Ralph Renger (Just Evaluation Services, US), Lewis Atkinson (Haines Centre for Strategic Management), Brian Keogh (Cobalt59)This interactive session will use Systems Evaluation Theory (SET) applied to a case study to explore the limitations of logic models in capturing context and evaluating complexity.
Systems Evaluation Theory (SET) has been developed because of a frustration with logic models in evaluation being linear, isolated and removed from context (Renger R. , 2015) (Reynolds, 2016). SET is advanced as a model that is closer to the true workings of a program. SET looks at a program as a series of systems (rather than a linear cause and effect process) and develops an understanding of the various interactions. Using SET, an evaluation also develops an understanding of the influence of the surrounding environment.
SET incorporates all the principles of effective use of systems thinking in evaluation, released at the end of 2018 by the American Evaluation Society.
A case study will illustrate the benefits of using the systems thinking concepts of elements, relationships & boundaries to guide adaptation to emergent and dynamic realities in complex environments. This study will also show the important link between effectiveness and efficiency, a concept often completely overlooked using program logic. This link is explored through:
- Achieving, maintaining and streamlining standard operating procedures
- The use of system feedback loops
- Reworks and reflex arcs
- Subsystem interactions
