What are the stages of an evaluation, and what does our team do in each?
The stages of an evaluation run from agreeing on what to learn through building the team's own use of evidence, and in each one the evaluator leads the evaluation work while your team contributes what only it knows. The table shows the division of work in general terms; your own scope of work will set out the details.
| Stage | What the evaluator does | What your team does |
|---|
| 1. Agree on what to learn | Designs or refines the evaluation questions, the outcomes to measure, and how the findings will be used, starting from the plan in the proposal | Explains the decisions the project faces and shares the proposal, logic model, and reporting calendar |
| 2. Gather and analyze evidence | Designs surveys, interviews, and focus groups, gathers existing records, and analyzes the data | Shares records, helps coordinate data collection with students or participants and staff, and supports the IRB process where it applies |
| 3. Interpret the findings | Explains what the data shows and what it can't establish | Adds the context that explains a finding and raises questions the data prompts |
| 4. Decide what to change | Helps turn findings into priorities and responsibilities | Decides what to keep or enhance, what to change, and what to remove, and who is responsible for each change |
| 5. Communicate results | Writes reports and summaries timed to the funder's schedule and adapted to other audiences | Reviews drafts for accuracy and context, and draws on them for its own reports |
| 6. Build the team's use of evidence | Explains what was done and why, and makes the findings easy to use | Gets better at asking what evidence would show whether a change is working |
The stages overlap in practice. A focus group in the second year might lead straight to a change in recruitment, which the evaluation then follows.
What happens at the start of an evaluation?
At the start of an evaluation, your institution completes its own steps and the team holds a kickoff meeting that sets up the work. The kickoff covers goals and timeline, roles, how you'll communicate, the evaluation activities and data collection, and the IRB plan. Before it, your institution typically signs the agreement, sets the evaluator up as a vendor, arranges payment, and reviews IRB and data agreement requirements.
For a grant-funded project, the timing of those steps once you have notice of an award is its own question, and We've received notice that our project was funded. When do I need to get my evaluator involved? walks through them in order. Whether your evaluation needs IRB review is decided by your institution's IRB, and it's worth contacting the IRB before any data collection begins.
How do findings reach the project team before the final report?
Findings reach the project team before the final report through regular meetings, shorter summaries between formal reports, and conversations whenever something important comes up. Grantibly typically meets with project teams quarterly for about an hour, with email in between and reports timed to the funder's calendar, but we can meet more or less frequently depending on the project.
This is the formative side of an evaluation: gathering information while the program runs and sharing findings while there's still time to improve it. The team might learn that one part of the program is reaching fewer participants than planned, for example, and adjust it the following semester. Each annual report then records what was carried out, what the team learned, and what it changed. What's the difference between formative and summative evaluation, and why does my funder want both? explains the two kinds in more detail.
What does the final report cover?
The final report covers what the project accomplished over the funding period, with a focus on outcomes and impact, and what the project team learned and changed along the way. It draws on everything the evaluation gathered across the grant, including the implementation findings that help explain the outcomes. A program's results are difficult to interpret without understanding how it was carried out, who took part, and what changed during the grant.
A useful final report also looks forward. It should help your team decide what to sustain, what to change in the next proposal, and how to communicate the value of the work to your funder, your institution's leaders, and your partners. If a final report doesn't help anyone think differently, make a decision, improve something, or explain the value of the work, an important opportunity has been missed.
The Grantibly perspective
Lauren's perspective
Evaluation shouldn't operate on a separate track from the program. The cycle runs from the program to data, to learning, to action, and back to program improvement, and it should happen throughout the life of a project. When appropriate, evaluation findings should become part of project meetings, planning conversations, implementation decisions, and strategy.
We apply high methodological standards while remaining adaptable to real-world program dynamics. Programs evolve. Staff change, partners change, recruitment strategies change, and timelines shift. We document those changes and help teams understand them, so an adaptation isn't treated as a deviation that needs to be defended.
