BigCat Research

What do beneficiary experience, knowledge, attitude, behavior or capacity indicators say?

When read together, beneficiary experience and knowledge, attitude, behavior and capacity indicators show not only the people the program reaches, but the real progress it creates.

A program may offer a good experience to the beneficiary; However, increased knowledge may not translate into behavior or capacity development may not be sustainable. Therefore, evaluation should not line up different indicator types in the same order, but should separate what each one tells. The experience process indicates knowledge learning, attitude indicates direction change, behavior indicates practice, and capacity indicates permanent competence.

Understanding what beneficiary experience, knowledge, attitude, behavior or capacity indicators say is one of the key distinctions of a social impact report. The value of the report in this area lies in explaining the change rather than recording the work done. The program may have reached a large number of people; yet the real question is what differs in the participant's knowledge, behavior, capacity, or living situation.

This assessment should read together satisfaction data, knowledge measurement, attitude questions, behavioral evidence, capacity documentation and beneficiary narratives. Data collection should not be done just to fill in the appendices of the report. Which claim will each indicator carry, which narrative will explain the reason for that claim, which limitation will narrow the interpretation; These should be considered from the beginning.

Not every indicator tells the same type of results; Therefore, they should not all be linked to the same success sentence in the report. This reading What quantitative and qualitative evidence is supported by the change, How the achieved impact should be translated into a simple, reliable and shareable narrative, To what extent has the program achieved its objectives and what tracking indicators support it and Which activity, module, region or target group produced the stronger results gives a more complete framework when juxtaposed with the headings; because each one makes another moment of the experience visible. A good report conveys the same essence at different levels of detail for the funder, implementation team, stakeholder and organization management. Thus, the language of communication and the language of learning are not separated from each other.

What do experience data explain?

How the beneficiary experiences the process indicates the nature of participation and the quality of support. The aim here is not to exaggerate success, but to understand the conditions under which change occurs. The strong result must be visible; The limited area should be left open for the new design.

Good experience provides a strong basis, but alone is not proof of lasting results. Comment from the field team is particularly valuable at this stage. How the change indicated by the number occurs in daily practice is often best understood through their narrative.

The most important discipline in this topic is not to confuse the result with the contribution. Change may have been seen; However, the question should be asked honestly how much of this was due to the program and how much was due to external conditions or other supports. Thus, the language of success becomes more reliable.

Where is the increase in knowledge limited?