TIPS + TOOLS
We found these for you.
We are constantly sifting through hundreds of tools, templates, websites, and resources around logic models, data collection, visualization, research and evaluation. Sometimes, we find tools we really like and other times we create our own. The resources below are some of our favorites.
LOGIC MODELS
& EVALUATION
DATA
VISUALIZATION
DATA
COLLECTION TOOLS
DATA
EQUITY
Logic Models and Evaluation
Theory of Change and Logic Model Worksheet
A two page workbook that helps you think through your own program logic.
Program Evaluation - Essential Steps
A short fact sheet explaining the most important considerations for evaluation.
Data-Informed Self-Assessment
This short assessment is intended to help you identify the extent to which your organizational culture supports being data-informed.
DIP report on Maine foundations' evaluation expectations
Check out our report, “Performance Measurement in Maine’s Social Sector: The Intersection of Philanthropy and Nonprofits”
for an inquiry into the evaluation and performance measurement expectations among funders and grantees.
for an inquiry into the evaluation and performance measurement expectations among funders and grantees.
Data Visualization
Infographics Tip Sheet
Data Visualization Checklist
Here is a great checklist to help you make better charts from Stephanie Evergreen and Ann Emery.
Using Excel: Quick Reference Guide
A 2-page reference guide for MS Excel that covers the basic fundamentals, how-tos, commands and shortcuts.
Find the quick reference guide here.
Basics of Tableau
Lots of people are talking about Tableau — learn more about what Tableau is and how you might use it.
Here’s a link to information about Tableau Public (free version).
Data Collection Tools
Likert-Type Scale Response Anchors
Save yourself some time! A great compilation of 5 and 7 point scales from Wade Vagais at Clemson University.
Comparing Online Survey Tools
Interviews and Focus Groups Tip Sheet
A short guide comparing focus groups and interviews, including a “checklist.”
How to Conduct a Focus Group
A helpful 13-page guide from Eliot & Associates that walks you through the entire process, including tips for conducting a focus group and sample consent forms.
Sample Interview and Focus Group Protocols (Editable)
Three example interview and focus group protocols that you can tailor to meet your need.
Focus Group Notes Template (Editable)
A template for taking notes at a focus group to ensure you get the detail you need.
Tips for Working with Protected Data
Working with protected data must be done thoughtfully but it is not insurmountable! Here are two briefs that can help you when working with HIPAA (protected health data) or FERPA (protected education data).
Find the brief on Protected Health Data.
Find the brief on Protected Education Data.
Data Equity Resources
Community-Based Participatory Research Training
Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is a partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organization representatives, and academic researchers in all aspects of the research process. Check out this training for academic researchers from multiple fields from the MIT Training Center.
Data + Feminism Lab
The Data + Feminism Lab uses data and computational methods to work towards gender and racial equity.
Equitable Evaluation Initiative
Many evaluations are designed and disseminated in ways that reinforce harmful and disrespectful narratives about marginalized people. The Equity Evaluation Initiative aims to shift the evaluation paradigm by providing a framework and principles that centers equity at the core of evaluation inquiry.
A Guide to Coded Language in Education Vol. I & II
Creating an equitable education system means decentering racist outcomes like test scores and grades and shifting resources to meet historically exploited communities’ material and socio-emotional needs.
Check out the guide here.
Library of Missing Datasets
Mimi Ọnụọha is a Nigerian-American artist and researcher whose work highlights the social relationships and power dynamics behind data collection. The Library of Missing Datasets is a physical repository of those things that have been excluded in a society where so much is collected.
National Equity Atlas
The National Equity Atlas is a comprehensive data resource to track, measure, and make the case for inclusive growth.
Racial Equity Tools
This site offers tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working toward justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities and the culture at large.
Using an Anti-Racist Intersectional Frame
Center for the Study of Social Policy’s definitions and conceptual tools used to examine the power held by institutions and systems as well as the oppression that Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) face.
We All Count
This project provides a variety of ways to learn about inequity and bias in data science. We especially love their “data equity framework.”