Data in Focus: Driving Evaluation Excellence
We are delighted to announce the next UK
Evaluation Society conference will be held in May 2025, in the vibrant city of
Glasgow. Join us to take a deep-dive into what makes evaluations truly
insightful: high-quality data.
We are in the midst
of a data explosion - transforming how we make decisions, predict trends, and
improve efficiency. With ever-increasing capacities to harvest and store data,
the challenge now is how to harness the breadth of quantitative and qualitative
data to create meaningful value.
Over three days, you
will hear perspectives and ideas that push the boundaries on how we think about
and use data in evaluation and the impact of new and emerging technologies.
This hybrid event will kick-off with online sessions on day 1, followed by in-person
sessions on days 2 and 3 - with keynote presentations and selected other content
streamed daily.
Conference Theme
The 2025 conference focuses on the vital role of data in delivering impactful evaluations that drive positive change. From commissioning to reporting, we will explore the data lifecycle in the evaluation process.
The five core themes of the conference are:
Exploring data types: Exploring rich and diverse sources of data, including surveys, experimental designs, numbers, words, images, attitudes, perceptions, behaviours, interviews, observations, case studies, and focus groups, document reviews, big data, and administrative data.
Leveraging data (methodologies): Examining qualitative and quantitative approaches, triangulation and mixed methods, impact and process, alongside innovative and traditional methods.
Data innovation and evaluation stages: Looking at infrastructure from commissioning to analysis, collecting and reporting data, monitoring/administrative data, data dashboards, and the pros and cons of AI data analysis.
Data in context: Transforming raw data into meaningful insights, crafting reports, narratives and case studies to bring data to life, tackling the challenge of reporting timelines and reflective evaluation in a fast-moving environment, and implementing changes for continuous improvement.
Data Integrity and ethics: Whose data is it anyway and what's your bias? Including data standards and processes, privacy, and data misuse.
Data may be at the heart of evaluation, but it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves - particularly when programmes or interventions are developed. In a world where data is more abundant and dynamic than ever before, is it time to rethink how we use data in evaluation?
With evaluators looking beyond traditional methods and embracing innovative approaches, the quality of data is paramount. It’s easy to become preoccupied with innovative methodology, spending significant time, energy, and resources, developing the best techniques for establishing causation, understanding impact, and identifying improvements in interventions.
But without high-quality data, even the most sophisticated methodologies can falter.
So, how can we translate data into good evidence? How can evaluators remain at the forefront of building evidence and providing high-quality insights? How can evaluation support meaningful data collection? How can evaluators support efforts to improve processes for monitoring data and combine datasets across different areas?
By redefining our relationship with data, we can unlock new possibilities for producing meaningful results that create impact and drive transformation.