ABSTRACT
Active measurement ensures that evaluation is focused on improvement. This means that as people collect data, they report it and use the lessons to improve the activity they are evaluating. So a good evaluation collects real-time data about engagement, about acquisition and/or improvements in know-what, know-how, confidence and about behaviour and performance. As often as not this is because the descriptors of tasks, completion, performance indicators or behavioural standards have not been properly established and recorded at the planning stage. There is a vast body of literature and examples of ways to evidence changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA). Building baseline data in the absence of existing indicators may be an essential milestone in the very early stages of our project. Implementation data is often the most difficult to collect. Where the indicators and descriptors have been agreed and are SMART, recording is usually simply a matter of ensuring that the monitoring records are embedded within the project itself.
