LSE Education Evaluation Framework and Open Evaluation Fund

The framework is continuously being developed and will be updated on an ongoing basis. You can find the latest draft version of key resources below. 

If you use any of the resources to inform your evaluation, we would love to hear from you. For any questions, comments, or feedback, please reach out to Jonathan Schulte, Evaluation Manager in the Eden Centre (j.t.schulte@lse.ac.uk).   

Overview and guidance 

The overview and guidance document sets out the background to the Evaluation Framework, core theoretical assumptions, and an overview over included resources. 

You can find the document here.

Pro-Forma Planner & Research Log 

The “Pro-Forma Planner and Research Log” is a simple evaluation planning tool. Through a series of questions and prompts it helps users think through evaluation design, sharing of outputs at different levels, and reflecting on the utility of the evaluation. The planner also acts as a research log to capture this evaluation planning. 

You can find the document here,

Pathway Guide 

The Pathway and Resource Box contains more concrete examples of tools and models to support evaluation practice, placing the steps outlined in the Pro-Forma Planner in a cyclical model, and outlining how these steps could be followed in practice. 

You can find the document here. 

Resource Box 

The Resource Box contains a range of tools, examples and models that give practical guidance on how to design evaluations – for example, how to write a good survey, how to design a theory of change, or how to ensure that evaluation outputs are usable.  

The Resource Box contains a list of links & resources to address support evaluation design (as referenced in the Pathway Guide).  

You can find the document here. 

LSE’s Research Ethics Policy states that any study involving human participants, or using datasets containing identifiable information, requires ethics review. Recognising the low ethical risk of most evaluative research and its need for quick and flexible implementation, however, we have implemented a simplified review process for low-risk projects conducting Institutional Research, Analysis and Evaluation (IRAE).  

IRAE projects can access a shortened ‘ethics questionnaire’ consisting of 12 yes/no questions. The completed questionnaire should be sent to Jonathan Schulte (j.t.schulte@lse.ac.uk), who can approve the project being covered by the simplified process. 

You can access the ethics questionnaire here. 

To support projects in conducting evaluations, we have established the open Evaluation Fund. Funding is available for LSE projects to hire student research assistants to support the design and delivery of evaluations.  

We are inviting applications to the evaluation fund from all LSE projects. To submit an informal application (outlining the scope of the evaluation and tasks for a research assistants) or discuss questions, please reach out to Jonathan Schulte, Evaluation Manager in the Eden Centre (j.t.schulte@lse.ac.uk).    

 If you have any questions about the framework or how you can use it in your work, we would love to hear from you – please feel free to reach out! Email Jonathan Schulte, Evaluation Manager in the Eden Centre (j.t.schulte@lse.ac.uk).