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Evaluating Complex System Interventions Evaluation 2009 Professional Development Workshop Beverly Parsons and Meg Hargreaves. What is a System?. A group of interacting, interrelated, and interdependent elements forming a complex whole
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Evaluating Complex System InterventionsEvaluation 2009 Professional Development WorkshopBeverly Parsons and Meg Hargreaves
What is a System? • A group of interacting, interrelated, and interdependent elements forming a complex whole • A configuration of parts connected and joined together by a web of relationships • The whole is different from, and greater than, the sum of its parts
Systems Thinking • A way of understanding reality that emphasizes the relationships among a system’s parts, rather than the parts themselves. • Concerned about interrelationships among parts and their relationship to a functioning whole • Sees underlying patterns and structures
Foundations of Systems Theory • Cybernetics: system feedback, information; differences (that make a difference); human – machine analogy; inclusion of the observer and the observed in the system • General systems theory: open systems; system integrity; nested system hierarchy, boundaries, webs, emergence (sum greater than parts)
Systems Theories • Soft and critical systems: human systems - multiple perspectives, power issues, intractable problems without simple solutions • Systems dynamics: systems have reinforcing and balancing feedback loops, circularity, system archetypes, mental models, unintended consequences
More Systems Theories • Complexity theory: complex adaptive systems; semi-independent, interacting agents; self-organization; emergence; nonlinearity; co-evolution; past is irreversible; future is unpredictable • Learning systems: the way that people learn and the systems in which they learn
System Boundaries • Shows what is inside and outside of the system • Geographical (location) • Organization (department, unit or function) • Physical (money, material, information) • Conceptual (goals, mission, purpose, rules) • Intangibles (perceptions, awareness, models) • Natural or man-made
System Relationships (Interconnections) • Connections and exchanges among system parts, parts and the whole, and the whole and its environment • Flows of information • Flows of funding • Client referrals • Collaborative partnerships • Family, community, and social networks
System Perspectives • Stakeholders’ worldviews and purposes • System agents who have different perspectives may pursue different purposes within a given situation • Patterns of (mis)alignment of purposes and processes within and across system levels
System Change • System differences generate creative tension or energy within a system • Positive or negative, energy provides potential for system change • System change: shifts in patterns (similarities and differences) of system relationships, boundaries, focus, timing, events and behaviors over time and space
System Dynamics • Random (unorganized) • Organized (simple or complicated) • Adaptive (organic, self-organizing) • All three system dynamics can be present in a complex situation
Random System Attributes • Random activity – no pattern • Unconnected collection of parts • No cause-effect relationships • Turbulence – no stability or equilibrium • Answers are unknowable • No purpose or direction – people react blindly in a war zone or natural disaster
Organized (Simple) System Attributes • Stable, static pattern • Parts tightly connected machines • Predictable cause-effect relationships • System can be reduced to parts and processes and replicated • Directive leadership, designed change • Answers are knowable, with recipes or prescriptions for action
Organized (Complicated) System Attributes • Dynamic patterns of feedback loops with many interrelated parts within and across subsystem levels • Recursive, non-linear cause-effect relationships; reinforcing and balancing feedback loops maintain equilibrium • Expert analysis can identify causal loops, deep structural causes to actions
Adaptive (Complex) System Attributes • Dynamical patterns – parts adapting, co-evolving with each other and environment • Parts are massively entangled and interdependent; nested webs, networks • Parts self-organize, learn, and change • Equilibrium in flux, sensitive to initial conditions; system change emerges through interactions among parts
Alignment of Context, Program, and Evaluation Dynamics • Context can be random, organized, adaptive, or combination of dynamics • Program design uses random, organized (entity-based), or adaptive (paradigm-based) or a combination of dynamics • Evaluation design (content and process) can be entity-focused (organized), paradigm-focused (adaptive) or a combination of both
Simple Organized Dynamics of Family Nutrition • Context: hungry family • Intervention: buy ingredients, bake a cake, serve family at dinner • Evaluation: quality of cake, family satisfaction
Complicated Organized Dynamics of Family Nutrition • Context: hungry family with different tastes and preferences • Intervention: ask for family preferences, create optional dishes, serve family multiple dishes at dinner • Evaluation: quality and variety of dinner options, matching of dishes to tastes
Complex, Adaptive Dynamics of Family Nutrition • Context: hungry family with different tastes, schedules, and cooking ability • Intervention: Buy and store meal options, make dishes for non-cooks, agree on dinner schedule, adapt shopping patterns to use of food and supplies • Evaluation: trends, patterns of food use, meals, family nutrition, overall health
Simple Organized Dynamics of H1N1 Flu • Context – everyone should be protected through vaccination • Program design – universal flu shot clinics • Evaluation design - How many clinics were conducted, how many people were vaccinated, how many people contracted the H1N1 flu virus
Complicated Organized Dynamics of H1N1 Flu • Context – people are at different risk levels for contracting the H1N1 flu • Program design – allocate, administer flu shots by risk level, triage patients by level of risk • Evaluation design - What proportion of people with high/medium/low risk receive the vaccine? What proportion of people at each risk level contract the H1N1 flu? How many deaths and hospitalizations are avoided as result of shots?
