[Ailist] How to makes sense of already-collected data?

[Mimi Delcuze]

Gary,
Your situation takes me back to my undergraduate training in marketing
research. I still remember the professor repeating - First, know the
question - then collect information. If this information cannot be collected
in the course of your AI process then you might have some added value in
looking at it. If through the inquiry you will gather the stories of past
program and success then you really do not need this data. Collecting data
for some unknown future need is not effective. The time and energy would be
better used in building of relationship thru story and conversation.

My suggested process:
1. Ask the client for the THREE critical questions at this time. What three
things do they need to know in order to move forward?
2. Can the data already collected answer those questions? (I suspect that it
will not)
3. If the data will answer the questions then focus on just that portion of
data, having that information available to inform and clarify the design and
delivery stage of the process. (Do not present the data before your inquiry
and discovery)

I hope this helps put this in a practical context.

Mimi Delcuze
 Delcuze Consulting LLC


-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Gary Robbins
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 1:03 PM
To: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: [Ailist] How to makes sense of already-collected data?

Colleagues:

I'm currently doing some research, and was hoping that someone could 
point me to some literature or ideas that I may be missing.

The evaluation literature seems to be geared largely toward implementing 
evaluation models and methods in 'ideal' situations, where the 
evaluators are able to influence the evaluation procedures from the 
beginning of program implementation, so that the formative and summative 
evaluation components are built in to the program at the onset.

I'm wondering if there's a model of working with a program that has been 
running for some time and that has been collecting data in a haphazard, 
we-think-this-might-be-interesting-to-know-someday sort of way.  In 
particular, I'm thinking of a smaller psychoeducational program that did 
not have any particular evaluation guidance at the beginning, so put 
together a trial pre/post instrument, and has been collecting 
information for a few years now, but the data is just accumulating in a 
storage room at the facility.  The program wants to try to wrangle the 
information that they've collected to see if any of it is informative, 
or can be used to provide a sense of how the program has done in the 
past, but there's so much data, and any or all of it may or may not be 
usable, that they are unsure how to begin wading through it all.

So, does anyone know of any kind of step-by-step process, or list of 
strategies or rules or best practices for wading through evaluation data 
in a less-than-ideal evaluation situation like this, where the evaluator 
is asked to come in and see what they can do with the information that 
the program has already been collecting?

Thanks so much for any insight into this issue.
Gary Robbins
Loma Linda University
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