Making two plus two equal five
| Author | Anne Sharp |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0100100211 |
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| Published By | Sage Publications, Inc. |
| Subject Matter | Refereed Article |
41
Adding value through the use of internal data in
evaluation research
REFEREED ARTICLE
Anne Sharp is a Senior Research
Associate at the Marketing Science
Centre, University of South
Australia. She can be contacted at
anne.sharp@MarketingScienceCentre.com
Her background is in market
research, but for the last five years
she has been involved in evaluation
as an external consultant.
This paper examines ways in which internal data can be
used in the evaluation research through data matching. It
illustrates this through two case studies involving a three-
year longitudinal and a cross-sectional evaluation of two
large-scale Australian assistance programs. Discussion
centres around ways in which internal data were used to
assist the interview process, identify areas where ‘claimed’
(what the respondent says) and ‘actual’ (what the internal
data show) data differ, and identify non-response issues.
The paper also examines how internal data can be used
as an intermediate platform against which the results of
two independent surveys can be reconciled. This is useful
as many surveys do not use the same measurement
scales or cover the same topics. The use of internal data
can provide some commonality between the two, again
adding value in the overall evaluation process and allowing
the organisation to better utilise existing data.
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 1 (new series), No. 2, December 2001, pp 41–45
Anne Sharp
Making two plus two
equal five
Introduction
In the last decade, there have been dramatic improvements in the availability and
integrity of information kept by organisations on their clients. This has resulted in a
demand for more innovative practices in evaluation, as well as market research, to
take advantage of this wealth of information. Increasingly, the demand is for
practices that contextualise the data obtained in new evaluation work against already
held internal data and past evaluations.
Australian governments are increasingly looking to maximise the value they get
from evaluation research. There is a movement towards developing a few key streams
of research, with the expectation that external providers will work together and that
evaluations will dovetail and not be duplicated. This is evidenced by the increasing
call for consortia to tender for evaluations, the appointment of a panel of providers
rather than going to open tenders, and the move away from ad-hoc evaluation
projects.
As funds are reduced, more internal government parties have a vested interest in a
single piece of evaluation research, so that one study often has to cover several issues
at once. Despite this, there has been only limited use of data matching aimed
primarily at improving efficiencies in the research process and adding value to the
research findings. This paper may help in this transition process, since it fits in with
Sharp – Making two plus two equal five
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