Resources

In this section you’ll find additional resources and guidance on planning and carrying out your evaluation. Some of the resources listed are a deeper dive into areas of wellbeing measurement, and others are external links to support organisations or useful publications.

General evaluation resources

This guide focuses on how to approach a wellbeing impact evaluation specifically, and doesn’t cover general principles of evaluation. The following are useful resources and guides for evaluation more generally:

• Inspiring Impact provides free online resources and peer learning networks for VCSE organisations, to help people plan, understand, and improve their impact.
• BetterEvaluation is an international organisation that works collaboratively to create, share and support use of knowledge about how to better plan, manage, conduct and use evaluation.
• The Charity Evaluation Working Group (Chew) is a network for people working in measuring impact in the third sector, including researchers, charity evaluators and support organisations.
• NCVO Knowhow offers advice and support for voluntary organisations, including on measuring impact.
• Evaluation Support Scotland provides advice and support for VCSE organisations, as well as guides, method sheets, webinars, case studies and external publications.

Evaluation approaches and methods

Theory of Change:

• This updated NPC handbook, Theory of Change in 10 steps guide, will help you create a theory of change for any project or programme.
• The Happy Museum’s Story of Change Tool is a simple workshop approach to planning and reviewing the difference you aim to make and how.

Quantitative data and questionnaires:

• Mark Robinson‘s guide to designing questionnaires using multi-item psychometric scales.
• A brief guide on Writing your own questions. Developed by The What Works Centre for Wellbeing, CLES, and New Economics Foundation.

Using qualitative data:

• More guidance on how to use open questions to collect qualitative data for your evaluation. Developed by The What Works Centre for Wellbeing, CLES, and New Economics Foundation.
• A guide to gathering qualitative data for wellbeing evaluations from the Centre for Thriving Places.
• Evaluation Support Scotland’s guide on Capturing Casual Moments, and having a robust and proportional approach to user feedback.
• Shank, G. (2002). Qualitative Research. A Personal Skills Approach. New Jersey: Merril Prentice Hall.

Using Creative Methods to collect data

• Guidance on using creative methods from Inspiring Impact

Economic valuation

• A simple workshop exercise to get people to think about the value of your activities, from Happy Museum
• The Pro Bono Economics guide to wellbeing cost effectiveness analysis when you have imperfect data. Developed in collaboration with the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.

Analysis and interpretation:

• Step-by-step guidance on carrying out a contribution analysis and developing a ‘contribution story’, from BetterEvaluation.
• Contribution analysis toolkit by the Life Chances Trust

Other things to think about

• This practical guide from Oxfam will help you think through the ethical considerations in your evaluation.
• NPC’s Principles of good impact reporting.
• Inspiring Impact case studies of how organisations have approached measurement and evaluation.

Covid-19: resources for evaluation during the pandemic

• A developmental evaluation approach can help in contexts which are changeable, such as the pandemic.
• Inspiring Impact has a number of resources and webinars to support evaluation during Covid-19.
• Better Evaluation has a useful blog series on adapting your evaluation during Covid-19.
• Lupton, D. (editor) (2020) Doing fieldwork in a pandemic (crowd-sourced document).
• This blog from LSE looks at practical and ethical considerations of Carrying out qualitative research under lockdown