Complex Adaptive Dynamics of H1N1 Flu • Context – Timing of two interacting epidemics (H1N1 and seasonal flu) is ahead of current vaccine production • Program design – Multi-level intervention: national media messages, provider triage by risk, populations self-organize multiple responses • Evaluation design – What are changing patterns of twin epidemics? How are governments, providers, populations reacting and interacting in response to situation? Population health impacts?
System Dynamics Discussion • What are the situations’ boundaries, focus, interconnections, perspectives, power, timing, and dynamics? • What are the risks of not understanding the system attributes and dynamics? • What are the benefits of understanding the system attributes and dynamics?
Context, Program Design of Child Abuse Prevention • Context: Many programs exist but child abuse and neglect rates are increasing • Program design: AFC funding for 17 grants for the adaptation, implementation, spread, and sustainability of evidence-based home visiting programs through infrastructure development and system change
Evaluation Design of Evidence-based Home Visiting Initiative • Program evaluation – tracking of cross-site cost, implementation, fidelity, and child and family outcomes of 17 EBHV programs • System evaluation – tracking of cross-site and grantee-specific system infrastructure, theories of action, measures of system change, partner collaboration and network analysis; system unit of analysis
Open Space Technology: System Dynamics Exercise • What are the dynamics (i.e., the nature and balance of types of system dynamics) of the situation as a whole? • What are the system dynamics of the intervention? • What are the implications for the evaluation design and process?
Match of Evaluation Designs to Dynamics of Social Systems and Their Context Exploratory Design Initiative Renewal Design Organic Design Predictive Design
Complex Adaptive Systems and Adaptive (Self-organizing) Dynamics Self-organizing/adaptive/organic Sensitivity to initial conditions Emergence Macro pattern
Complex Adaptive Systems and Adaptive (Self-organizing) Dynamics (cont.) Feedback Co-evolution Pattern formation and points of influence
Implications for Evaluation and Action Small differences can create large effects. The past influences but does not predict the future. Many points of influence exist. Boundaries, differences, and relationships are levers of influence toward a purpose.
Implications for Evaluation and Action Simple rules underlie patterns. Pattern-based feedback and actions are iterative. Tensions are not resolved. Patterns are outcomes.
Four Stages of Evaluation Design Evaluation Shape Practice Collect Data Make Meaning from Data
Example: LEAP Learning through Engineering Design and Practice
Example: LEAP Research Design • Quasi-experimental design embedded in curriculum development process • Pre-post assessments of • Content knowledge • Perceptions of engineers at work • Tinkering • Self-efficacy • Engineering notebooks • Career behaviors survey
External Evaluation Design The external evaluation focused on: • Confirmation of effectiveness • Scale-up • Sustainability
Conceptual Shifts The fundamental conceptual shift in this project was from: • teacher-directed de-contextualized learning to student-engaged project-based learning • fixed skills and knowledge as learning outcomes to the desired outcomes being that students are actively engaged; develop the capacity to explore and figure things out; and act like an engineer.
Confirmation of Effectiveness • Knowledge and skills related to project topics and STEM concepts • Enjoyment and pride in project work • Development of teamwork, collaboration and workplace skills • Interest in STEM courses and pursuit of STEM career and educational pathways
