Makleff Consulting 

Presented at American Evaluation Association conference in November 2018. 

 

Evaluation of social interventions: A Co-Production of Research Approach 

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S Makleff, B Keefe-Oates, J Friedman, E Sa, S Baum

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“Co-production of research” entails full partnership between practitioners and researchers to support feasible, relevant, locally-informed, and quickly-utilized research. IPPF/WHR and Ibis Reproductive Health will demonstrate co-production strategies we have implemented with Latin American service-delivery partners for international collaboration.We suggest that this approach is particularly well-suited for evaluation research addressing hard-to-measure topics. We will use a case study evaluating a counseling intervention to reduce abortion stigma. 

The presentation will demonstrate twoelements that have been central to our co-production model. First, the use of a Theory of Change (TOC) as an iterative theoretical tool at each phase of intervention design and evaluation. Based oncontext, academic literature, and input from practitioners, the TOC articulateshypothesized pathways of action, rationale, and assumptions which inform the research question, instrument development, and interpretation of results. Second, establishing roles and responsibilities using an easy-to-use visual tool that can be employed in-person or virtually.