IPDET

Module 13:
Presenting Results
 Introduction

• Crafting a Communication Strategy

• Writing an Evaluation Report
• Displaying Information Visually
• Making an Oral Presentation

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 Purpose of
Communicating
• The goal is to communicate, not to
impress
• Make it easy for your reader to get your
point
• Keep your purpose and audience in
mind

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 Communicating for Effect
• The goal of doing an evaluation is so the
results can provide information leading to:
– policymaking
– program changes
– program replication
• Good communication starts at the very
beginning and continues throughout the
evaluation

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 Communication Strategy
• Develop a communication strategy before the
evaluation begins
• Strategy should identify:
– who needs to receive information
– what information is needed
– what format for information
– when to provide
– who is responsible for providing
• May need multiple products to communicate
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 Strategies for All Phases
• Before the evaluation
– ensure everyone is on board
• During the evaluation
– ensure everyone is informed of progress
– no surprises
• After the evaluation
– disseminate results, make decisions

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 What Kinds of
Communication?
• Informal discussion • Formal:
by: – briefings
– in person – presentations
– phone – press release
– email – Web sites
– facsimile (fax) – written reports
– posting on social – press conference
networking site – videoconference
– brochures
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 Sample of Checklist for Strategy
Form of Who Is
responsible? Due date
Audience Action communication
Client Discuss program • meeting Team leader 6/1
issues and timing
National and local Discuss program • meetings Team 6/5
NGO issues member B

Program staff Discuss program • meetings Team 6/11

issues member C
Local govt. Discuss program • meeting Team 6/10
officials issues member B

Advisory board Identify and send • e-mail Team 6/15

invitation letters member A
• adv. bd. meeting 6/25
Plan and hold preliminary
meeting on issues

etc.
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 Feedback
• Set up a process to bring stakeholders
and evaluator(s) together to discuss:
– findings
– insights
– alternative actions
– next steps

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 Large Group Discussions
• Consider all the stakeholders connected
with your program
• Identify challenges in communicating
evaluation results to different
stakeholders
• Large group meeting — everyone knows
what everyone else knows

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 Innovative Communication
Strategies
• Consider communication tools that take
less time to create:
– small overview brochure “teaser” to build
interest
– tri-fold brochure with key action steps for
sustainability
– electronic videoconference
– Web site with hyperlinks to documents
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 Keys for Writing a Report
• Keep purpose and audience in mind
• Use words that are:
– simple, active, positive, familiar, culturally sensitive
• Avoid abbreviations and acronyms
• Limit background information to what is needed, place
technical information in an appendix
• Provide enough information about your research
methods so others can judge its credibility
• Write an executive summary
• Organize around major themes or research questions
(continued on next slide)

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 Keys for Writing a Report
(cont.)
• Place major point first. Lead each paragraph with
your point
• Support conclusions and recommendations with
evidence
• Place technical information, including design
matrix, and survey instruments in appendix
• Leave time to revise, revise, and revise!
• Find a person to be a cold reader
• If possible, have an external reviewer with expertise
on the issues and knowledge, review final draft

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 The Executive Summary
• Provides a quick overview of the study:
– evaluation questions
– methodology used
– summarizes findings, conclusions, and
recommendations
• Must serve as a stand alone document
too busy to read the main report

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 Executive Summary
Format
• The executive summary should be
short; two pages are great, more than
four is too much
• Set up with headings to the left so it is
easy for readers to scan the report

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 Components of the
Executive Summary
• Brief overview or introductory paragraph
• Description of the evaluation
• Background information
• Summary of major findings
• Refer readers to page number of
information in the text
• Major conclusions/recommendations
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 Body of the Report
• Introduction
• Description of the evaluation
• Findings
• Conclusions
• Recommendations

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 Introduction in Body of
Report
• Should contain:
– The “hook” that draws readers into the report
– Purpose of the evaluation
– Background information
– Program’s goals and objectives using theory of
change model
– Evaluation questions
• Should be written in a way that grabs the
reader’s attention
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 Description of the Evaluation
in Body of Report
• Evaluation purpose
• Evaluation scope
• Evaluation questions
• Methodology and strategy for analysis
• Limitations of the methodology
• Who was involved and their timeframes

