Girl's Best Friend Foundation (GBF) closed November 2007. 
GBF’s records are archived with Special Collections of the University
of Illinois, Chicago.  In fall 2008, they will be made public: www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll.

Participatory Evaluation Research (PER)

Youth workers and young women: you can become researchers of your own lives, programs, and communities by using PER. PER can help you explore any number of questions compelling to girls, including these real-life examples: 

• How do African American young women feel about their hair and what influences them to feel that way?
• Do girls in Rogers Park feel that street harassment is a serious problem?
• How do music videos' portrayal of girls and women affect us? 

Use PER to be more effective. Use it to engage girls and young women in critical thinking, analysis, and imagination. Use it to ignite individual and group action.

Catlin Fullwood's Participatory Evaluation Research Worksheets

Catlin Fullwood, longtime activist and teacher, is a highly experienced practitioner, trainer, coach, mentor, and consultant in evaluation, and a longtime activist and leader of radical feminist change. Her teaching of youth workers in Chicago and around the US has earned the most solidly rave reviews we’ve ever seen!

Here are Catlin's resources for you to use.

Guidance for working with girls as evaluators 1 p

Guiding principles for creating and conducting evaluations of community-based work 1 p

Participatory evaluation research: an overview 4.5 pp

Participatory evaluation research and community organizing as linked social change work with girls 3 pp

Planning Worksheets
Each worksheet illustrates a practical application, by showing a sample program (Big Mama’s) to be evaluated.

Developing the inquiry 1 p

Framing the initial hypothesis 1 p

Developing the research questions 2 pp

Operationalizing the research question 1 p

Data collection methods at a glance 2 pp

Choosing your methods 1 p

Deciding the sample 2 pp

Developing the sample 2 pp

Illustration: the plan for evaluation research– Big Mama’s Program 5 pp

Tips & Step-by-Step Guides

Conducting observation (aka, ethnography) tips 2 pp

Community mapping guide and worksheet 3 pp

What is data and why should I collect it?  Data analysis: what and how? 3 pp

Tips for debriefing data collection activities, with sample questions 5 pp

Tips for initial analysis of data, with step-by-step guide 3 pp

Tools

Looking for specific PER ways to measure girls' change in your program?  For a step by step guide to using and teaching PER, check out Catlin's earlier work:

• Curriculum: Training Young Women to Be Researchers
• The New Girls’ Movement: New Assessment Tools for Youth Programs
• Research Tools mentioned in The New Girls’ Movement guide above:
  • Girl-Driven Program Index
  • The Intentional Story-Telling Measure
  • Voice, Action, Comportment, and Opportunity Checklist

Share your information, or learn more about what we can offer

Do you have a great example to share? Tell us.

Do you work for or with a GBF grantee organization? GBF offers periodic training and supports consultation for grantees who want to learn more about evaluation/investigation.  If you're interested, contact your GBF program officer.