Tips for evaluators

The following is taken from a presentation of the draft working paper on evaluating countering disinformation programmes.

Questions to ask at the start of a new evaluation:

What data exists that the evaluation team can draw on to augment or support the evaluation?

What are the programme’s indicators of change – most importantly at both the output and outcome levels?

What are the core evaluation questions that donors or programme implementers want to know?

Does the programme have an appropriate theory of change that can be tested and understood through the lens of an evaluation?

Suggested evaluations questions for countering disinformation programs:

Evaluations related to countering disinformation need to answer the question of whether programming is making a difference, and if so how, and why:

What has changed?

Has disinformation gone down?

Have audiences “switched channels” or sought out better, higher quality information?

Are participants of media and information literacy programs more equipped with critical thinking skills?

How has programming contributed to disinformation’s corrosive effects on democracy?