Giving Compass' Take:

• MDRC's brief on the impact of participatory evaluation research methods provides a blueprint for elevating the voices of communities being studied.

• How are you working to incorporate research methods that elevate the voices and experiences of communities working towards their goals? 

• Read about how you can properly evaluate your own philanthropy to help elevate other voices.

Participatory approaches to evaluation are rooted in the idea that the people who are most affected by the research should be partners in designing it and carrying it out. These approaches focus on topics that are meaningful to the affected individuals and on research that is carried out in ways that are sensitive to their experiences. Intentionally engaging affected groups in the research process can lead to new insights about the topics being studied.

MDRC researchers and a group of young people used participatory evaluation approaches to understand the experiences of young people as they engaged in program services and worked toward their goals. The research findings highlighted the ways that young people describe and work toward their employment and education goals. It also documented the critical value of supportive adult relationships in helping young people persist in working toward goals that can take multiple years to achieve, as well as the need for additional resources for programs to support young people with housing and mental health. This brief describes the benefits of the collaboration to the research process, strategies used by the researchers to structure the collaboration, and the challenges they encountered. Other researchers can use this example to inform their own efforts to incorporate participatory methods into their research to advance equitable evaluation practices, and ultimately, to improve an evaluation by incorporating the knowledge and voice of those with lived expertise in the systems and programs researchers study.

Read the full report about participatory evaluation research techniques by Kyla Wasserman, Niko Leiva, and Louisa Treskon at MDRC.