RE: How are mixed methods used in programme evaluation? | Eval Forward

Greetings to all

Thank you for this topic as methodology usually dictates the quality of the report.

Some of my takes on mixed methods through examples:

  1. When you want to measure equity and equality, quantitative methods should prevail and be supported by qualitative methods to gain insights on the why’s. Example:  what percent of funding for gender; how many girls at school…how many miles for rural roads….followed by policy analysis
  2. Measuring impact for an intervention needs to measure how many as well as the behavior that led to speeding or losing the impact.

 

Q2. for mixed methods evaluation – Are these instruments developed at the same time or one after another? How do they interact?

The ideal situation is to have all the instruments ready beforehand. However some qualitative instruments may give room for “improvement”. Example in key informant interviews or focus groups,  open-ended questions help improve the qualitative data gathering in case unexpected results wee found/observed. .

Here is a reference from the world bank that describes situations where the quantitative and qualitative methods are used. It is for impact evaluation but I find it valuable for most study/research situations.

Impact evaluation in practice

Best regards

Malika