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 Findings in Body of Report

• Present data so that your audience can

clearly understand
• Include only the most important findings
• Organize the findings around study questions,
major themes, or issues
• Use charts, tables, and other graphic
elements to highlight major points

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 Conclusions in Body of
Report
• The final part of your report
• Conclusions:
– connect to your research questions or
evaluation focus
– are based on findings and emphasize what
the report means
– add no new details

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 Recommendations in Body
of Report
• Recommendations answer the question:
– What do you want the reader to do?
• Recommendations should:
– be based on the conclusions
– be clear and specific, identifying who
should do what and when

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 Reasons to Use Graphics
• Add interest
• Communicate information more clearly
than text
• Attract reader’s eyes to particular points
• Increase the impact of an evaluation
report

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 Characteristics of Good
Graphics
• Simple • Consistently
• Communicate numbered and titled
without needing text • Sources provided
• Easily reproduced and credit given
• Called out in the text
• Culturally appropriate
• Correctly placed in
• Patterns can be
the text
distinguished
• Permission to use (if
• Clearly labeled
needed)
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 Kinds of Visuals
• Illustrations
– maps, sketches and line drawings,
photographs
• Charts and graphs
– organization charts, Gantt charts, graphs
• Tables
– data tables, classification tables (matrices)

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 Illustrations
• A picture is worth a thousand words
• Research conclusions for using pictures and
illustrations:
– when illustrations are relevant to the content, then
moderate to substantial gains can be expected in
learning
– when illustrations are NOT relevant to the content,
or even worse, conflicting, you can expect NO gain
in learning and maybe even confusion

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 Connect Narrative to
Illustration
• If you use a picture or illustration, be
sure to use the narrative of the report to
tell the audience what they are
supposed to see in the picture
• Direct them to the picture and tell them
what to look for

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 Effective Charts
• Easy to read
– Use upper and lower case (not all capital letters)
– Only a few type faces
• Use the message in the title
• Avoid busy patterns
• Use white space
• Keep the chart simple
• Keep scales honest (proportional)
• Use title to convey message
• Put supporting data in an appendix
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 Parts of a Graph
Identifier number
Title

Vertical or y-axis Fig. 23: Orphanage Food Costs Fluctuate over Six Months

Coordinate
Food Costs in Dollars

2500
Axis 2000 2200
1700 1900
labels 1500 1500 1400
1000 1200
Actual
500 value
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Origin
Month
Axis Source: Fictitious Data 2006 Grid Horizontal or x-axis
titles lines
Source and year

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 Graphs should Include:
• Title and number
• Source
• Year the data were collected
• Data in chronological order
• Data portrayed using comparable
definitions

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 Format Style for Graphs
• No overlapping categories
• Patterns or textures that are clear even when
photocopied
• Patterns clearly labeled using a legend
• Have no extra line and patterns – only what is
necessary
• Avoid black — it is difficult to reproduce
accurately
• Lettering that does not go below 10 pt font
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 Line Graphs
• A way to summarize how two pieces of
information are related and how they
vary
• Show data changes over time
• Show continuous interval or ratio data

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 Example of Line Graph —
One Line

Source: Fictitious data, 2006

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 Example of Line Graph –
Multiple Lines
Fig. 31: School 3 Shows Strong Gains in
Reading Scores Legend
Grades (out of 100)

100
80
School 1
60
School 2
40
School 3
20
0
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

N=523 2005 School Year

Source: Fictitious data, 2006

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 Bar Graphs
• Use bars to represent quantities and
compare numbers
• Type of bar graphs
– single: information about a single variable
– multiple: information for more than one
variable

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 Example: Multiple Bar
Graph

Source: Fictitious data, 2006

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 Pie Charts
• Used to display the size of parts that
make up a whole
• Example

Source: Fictitious data, 2008

N=$2100/year total cost for year

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 Scatter Diagram
• Similar to a line graph except
coordinates have no lines between
them
• Used if you want to see if there is a
relationship

