Abstracts Category : Other

Strengthening the tap in way: a case study of an evaluation capacity building effort in Tap In Leadership Academys summer enrichment program

by Julian Tehan Williams

This dissertation describes an effort to build evaluation capacity in a community-based organization Tap In Leadership Academy. Following a 4-Step ECB Process, this study included facilitated work sessions with program staff and organizational leadership; observations of relevant program activities; interviews with program site leaders and organizational leadership; and researcher reflective memos. This study aimed to answer three questions: 1) To what extent is ECB effective for improving the ability of community-based organizations to systematically collect data that can be used to improve their programs? 2) To what extent is ECB effective for improving the ability of community-based organizations to use systematically-collected data to improve their programs? and 3) What contextual factors matter when an ECB practitioner is attempting to build evaluation capacity in a community-based organization? How do they matter? While prior research has been conducted on ECB, there has been minimal research conducted on the implementation of ECB efforts in community-based organizations. This dissertation presents important findings on the extent to which evaluation capacity was built in Tap In Leadership Academy. Additionally, this dissertation presents how and why training, process, and accountability emerged as important contextual factors that influence building ECB in community-based organizations. This study contributes to the ECB literature in several ways. First, by highlighting the importance of viewing data collection and data use are separate components of the ECB process, that need to be measured separately. Second, by presenting a new organizational-level ECB assessment tool. Third, by presenting contextual factors that future ECB practitioners should recognize and address if they want to be effective at building evaluation capacity in community-based organizations at the organizational-level. And finally, this study contributes to the ECB literature by presenting a four-step process that other ECB practitioners can use to build evaluation capacity in organizations.Advisors/Committee Members: Greene, Jennifer (advisor), Span, Christopher (Committee Chair), Hood , Stafford (committee member), Hood , Denice (committee member).