For external evaluations, the assessment process is outsourced. Thus, the external expert takes the lead.
For internal project evaluations, however, whoever collected the data should also evaluate it, because this person is in the best position to establish relationships between individual data points – insofar as he or she is not biased or too close to the subject to see clearly. If several people are involved, a manager is needed to coordinate the evaluation.
The quality of results will depend strongly on who is included in the process. Talk about this issue as a team, and ideally integrate stakeholders that can critically assess the results of the analysis. This will let you consider different interpretations of the findings, and possibly identify false conclusions.
Talk about this issue as a team, and ideally integrate stakeholders that can critically assess the results of the analysis.
The same should be true of an external evaluation; in this case too, the findings should be widely discussed, for example by being presented to a representative group.
The following questions will help you work with your data:
| Questions for data evaluation | Questions for the plausibility check | Questions for data analysis (comparative) | Questions for data analysis (conclusions) | Questions for recommendations |
| Do trends or clusters appear in the data? | Was a quality-control made? If the findings deviate strongly from the project participants’ assessments, could the evaluation be flawed? | How does the actual result compare to previous results/planned results/results from other projects? Is the result better/worse than expected? Have developments appeared that deviate from the plan? | If so/not so, why? Are any interrelationships evident? Are any changes in the project’s underlying assumptions or environment evident (for example, with respect to target-group needs)? | How can this be changed? Does the project have to be adapted to new conditions, and should plans be revised? What should be done? |
| What additional information do you need? What areas require closer observation? | ||||
The data should be analyzed and evaluated as quickly as possible.
- First, because experience shows that the longer data sits, the more likely it is to be lost.
- Second, because you should only use fresh data to guide project management and communications tasks.
- And, third, because data that points to unwanted developments may make additional or concrete data collection necessary.
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How YEA collects data
The data collected by YEA are evaluated by the project-management team and analyzed in a first step. In a second step, the findings are presented to the executive team. Mentors and teachers are also invited.
When the results of the external evaluation are presented, the leadership team is joined by the mentors involved, the class teachers, and representatives of two companies where former project participants are carrying out apprenticeships.