36. Right-Fit Evidence Systems: An interview with Mary Kay Gugerty

The Accord Research Alliance Podcast

Mary Kay Gugerty discusses her book, The Goldilocks Challenge: Right-Fit Evidence for the Social Sector, with co-host Nathan Mallonee. Professor Gugerty studies nonprofit performance and accountability systems and teaches public policy to master's students at the Evans School of Public Policy at the University of Washington. Topics include: + why we need to be careful about how we use the term "impact" + when an organization should NOT consider doing impact evaluations + what you should do if you aren't doing impact evaluations (and why organizations should prioritize getting robust output and immediate outcome data) + how to apply the CART (credible, actionable, responsible, and transportable) principles to your monitoring & evaluation work + why you need a performance framework (or a theory of change) to make your data actionable + how to know when you have a "right-fit evidence system" Links: The Goldilocks Challenge book: https://www.poverty-action.org/right-fit-evidence/book/the-goldilocks-challenge Right Fit Evidence website: https://www.poverty-action.org/right-fit-evidence Professor Gugerty's website: https://evans.uw.edu/profile/mary-kay-gugerty/ Recommended books: Measuring Social Change by Alnoor Ebrahim: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=27990 Between Power and Irrelevance: The Future of Transnational NGOs: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/between-power-and-irrelevance-9780190084721?cc=us&lang=en&