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Handout from session at 2011 AEA/CDC Summer Evaluation Institute

Description: Practitioners use logic models to describe important components of a program; make visible a theory of change; and link activities to intended outcomes. For the purposes of evaluation practice, a well-constructed logic model provides a program-specific foundation for gaining clarity with stakeholders, identifying key evaluation questions; prioritizing data needs; and translating findings into recommendations for ongoing program improvement. Despite these obvious benefits, many program implementers and evaluators have been turned off to logic models because of overly complex approaches that get mired in complicated formatting rules or semantic wrangling. Aimed directly at recapturing the utility of even basic logic models, the workshop will show how to construct simple logic models, how to extract important insights about your program from a simple logic model, introduce the many terms in play in logic models, but with attention to the added-value each of these adds to your understanding of the program, and illustrated how these models make it easier to tackle key tasks in planning and evaluation.

Workshop Objectives:

* Demystify the process of developing logic models

* Demonstrate the added value of logic models for evaluation and planning

* Present a simple approach for creating basic logic models

* Identify the added-value of elaborating a basic logic model and demonstrate how to choose the appropriate format and level of complexity.

* Demonstrate use of logic models in making evaluation and planning choices.

Audience: Attendees who implement or evaluate programs and who are either new to logic modeling or have been traumatized by prior experiences with logic modeling!

Thomas Chapel is a Senior Evaluation Scientist in the Office of Workforce and Career Development, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He serves as a central resource on strategic planning and program evaluation for CDC programs and their partners. Before joining CDC, Tom was Vice-President of the Atlanta office of Macro International where he directed and managed projects in program evaluation, strategic planning, and evaluation design for public and nonprofit organizations. He is a frequent presenter at national meetings, a frequent contributor to edited volumes and monographs on evaluation, and has facilitated or served on numerous expert panels on public health and evaluation topics.

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