How do you use synthesis to inform decision-making and learning in your organization?

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Synthesis is the process of integrating and interpreting data and evidence from different sources, methods, and perspectives to produce meaningful insights and recommendations for program evaluation. Synthesis helps you to answer your evaluation questions, identify key findings, and communicate them effectively to your stakeholders. In this article, you will learn how to use synthesis to inform decision-making and learning in your organization.

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Gunjika Vishwanath Misra (She/ Her) ??

On a mission to help every woman & girl become financially literate, secure & independentI National President-Home &…
Nicole Smith

Effective Aid | Program Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning

1 Why synthesis matters

Synthesis is not just a final step in the evaluation cycle, but an ongoing and evolving practice that supports learning and improvement throughout the program. It enables you to compare and contrast data from different sources and methods, analyze the data in relation to the program context, theory of change, and evaluation criteria, and generate actionable recommendations that address the evaluation purpose and questions. Additionally, synthesis helps to communicate the synthesis results effectively with appropriate formats, language, and visuals.

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Gunjika Vishwanath Misra (She/ Her) ??

On a mission to help every woman & girl become financially literate, secure & independentI National President-Home & Security Council, WICCI| Board Member, 7Even Consultancy| 20X LI TOP VOICE| TOP Person Ambassador
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Synthesis is crucial for informed decision-making and learning in any organization. It enables the integration of diverse perspectives and data into cohesive insights, guiding strategic choices and fostering continuous improvement. Through synthesis, the organization can distill complex information into actionable knowledge, driving innovation and enhancing adaptability in a rapidly changing landscape.

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Nicole Smith

Effective Aid | Program Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning
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Synthesis helps us move from simply knowing a lot of disparate data points to truly understanding the information and knowing how to act on it. It's essential because it transforms raw data into actionable insights, which helps you (or your organization) make better decisions.

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2 How to plan for synthesis

Careful planning and preparation, as well as flexibility and creativity, are essential for effective synthesis. First, you should define the scope and focus of the synthesis based on the evaluation purpose, questions, and audience. Additionally, it’s important to review the data collection and analysis methods to make sure they are consistent, rigorous, and transparent. Furthermore, organizing the data and evidence in a logical and accessible way, such as using matrices, maps, or dashboards can help. Finally, creating a synthesis team that includes diverse perspectives and expertise is important. Establishing roles and responsibilities for collaboration is also key.

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Nicole Smith

Effective Aid | Program Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning
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When defining the scope and focus of the synthesis, start by clarifying the key questions you want to answer and aligning them with your strategic goals. For example, if you're evaluating a mentorship program, decide whether you're focusing on mentor effectiveness, mentee outcomes, or something else. It's also helpful to develop a clear synthesis framework. Think of it as a a roadmap that guides what data to include and how to interpret it.

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3 How to conduct synthesis

Synthesis involves applying analytical techniques and frameworks to synthesize the data and evidence, and generate insights and recommendations. To do so, triangulation should be used to compare and cross-check data from different sources, methods, and perspectives. Meta-analysis can aggregate and summarize data from multiple studies or evaluations, while thematic analysis identifies the main themes, issues, or patterns that emerge from the data. Additionally, causal analysis examines the causal relationships between the program inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts to identify factors that influence or hinder the program effectiveness.

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Nicole Smith

Effective Aid | Program Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning
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When I start conducting synthesis, I first map out data points and look for gaps. If there are a lot of data points, I sometimes use concept mapping tools to visually organize and make connections. This helps make seemingly disparate data feel more manageable and helps me figure out if I'm missing any information. It also helps me figure out which analytical tools I should use for synthesis.

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4 How to communicate synthesis

Synthesis results in a synthesis report that presents the key findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the evaluation, as well as the synthesis methods, limitations, and lessons learned. To effectively communicate synthesis, it is important to tailor the report to the intended audience, purpose, and context. Use clear, concise, and accurate language and structure the report in a logical and coherent way with an executive summary, an introduction, a methodology section, a findings section, a conclusions section, a recommendations section, and appendices. Visual aids such as graphs, charts, tables, or diagrams can help illustrate and highlight the synthesis results. Make sure they are relevant, accurate, and consistent with the text. Additionally, provide evidence and references to support the synthesis results while acknowledging the sources, assumptions, and limitations of the data and evidence.

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5 How to use synthesis for decision-making and learning

Synthesis provides valuable insights for decision-making and learning in your organization. It enables you to assess the performance, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and sustainability of your program, as well as identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. Through synthesis, you can learn from the successes and failures of your program, and understand the factors that contribute to or hinder the achievement of your program goals and objectives. Moreover, it can help you refine your program design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Lastly, it allows you to share your synthesis results and recommendations with your stakeholders to engage them in dialogue, feedback and action.

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Nicole Smith

Effective Aid | Program Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning
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I like using synthesis to improve programming in real-time. This helps me be aware of what's going well and what isn't, which enables evidence-based decision-making. Day-to-day responsibilities can get overwhelming so I like to pre-schedule regular synthesis checkpoints once a quarter. This ensure that programming is reviewed and adjusted as needed.

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6 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?

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How do you use synthesis to inform decision-making and learning in your organization?

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1 Why synthesis matters

2 How to plan for synthesis

3 How to conduct synthesis

4 How to communicate synthesis

5 How to use synthesis for decision-making and learning

6 Here’s what else to consider

Program Evaluation

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