Writing Your Grant: Connecting Outcomes to Measurement

By: Stacy Hayden

Research Associate

Welcome to the second post in our “Writing Your Grant” series. If you did not read the first post, we would suggest you go back and review our post on Connecting Objectives to Outcomes. In this post, we’ll explore how to connect those outcomes to measurement.

In our last post we talked about outcomes being the latter half of a cause-and-effect pair.

For example, we presented this pair:

Objective: Expand student advising program

Outcome: Improvement in student academic progress

We want to ensure the data we use is tied to the outcome.

In this case, there are several potential data sources that might be used to demonstrate “improvement in student academic progress.”

These might include:

• Cumulative GPA

• Semester GPA

• Grades (e.g., students earning a D or F in courses, students earning an A or B in courses)

• Standardized Test Scores

• Progress Toward Degree Completion (e.g., number of credits earned, other milestones)

While all of these could be reasonable data sources to demonstrate “improvement in student academic progress,” the data source selected should mirror the project. For example, if this was an outcome of a higher education STEM grant, we might want to specify STEM grades.

Further, you will also need to be specific in how each of these will be measured. For example, if we wanted to use cumulative GPA as the measurement for this outcome, we would need to decide how to analyze this data and what change we are looking for to constitute success.

Examples might be:

• The average cumulative GPA of students

• The average change in cumulative GPA of students from one time frame to another

• The percentage of students with a cumulative GPA above a certain benchmark

• The percentage of students with a cumulative GPA below a certain benchmark

• The percentage of students who maintain or increase their cumulative GPA

Finally, you’ll need to decide whose data will be used.

For example, if a higher education STEM project was to use cumulative GPA to demonstrate improvement in student academic progress, they could look at different samples of students.

For example:

• Students participating in the STEM program/intervention

• Students participating in the STEM program/intervention who attend advising sessions

• Students who have identified STEM majors and who are participating in the program/intervention

• Students at the institute of higher education who have identified a STEM major

Determining what sample is appropriate is just as important as determining the data source and how it will be measured.

When you work on a grant application you will likely need to provide the basics related to outcomes and measurements. However, thinking through this prior to being funded can help you ensure your organization has the capacity to procure the required data while also allowing you to use this as preliminary data in a grant application to show the need for funding.

Finally, being able to list measures demonstrates to the funder a plan for measuring success and may be required as part of a grant application.

When you work with Shaffer Evaluation Group on a grant application, our team will help you write effective objectives and outcomes along with planning how to measure these. If you're planning to submit a grant application and require an evaluation partner, please contact us at seg@shafferevaluation.com.

Writing your grant: Connecting objectives to outcomes

By Courtney Hagan

Research Associate

Invite SEG to partner with you on your next grant proposal.

Writing a grant? When completing your grant application, you may be asked to write objectives, outcomes, measures, and goals. These components help to guide and set-up a sustainable and effective program from the beginning of the process. This specific post will focus on connecting or aligning objectives to outcomes.

Connecting objectives to outcomes is essential to ensure the cohesiveness and alignment of programmatic activities to potential outcomes. Let’s look at a few examples:

• Objective: Expand student advising program

• Outcome: Increase in staff satisfaction

In this first example, the outcome (increased staff satisfaction) does not appear to be related to the objective (expanded student advising program). This is an example of dis-aligned objectives and outcomes.

Let’s look at another example:

Objective: Expand student advising program

Outcome: Improvement in student academic progress

In this example, there is a logical connection between the objective (expanded student advising program) and the outcome (improved student academic progress). This is a strong example of aligned objectives and outcomes.

Think of objectives and outcomes as cause-and-effect pairs. If your institution completes the objective, then it can expect to accomplish the outcome. If your grant application focuses on supporting students through an initiative, such as advising, then follow through by discussing what you would expect to see as a result of advising in the outcomes associated with that objective.

To conclude, it is best to ask yourself this one question when attempting to connect objectives and outcomes:

Is this outcome what I would expect to see as a result of engaging in the objective?

When you work on a grant application with Shaffer Evaluation Group, our team will help you write effective objectives and outcomes that are supported by research. If you're planning to submit a grant application and require an evaluation partner, please contact us at seg@shafferevaluation.com.

The Evaluator-Client Relationship

We’ve previously written about how to work with your evaluator during the grant proposal process and during the pre-award phase, but what about once you are funded? While evaluators are often known to prepare evaluation plans, analyze data, and write reports, there are other ways evaluators can partner with you on a project. Here are some roles your evaluator may take on as needed.

1. Thought Partner

As evaluators, we have the opportunity to work with clients on many different projects across a variety of settings. While there are many differences across projects, there are also similarities that come from projects having the same funding opportunity, a related project area, or similar challenges. At SEG, we schedule regularly occurring meetings with clients, which can be a valuable time for discussing challenges or project plans about which we may be able to offer advice. Even if the evaluator you are working with does not have an answer, there may be someone else in our office that does.

2. Report Translator

Clients usually have specific requirements for reporting, which are often set by the funder. In our December 2022 blog post, we talked about how to avoid your report becoming another “dusty shelf report.” While these are all steps you can take, your evaluator can also support you in developing additional deliverables for a variety of stakeholders including one-page summary reports, infographics, status reports, or slide decks. While not all of these are possible within current contract budgets, there may be opportunities to adjust other work or deliverables to make this possible.

3. Evaluation Advisor

One thing we frequently measure in evaluations are the unintended outcomes that emerge in a project. However, sometimes these outcomes are so substantial that we need to formalize how we capture progress related to these outcomes. Your evaluator can help determine other data sources to use or develop new data collection instruments to meet this need.

While evaluators are often hired with a specific scope of work in mind, we are able to support broader needs. Talking with your evaluator during the contracting process is the best time to discuss additional needs that you believe you may have. However, sharing needs throughout the process is encouraged and we discuss options and possibilities at any time.