Evaluation

Our vision is to be a leader in evaluation by providing innovative, client-focused services that empower individuals, organizations and communities to make informed decisions that benefit our shared natural resources and the people who use them

At a glance

• 90 programs and projects evaluated during the past 5 years valued at $2.5 million dollars of services
• 6 full-time evaluation specialists and 4 graduate and undergraduate students, from a broad range of cultural and academic backgrounds
• 30-year history of supporting program development and evaluation needs of our partners and client

Our work

Welcome to the Evaluation Unit within the UW–Madison Division of Extension’s Natural Resources Institute. We specialize in environmental, agricultural and natural resources program development and evaluation. We work with community-based organizations, higher education institutions, federal and state agencies, foundations and nonprofits across a range of social, agricultural and environmental issues. Our team supports environmental education projects, transdisciplinary sustainable agricultural research projects, natural resources management and agricultural training programs and water resources management projects. We use a utilization-focused evaluation framework to ensure that the support we provide to our partners and clients is aligned with their needs and helps them make decisions that improve their programs and demonstrate their outcomes and impacts. We value the diversity of experiences and expertise in our team and our partners. We recognize the power of encouraging and embracing diverse worldviews and approaches to inform the work we do

Mission
Our mission is to create opportunities for individuals and organizations to clearly articulate and improve their projects and programs and better understand the outcomes and impacts they are having through rigorous and innovative approaches to program development and evaluation.

Services

We specialize in utilization-focused, participatory and culturally responsive methodologies in our program development and evaluation work. We aim to collect and analyze data that is:

• useable and timely for decision making
• inclusive and relevant to participants
• meaningful for program leaders and implementers

Our diverse backgrounds mean we can tackle any program development and evaluation challenge that comes our way. Our evaluation services are always custom-tailored to the needs of our partners and clients. We provide facilitation, planning, evaluation and applied research services related to:

• program design – needs assessments, program plans, logic models and theory of change maps
• evaluation design – evaluation questions and plans, methods selection, data collection schedules
• instrument development – surveys, interview and focus group protocols, ripple effect mapping
• data collection – surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations
• data analysis – quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method approaches, social network analysis
• data visualization – useful and usable reports, graphs, tables, charts, results presentations
• evaluation capacity-building – workshops, trainings, technical assistance and support
• scholarly publications – peer-reviewed journal articles, research briefs

Service rates

We are frequently written into grants as partners or co-investigators and can accommodate a variety of funding strategies. Please contact our unit lead to learn more about our services and how we can be of assistance.

All Evaluation Unit services are billed by the hour based on the following rates effective 7/1/24 to 6/30/25.
Internal and federal grants: $96/hr
External projects: $133/hr

Hourly rates will be reviewed and adjusted at the beginning of the next calendar year.

Note: We plan to transition to a calendar year hourly rate beginning in January 2025.

Information

Samuel Pratsch, PhD
Evaluation Unit Team Lead

Feiran Chen
Evaluation Specialist

Amber Saylor Mase, PhD
Evaluation Specialist

Ayse Okur
Evaluation Specialist

Alli Parrish
USDA Midwest Regional Climate Outreach Project Manager

Namah Taku-Forchu
Evaluation Specialist

Ken Genskow, PhD
Faculty collaborator