Evaluation Methodology
I have applied evaluation methods for complex health and social settings where a theory-driven approach is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions as well as to explore how, why and in what circumstances the interventions work using a mix of quantitative methods (Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: PROMs) and qualitative methods (interviews and focus groups). I use a systems approach to evaluation which takes into account the complexity of real world situations and all the factors and influences at the individual as well as at the institution and society levels. Inspired by the leading theorists of complex evaluation, I encourage a flexible and adaptable approach to explore:
- the value of an integrated approach to the evaluation of complex health and social programmes
- the value of experiential approaches
- the value of interaction design and
- the key role that iteration plays in understanding complexity.
I have used these integrated methodology in a number of evaluation projects to evaluate major shifts in the delivery of health services such as new roles and services as a result of changing the population healthcare needs. I was part of the research and evaluation team in the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield from 2009-2018 where I have led the qualitative evaluation of a number of evaluation projects. I have great experience and skills in conducting evaluation projects including developing proposals, evaluation frameworks, logic models, developing programme theory, using realist qualitative interviewing, planning and conducting validation workshops, refining the programme theory, synthesising the findings, reporting and disseminating the findings.
My involvement in complex evaluation projects confirmed challenges concerning with traditional evaluation methods, which encouraged me to develop my knowledge of innovative methods for complex settings. Using this knowledge, I have jointly developed a Short course module in the ScHARR in 2013: “Real-world evaluation: Ten Key Principles for Evaluating Complex Health and Social Interventions”, which runs since then and aims to introduce the key principles of evaluation for complex interventions and where and why these methods are useful for research in health and social care settings:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/shortcourseunit/realworldevaluation2019
Building on the short course, I jointly developed a Master module in 2015: “Evaluation methods for complex settings”, which runs in the ScHARR in the spring semester:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/prospective_students/masters/modules/har6062