"Chapters feature: A review of 30 frameworks and models that inform processes for evaluation in advertising, public relations, health communication and promotion, government communication and other specialist fields including the latest recommendations of industry bodies, evaluation councils, and re
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search institutes in several countries; Recommendations for standards based on contemporary social science research and industry initiatives such as the Task Force for Standardization of Communication Planning and Evaluation Models and the Coalition for Public Relations Research Standards; A comprehensive review of metrics that can inform evaluation including digital and social media metrics, 10 informal research methods, and more than 30 formal research methods for evaluating public communication; evaluation of public communication campaigns and projects in 12 contemporary case studies." (Back cover)
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"This toolkit provides a framework to think about communications monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), and provides example questions, indicators and tools to do it. Communications MEL is, in many ways, straightforward. Yet organisations across the sector still grapple with how to embed it in t
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heir work. MEL is important to ensure that your communications are strategic, helping you to understand and learn from what works, what doesn’t, when and for whom. It is also an important tool for accountability, helping you to demonstrate uptake, and that your work is of high quality and useful. This toolkit is intended for use by communications, research and project implementation staff working in think tanks, universities and NGOs. It is based on internal guidance that ODI developed to encourage sharing and learning; to improve the quality, reach and use of its communications; and to help with project and programme planning. Communications MEL is still a work in progress at ODI; we are publishing this guide in the hope that it will be useful to others, but also that it will invite discussion and shared learning." (Introduction)
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"Information campaigns designed to raise awareness of the potential risks of (irregular) migration have attracted much attention and investment across the world in recent years. Studies have repeatedly shown that many migrants start their journeys with limited or biased information and end up in vul
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nerable situations. In response, information campaigns have increased in number and the type, format, messages and strategy of such campaigns have diversified.
This report presents the results from a systematic literature review of evaluations of such information campaigns in the field of migration. The study reveals that the evidence base available for programming and policymaking in this area is strikingly limited. We find that the uptake in the use of information campaigns has far outpaced any rigorous assessment of the effects that different campaigns may have on their respective target groups. In the absence of reliable evidence, the debate on the potential of this policy tool often relies on largely anecdotal evidence. Better evidence can show how information campaigns can be designed to best achieve their intended effects given the particular circumstances. The current lack of evidence limits the impact of future campaigns. While rigorous assessment of campaign impact can be difficult and costly, better evidence is clearly needed – wherever feasible and appropriate.
Based on an extensive, systematic literature review, 60 relevant evaluations of information campaigns that targeted potential migrants and traffickers, as well as communities at large, were identified from a pool of 3,600 records. Only 30 of the selected campaign evaluations had publicly available results; the rest were collected through expert referrals. Two studies were published in peer-reviewed journals. Among the campaigns featured in the 60 studies, the most popular communication tools were workshop-type activities and cable TV programmes/advertisements. Most campaigns focused on trafficking, followed by irregular migration and, more generally, smuggling. A common issue is the lack of a clearly defined campaign objective and/or target group. This hampers any rigorous evaluation of programme effects. Whenever an objective is defined, it is most often aimed at “awareness-raising” and “knowledge generation.” The majority of the campaign evaluations claimed that the campaign under study was “successful” in inducing a change in knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and – to a lesser degree – (intended) behaviour. However, most of the evaluations reviewed provided relatively little evidence of the full impact of information campaigns. While many of the evaluations reported the number and profiles of campaign recipients or beneficiaries, impact was not directly measured. (In the evaluation literature, impact is defined as a change in outcome that is directly attributable to the programme and not any other factor.)
Most of the evaluations identified did not meet minimum standards for robust evidence on programme effects. The large majority of evaluations were based on based on cross-sectional surveys of small numbers of participants (N) sampled at convenience, limiting the generalizability of the results. Only a few large-N studies employed a control-group design or involved pre- and post-measurements. None employed a (quasi-)experimental method for causal inference (e.g. randomized controlled trial, which is considered the “gold standard” for measuring impact)." (Executive summary)
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"The Social Impact Navigator provides an accessible introduction to the issue of impact orientation. We want to show you how with simple steps, you can plan and implement your project in an impact-oriented way and analyze your results. We present instruments suitable for everyday use that will give
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you practical help in integrating an impact orientation into your project work, and support you as you address the issue of impact orientation inside your organization. Above all, we want to motivate you to engage with the issue yourself. Who is the target audience? This publication is directed toward non-profit and other civil society organizations, and their projects and programs that have as yet had only limited experience with the issues of impact orientation and social impact analysis. We want to show that by taking simple, small steps, even organizations with limited resources for monitoring and evaluation can review the effectiveness of their work and learn from these results." (About the guide, page 9)
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"The aim of this handbook is to provide civil society campaigners with the knowledge and skills they need to undertake high quality counter-narrative campaign evaluations. It presents model frameworks and case studies of successful counter-narrative M&E, as well as a range of useful tools and resour
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ces that counter-narrative campaigners can use to support their M&E efforts, including: A description of key metrics and how to interpret them; An explanation of various research methods that can be used in online M&E; Guidance on potential risks and ethical considerations for counter-narrative M&E; A flexible M&E framework that can provide a starting point for evaluation planning; Three case study examples of high quality counter-narrative campaign evaluations; A glossary of key M&E terms; • An index of useful online M&E tools." (Page 3)
