Eval with Elizabeth
Musings about learning, evaluation, strategy, and data visualization.
Reflecting and Imagining: What’s Ahead in 2022
Each year, I feel like I easily reflect on the highs and the lows. There are so many emotions and memories attached to these two extremes, making the milestones easy to remember. In 2021, there were many on both sides. And yet, I find that it’s the messy middle where...
Visualizing Data Projections in Excel
Recently, a colleague asked me how to visualize projections in Excel. Their boss needed to present information to a very fancy office. You know, the one that literally oversees the country and has an election for office every 4 years. So they needed to be accurate,...
3 Tips to Move from Spooky to Success when Reporting
This week I was featured on Dana Wanzer’s EvaluLand podcast, where we talked about independent consulting, capacity building, and reporting. One of things we discussed was reporting successes and failures. We all have them. You can hear about a few of mine on the...
Opportunities & Outcomes Mapping: Moving from Confusion to Clarity
Years of working with nonprofits, community coalitions, foundations, and state agencies has taught me one thing: data is messy! But that doesn’t mean that data has to be confusing. Clients often contact me looking for a quick-fix solution like a dashboard or a new...
Shifting into Solopreneurship: Wearing the Hat of Business Owner
This post was originally featured on AEA365, the daily blog of the American Evaluation Association during the Independent Consulting week. -------------------- In my evaluation work, I wear many hats, often balancing multiple roles each day: consultant, coach,...
Shifting Data Visualization Feedback From Criticism to Curiosity
This post was originally featured on AEA365, the daily blog of the American Evaluation Association during the Data Visualization and Reporting week. -------------------- Years ago, when I first learned about data visualization, I went all in. I read books and blogs,...
How To Design Reports that Actually Inform Decisions
How many times have you written a report and heard the client respond - This is amazing! I know exactly how to use this information! We changed our processes or policies because of the findings in the report! This is an evaluator's dream. Yet, too often we hide our...
Adopting Inclusive & Non-Violent Language: Part 3
This post is the third in a series talking about adopting inclusive and non-violent language in our work. Click the links to read Part 1 (inclusive language) and Part 2 (non-violent language). The thing about awareness is that once we know more, it becomes hard to not...
Creating & Labeling Small Multiple Bar Charts in Excel
Last week I presented two data visualization workshops at the UC Davis Human Services 4th Annual Statewide CQI Conference. We talked about how to make informative and impactful data visualizations, how to tell a story with our visuals, and practiced with examples in...