This article highlights red flags that evaluators can watch for when designing and implementing evaluations and suggests some potential “fixes” to avoid or mitigate harm. These red flags are intended to encourage reflection about how our choices compound and why we need to continually examine how evaluation activities are experienced.  Often, small adjustments can be made to create the conditions to better uphold the principles of trauma-informed approaches.

AI is increasingly being used to support evaluation activities, including developing interview guides, generating survey questions, organizing qualitative data, identifying themes, summarizing findings, and drafting reports. While evaluators remain responsible for data collection, interpretation, and decision-making, AI can still shape how participant experiences are understood and represented.

Evaluating gender-based violence programs requires care, intention, and a trauma-informed mindset. This article explores how trauma-informed principles can be embedded throughout every stage of an evaluation—supporting safety, minimizing harm, and honouring the voices of survivors and frontline workers. It offers practical, real-world considerations for conducting meaningful and ethical evaluations in this complex and sensitive sector.

Learn how to create trauma-informed evaluation tools that prioritize safety, dignity, and inclusivity when working with people affected by trauma.

Discover the insights and outcomes of using keeoukaywin, The Visiting Way, to engage Indigenous participants in research and evaluation. This article explores the importance of building reciprocal relationships, creating space for natural, meaningful conversations, and adapting approaches to honor cultural practices, while offering practical strategies for implementation.

Discover 10 practical tips for creating more accessible evaluation reports. This guide covers key aspects of accessibility, including color contrast, font choices, alt text, and plain language. Learn how to make your reports more inclusive and readable for all audiences, including those with disabilities or using assistive technologies.

A real-world example of Indigenous evaluation that embraces the whole story and respects Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing.

Data protection in the world of evaluation is a must, especially when handling personally identifiable information (PII). Want to learn how to safeguard your data effectively? Discover the essential steps, including encryption and anonymization, to ensure your PII is shielded from unauthorized access, all while staying compliant with regulations.

The article reviews the podcast "Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast" hosted by Gladys Rowe, which explores Indigenous evaluation perspectives. Rowe, a member of Fox Lake Cree Nation, shares experiences through storytelling, promoting reflection and learning. The podcast highlights Indigenous community-centered evaluation, featuring discussions with experts about their experiences.

This article explains the concept of plain language, which aims to make writing easily understandable. It emphasizes the importance of clear communication and its relevance in knowledge translation. It also highlights reasons to write in plain language, such as addressing literacy challenges and making content accessible to a diverse audience. The article introduces tools, including AI writing tools like Chat GPT and readability tools, that assist in creating plain language content.

While traditional data collection methods like surveys, interviews, focus groups, and document reviews are well-known in evaluation, there are also innovative approaches like participatory and arts-based methods. One such method is Photovoice. While it might be daunting to embrace new techniques, it's important to recognize the value of methods like Photovoice in expanding our toolkit and enhancing evaluation practices.

In this article, we highlight the importance of ensuring interviewer safety to make the interview experience effective for collecting data and a positive experience for everyone involved!

Ethical practice is a cornerstone of our evaluation work at Three Hive Consulting. Not only does ethical practice ensure we are doing right by everyone involved, but conducting evaluations ethically adds to the professionalization of our work. This article defines ethical practice and provides some recommendations for how you can apply an ethical lens to your evaluation.

“Confidential” and “anonymous” are words we use quite a bit in the evaluation world. But do you know what they actually mean? This article explores some of these concepts and provides some tips on how to maintain confidentiality.

In this article, we discuss different incentives for participation, explore the biases that offering an incentive can introduce, and guide you in deciding whether to offer an incentive, including what form and value that incentive should be.

Recognizing that equitable evaluation is an emerging area of work, this article aims to add to the growing discussion. While it does not include an exhaustive list of issues and strategies, it will help you introduce some changes to your evaluation practice.

Is consent always needed? How do I obtain consent? In this article, we discuss the principles and considerations involved in obtaining consent for evaluation data collection.

As an evaluator, a big part of our role is to collect data. Sometimes that data comes from administrative databases that require data sharing agreements, but sometimes it comes from people, who need to consent to sharing their information (or data) with you. So let’s talk about what consent is (and isn’t).

This post explores how we at Three Hive Consulting worked with REACH Edmonton Council and other agencies to evaluate a unique initiative called Bridging Together. You’ll see how they developed and carried out an evaluation plan that yielded actionable information.

The evaluation profession is not immune to structural racism - but what can we do about it? Caldwell and Bledsoe propose systemic changes to our professional organizations in evaluation to help unravel these systems of oppression.