Source: Fictitous data, 2006

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 When to Use
If you want to: Then choose:
Show trends over time Line Chart
Compare linear or one- Single Bar Chart
dimensional characteristics
Compare two or more Multiple Bar Chart
characteristics with the values of
a common variable
Show parts of a whole Pie Chart
Show trend or relationships Scatter Diagram
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 Tables
• Used to present information in an
organized manner
• Types:
– data table
– classification table (matrix)

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 Data Tables
• Used to present numerical information
• In the report, describe what to look for in
the data table
• Include the year and source

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 Data Table Principles
• Round-off number to no more than
two significant digits – recommend using
whole numbers
• Give averages of rows and columns (as
appropriate) to help audience make
comparisons
• Put the most important comparisons into
columns
• Too many lines may make it difficult to read
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 Example of Data Table (with lines)
Participant Height Weight Age District
number
1 44 30 7.2 North
2 46 35 7.1 East
3 40 20 7.6 North
4 32 22 7.2 South
5 29 23 7.0 South
6 50 38 7.8 North
7 44 30 7.3 West
8 44 28 7.3 West
9 42 30 7.5 East
10 48 45 7.9 South

Source: Factitious data N=10

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 Example of Data Table (without lines)
Participant Height Weight Age District
number
1 44 30 7.2 North
2 46 35 7.1 East
3 40 20 7.6 North
4 32 22 7.2 South
5 29 23 7.0 South
6 50 38 7.8 North
7 44 30 7.3 West
8 44 28 7.3 West
9 42 30 7.5 East
10 48 45 7.9 South
Source: Factitious data N=10
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 Classification Tables
(Matrix)
• A layout that shows how a list of things
has been organized according to
different factors
• Can help illustrate complex information

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 Example of Classification
Table (Matrix)
Country Start Date Years of Review
Implementation Complete

Ethiopia 17-Sept-2002 4.7 6/1/06

Guinea 25-July-2002 4.9 6/1/06
Mauritania 6-Feb-2001 6.3 6/1/06
Mozambique 25-Sept-2001 5.7 6/1/06
Tanzania 30-Nov-2000 6.3 6/5/06

Source: Adapted from World Bank 2007

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 Visual Information Design
from Edward Tufte
• Draw attention to the substance of the
data, not something else
• Less detail in the grid, lines, detailed label
• Most amount of ink should be devoted to
actual data
• Avoid ”chartjunk” (unnecessary
decoration)

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 Poor Example
60
54
50 49
46
40 4139
40 38
Frequency

34 1
30 30
27 2
20 20 20 3

10

0
East West North South

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 Better Example

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 Making an Oral Presentation:
Planning for Your Audience
• Ask these questions:
– Who is your audience?
– What do they expect?
– What is your point?
• What are the three things you want the audience to
remember?
– How much time do you have?
– What are the resources of the room for delivery:
slides, overheads, PowerPoint, posters?

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 Preparing Your
Presentation
• Always keep your audience in mind
• Simple rule for presentations:
– Tell them what you will tell them
– Tell them
– Tell them what you told them

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 Using Visual Aids
• Make visual enhancements to help
communicate
• Consider making copies of some data
or visuals for audience
• Have a back-up plan in case of
electricity or equipment failure
(overhead projector, computer, etc.)
• Have a few well-chosen handouts
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 Designing Overheads and
Handouts
• Use few words
• Use clear visuals
• Use lots of white space
– norm is no more than eight lines of text for a single
slide
• Audience is there to listen, you do not
need to put everything into overheads
and handouts
(continued on next slide)
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 Designing Overheads and
Handouts (cont.)
• Handouts before or after presentation?
– People tend to look ahead, you may lose
their attention
– If you are presenting complex data or
tables, hand out the tables as you talk
about them
• If printing slides, no more than two
slides per page
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 Practicing Your
Presentation
• Rehearse alone at first
• Then, rehearse in front of another person or
persons
• Get feedback from others
• Adjust your presentation based on what you
feel and what others say
• As you practice, keep track of time
• Talk to people, not your notes, try to make
eye-contact
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 A Final Note….
“Speak properly, and in as few words as you can,
but always plainly; for the end of speech is not
ostentation, but to be understood.”
--William Penn

Questions?

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