aes16

M. Elizabeth Snow (Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences,), Nancy Snow (OCAD University, CA)

Logic models are commonly used by evaluators to illustrate relationships among a program's inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. They are useful in helping intended users develop programs, communicate a program's theory of change, and design evaluations. However, as static documents, logic models are not well suited for exploring implications of the dynamic situations of programs embedded in changing organisational, cultural, social, and political landscapes. Challenged by this inadequacy of static logic models to convey the dynamic nature of complex programs, a program evaluator turned to a graphic designer and a software developer for help. Together, this interdisciplinary group created web-based software that applies interactivity and design principles to logic models, allowing evaluators to create logic models that better fit the complex, dynamic nature of programs. In this presentation, we will explore the process by which this interdisciplinary group created this new technology - including a user-testing experience at the Canadian Evaluation Society conference in St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada in June 2016 - to build and present logic models that use interactivity and allow program evaluators to more easily demonstrate the logic within a complex program and to explore visually the potential effects of changes within the program's landscape. Moreover, we will demonstrate how evaluators can use this new tool to create their own interactive logic models; this tool will be freely available on the web after the conference, so attendees will be able to apply what they learn in their own evaluation practice.