourself – Three tips to do your own evaluation

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Sometimes we get asked to quote for projects and the project is quite small, or the project team is quite small. They don’t have a large budget and although we’re always great value for money, sometimes it’s better to spend the money on delivery.

Our Director, Kirsty, used to run small projects like this and always carried out her own evaluation. She used this knowledge to create ‘The Evaluator’ and wanted to put together a guide for someone who has got a bit of public funding and a small project (maybe £50,000 or less).

If your project is small we recommend you do your own evaluation. There are always exceptions to the rule however and sometimes the project has a strong learning objective, which makes an evaluation particularly appropriate, but as a guide – that’s what we’d recommend.

Say you are running a project and you’ve got, for example  £35,000 worth of funding -how would you attempt to evaluate that? There are some really very simple things that you could do, as follows:

Idea 1: Have an internal focus group.

For example, you might put a meeting together and the three or four people who have been running the project and working on most of the tasks, might sit down and answer these three questions:

What went really well?

What surprised you about the people taking part?

What would you do differently?

Just that alone – having a discussion and applying it, is a really good start.

Idea 2: Mini data analysis.

You keep a note of attendance at events and look to see which days are busiest and do more of them.

Idea 3: Mini research interviews.

Ask the people taking part what they have enjoyed the most – then plan to repeat that for new people.

The important thing is to not see ‘evaluation’ as a big scary thing, but to see it as ‘how can we use the knowledge or information we have to improve’.

Good luck!