Evaluating Complexity: Propositions for Improving Practice

This guide, written by Hallie Preskill, Srik Gopal with Katelyn Mack and Joelle Cook for FSG, is focused on bringing together knowledge of systems change, complexity, and evaluation in order to clarify and describe how the role of evaluation needs to change in order to better serve the social sector.

Excerpt

"Over the last several years, there has been an increasing realization in the social sector that systemic change is not linear, predictable, or controllable. We are learning that social problems are more resilient than previously thought and that traditional means of tackling them often fall short. This is not due to bad intentions, but almost always due to faulty assumptions. Consequently, a call has gone out, growing in volume and ferocity, for civil society organizations—such as foundations, nonprofits, and government—to move beyond traditional, mechanistic strategic models and to take more of an “emergent” approach that better aligns with the complex nature of problems one wishes to solve (Kania, Kramer, and Russell, 2014; Patrizi, Thompson, Coffman, and Beer, 2013)."

Contents

  • Complexity as a Metaphor for Social Change 4
  • Propositions for Evaluating Complexity 6
  • Proposition 1: Design and implement evaluations to be adaptive, flexible, and iterative. 7
  • Proposition 2: Seek to understand and describe the whole system, including components and connections. 9
  • Proposition 3: Support the capacity of the system to learn by strengthening feedback loops and improving access to information. 11
  • Proposition 4: Pay particular attention to context and be responsive to changes as they occur. 14
  • Proposition 5: Look for effective principles of practice in action, rather than assessing adherence to a predetermined set of activities. 16
  • Proposition 6: Identify points of energy and influence, as well as ways in which momentum and power flow with the system. 18
  • Proposition 7: Focus on the nature of relationships and interdependencies within the system. 22
  • Proposition 8: Explain the non-linear and multi-directional relationships between the initiative and its intended and unintended outcomes. 24
  • Proposition 9: Watch for patterns, both one-off and repeating, at different levels of the system. 26

Sources

Hallie Preskill, Srik Gopal, Katelyn Mack & Joelle Cook (2014), Evaluating Complexity: Propositions for Improving Practice, FSG. Retrieved from: http://www.issuelab.org/resource/evaluating_complexity_propositions_for_improving_practice