How do you involve your target audience in your evaluation?

1 Define your evaluation questions

Before you begin collecting and analyzing data, it is essential to define your evaluation questions. These should be aligned with your campaign objectives and the needs of your target audience. Examples of such questions could be: how successful was your campaign in reaching and engaging your target audience, what changes were produced in their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors, what factors contributed to the success or failure of the campaign, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign, and what recommendations and lessons can be drawn for future campaigns? To involve your target audience in defining these questions, you can conduct focus groups, interviews, surveys, or workshops; involve representatives in your evaluation team or advisory group; or use participatory methods such as brainstorming, ranking, voting, or mapping.

2 Choose your evaluation methods

Once you have your evaluation questions, you need to choose your evaluation methods. These tools and techniques are used to collect and analyze data, such as observation, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, stories, and experiments. Your evaluation methods should be appropriate for your evaluation questions as well as the characteristics and preferences of your target audience. To ensure your target audience is involved in choosing the methods, ask them about their preferred ways of providing and receiving information. Test and pilot the methods with a sample of your target audience and solicit their feedback. Additionally, use creative and interactive methods, such as games or quizzes, to collect data in an enjoyable way.

3 Collect and analyze your data

Once you have chosen your evaluation methods, you need to collect and analyze your data in order to answer questions such as: how many people were exposed to your campaign messages, what changes occurred in your target audience's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors as a result of your campaign, how did your campaign compare to other similar campaigns or a control group, what were the main factors that contributed to or hindered the outcomes of your campaign and what were the unintended or unexpected effects of your campaign? It is important to be rigorous, ethical, and transparent when collecting and analyzing data while also being responsive to the needs and concerns of your target audience. To involve them in the process, you can train and recruit members of the target audience as data collectors such as interviewers, observers or facilitators. You can also involve them in data analysis such as coding, sorting or interpreting data or using software or tools to assist with data analysis. Additionally, you can use participatory methods such as feedback loops, sense-making sessions or data visualization to share and discuss data with the target audience and validate and refine findings.

4 Report and disseminate your results

Finally, after you have collected and analyzed your data, you need to report and disseminate your results. This is the process of communicating and sharing your evaluation findings, conclusions, and recommendations with your target audience and other stakeholders. You should be clear, concise, and compelling in your reporting, as well as tailor it to the needs and interests of your stakeholders. To involve your target audience in reporting and disseminating your results, you can ask them about their preferred formats and channels of receiving and sharing information. Moreover, you can co-create and co-deliver your evaluation reports and presentations with members of your target audience. Additionally, use social media or other platforms to disseminate your results widely and interactively. Involving your target audience in your evaluation not only increases relevance and credibility but also strengthens engagement, satisfaction, loyalty, learning, empowerment, ownership, accountability, transparency, and sustainability of your campaign. How do you involve your target audience in your evaluation? Share your tips and experiences with us.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?