Unique Methods in Advocacy Evaluation

Evaluation methods define how data are collected. They are systematic approaches
for gathering qualitative or quantitative data that can be used to determine
whether a strategy is making progress or achieving its intended results.

Like all evaluations, advocacy evaluations can draw on a familiar list of traditional
data collection methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or polling (see box
at right for other common methods). But because the advocacy process can be
complex, fast-paced, and dynamic, which makes data collection challenging, and
because advocacy efforts often aim for outcomes that are hard to operationalize
and measure (e.g., public will or political will), new and innovative methods are
being developed specifically for assessing advocacy and policy change efforts.

This brief describes four new methods (summarized in the matrix on the next
page) that were developed to respond to advocacy’s unique measurement
challenges. All four methods have been tested in real-life evaluations, and were
developed to be:
- Relevant—Useful for informing decisions about evolving advocacy strategy
- Timely—Able to be administered and analyzed relatively quickly so data can inform evolving
advocacy strategy
- Efficient—Not burdensome to already busy advocates.