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"A number of international organisations and NGOs suggest strategies for countering hate speech, but there is limited evidence of successful interventions. There is a general lack of impact evaluations of interventions to counter hate speech. When impact is measured it tends to be done in the short-
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term, for example by looking at feedback from individuals involved in conferences, rather than measuring behavioural change or changes in attitudes. Moreover, claims about the impact of specific interventions are often made by the organisations running the interventions and are unsubstantiated." (Page 3)
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"In this fully revised and expanded Fourth Edition, Ronald E. Rice and Charles K. Atkin provide readers with a comprehensive, up-to-date look into the field of public communication campaigns. Updated to reflect the latest theories and research, this text extends coverage to new areas, including sun
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protection, organ donation, human rights, social norms, corporate social responsibility, condom use, ocean sustainability, fear messages, and digital games. Classic chapters include updates on topics such as campaign history, theoretical foundations, formative evaluation, systems approaches, input-output persuasion matrix, design and evaluation, meta-analysis, and sense-making methodology." (Publisher description)
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"Behavior Change Communication (BCC) interventions have become an integral part of many HIV prevention programs. Monitoring and evaluation is expected to be included in the design of any BCC interventions from the beginning on. However, the know-how on how to demonstrate results and impacts of such
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interventions in a methodologically sound way often lags behind. This document aims at enhancing program officials' understanding of the importance of evaluations as well as the most important steps to take and decisions to make in the course of an evaluation, and at enabling them to oversee the work done by the evaluators.
It is divided into three parts. The first part presents the main general aspects that need to be taken into consideration when monitoring and evaluating BCC interventions with a focus on HIV-related BCC approaches. More specifically, a general framework for monitoring and evaluation is presented, including among others information on the use of appropriate indicators, the development of an evaluation plan, different types of evaluation, study designs of summative evaluations, statistical analysis and dissemination of the evaluation results. Based on this theoretical background presented in part one, the second part draws conclusions, presents recommendations and gives practical advice on monitoring and evaluating HIV BCC programs. Three types of HIV BCC interventions, relevant to the work of German Development Cooperation (GDC), are also here discussed; these are the tool Join-in-Circuit, peer education programs and mass media campaigns. The third part presents four country examples of M&E of HIV BCC interventions implemented by GDC programs. These were discussed during a short-course on evaluation of BBC interventions offered by GIZ from 9]10 March, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa." (Executive summary)
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"The Second Edition incorporates developments in marketing practice over the last 10 years and focuses on how to apply the design approach to campaigns to effect behavior change. All organizations can do social marketing, Weinreich insists, if they follow the steps and start to think from a social m
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arketing perspective." (Publisher description)
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"There are several organisations in Africa which aim to eliminate the incidence of gender-based violence through such actions as education, advocacy, lobbying and media-based interventions. What follows is a tool that aims to: facilitate the building of stronger, more sustainable communications camp
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aigns as a component of gender-based violence intervention strategies; promote partnership across organisations that share this worthwhile vision; and ensure greater long-term impact." (Page 2)
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"[...] Fortunately, in the last decade in particular, much progress has been made on incorporating social science theory into both campaign design and evaluation, primarily in the health field. Indeed, evaluators are being encouraged to engage in theory testing and/or logic model development. Findin
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gs from recent meta-analyses suggest that newer communication campaigns are increasingly utilizing theory. In addition, there has been great diversity in the theories being applied in this area, and many of the theories being used most often, including the Theory of Reasoned Action, Social Cognitive Theory, and the transtheoretical “Stages of Change” model, also are widely studied in the health behavior change literature.
An evaluation research team typically consists of program staff in charge of program planning and a program evaluator. Often, the program evaluator is one of the few behavioral or social scientists on the project. Without a theorist on the team, the theory behind the project is likely to remain implicit from the start. The failure to acknowledge or discuss theory from the beginning risks wasting resources on message strategies that are not adequately linked to psychosocial predictors of behavior, and on performance measures that are off the mark. Thus, all program personnel should be involved in theory/logic model development so that the theoretical underpinnings of the project are grounded in more than evaluator assumptions." (Introduction)
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"This focus analyses strengths and weaknesses of the media coverage of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign. The authors explain the current media representation of gender-based violence and the changes that need to be made to ensure that gender-based violence issues are covered more substantially and r
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egularly in the media. This focus also critiques the quality of media articles and the degree to which comprehensive analysis of gender-based violence issues are dealt with in the press and whether or not the media coverage adds new information to the debates around gender-based violence." (Abstract)
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"This handbook draws on multidisciplinary insights and the experiences of academics and campaign practitioners to provide a comprehensive guide and introduction to planning, implementing and measuring public information and communication campaigns. It outlines the basic theoretical approaches and pr
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ovides practical examples from a variety of both national and international information and communication campaigns within and across Europe. Public opinion information and campaign strategies in a recent American state election campaign are used to contrast the different perspectives and experiences in the United States. The handbook concludes by demonstrating how to measure effects, causality and public opinion change to determine what the campaign accomplished. A helpful summary and checklist for the student and practitioner using survey research is provided at the end." (Publisher description)
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