Archive

28 Apr

Posted at 18:44h in
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KQED is a public broadcaster working to increase its audience's engagement with art. One way they go about this is by using videos in which artists describe their artistic process and daily lives. The videos are constructed in a particular way with a particular intention. Do they work? We partnered with the Exploratorium, a museum in San Francisco, to find out. First, we developed a survey instrument to measure engagement as KQED defined it. Then, we conducted a randomized control trial (RCT) on the floor of the museum. We randomly selected which patrons viewed a video about an artist with work in the museum, and those who did not. Then we surveyed the patrons as they left the museum. What we found was that a small amount of well-timed information can change the way people think and feel about art. What we also demonstrated is that an informative RCT can be implemented quickly, inexpensively,...

28 Apr

Posted at 18:42h in
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Gargani + Company is using its program design expertise to help startup teams build impact into their social enterprises. One example is SoftCare, a Canadian B-Corp that uses data in innovative ways to improve outcomes for social service and community mental health organizations. We are working with SoftCare to develop predictive analytics. Using historical data, we can predict the relative likelihood of success for potential treatment plans, helping caseworkers develop individualized plans that meet the specific needs of every client....

28 Apr

Posted at 18:40h in
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The National Science Foundation is working to educate the next generation of climate scientists through its Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT). UC Davis is one site where this training is taking place. It is helping its graduate students become experts in their scientific discipline, connect their research to multiple disciplines, and use their research to effectively support policymaking. Gargani + Company is working with UC Davis to understand how these efforts are affecting students, generating knowledge, and leading to change at the policy level....

28 Apr

Posted at 18:38h in
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Gargani + Company is working with NextEd, a regional economic development organization, to evaluate a four-year engineering pathway program for high school students. The evaluation is funded by a federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grant through the US Department of Education, and represents the collaboration of 40 schools and their respective districts in Northern and Southern California. The evaluation takes the form of a large-scale, longitudinal randomized control trial (RCT). Gargani + Company has extensive experience conducting RCTs in a variety of contexts. For this project, we developed new measures of attitudes towards science, math and engineering; career and college intentions; and math and science knowledge related to engineering. The four-year experience will come to completion in May 2018, after which results will be made available....

28 Apr

Posted at 17:36h in
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Evaluation has become a global enterprise. It is estimated that there are over 200 evaluation associations around the world with over 50,000 members. Through the IOCE, these associations came together in Nepal in November 2015 to to develop a global evaluation agenda. As the 2016 President of the American Evaluation Association, John Gargani is working to advance that agenda--as are all of us at Gargani + Company. We will continue our work developing evaluation methods, sharing our expertise through case studies, and collaborating with colleagues around the world. It is one way we are working to give something back. And that is the most important project of all....

23 Apr

Posted at 20:42h in
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Empathy is both the ability to understand the perspective of others and share their feelings. It is what drives us to act in ways that benefit all, not only ourselves. It is also a central concept in history education, where understanding the lived experience of people from the past depends on having empathy for them and their contemporaries. Our client provides experiential history education for elementary school classes in which students, teachers, and parents spend two days aboard a 19th century sailing ship, acting as its crew at the dawn of the 20th century. It is pretend, which is how children learn about others. It is authentic, which is how students learn history. It is a lived experience, which is how people learn empathy. To evaluate this program, Gargani + Company developed new ways to measure empathy, social inclusion, and historical understanding. We implemented a randomized trial that was fast and inexpensive. What did...

23 Apr

Posted at 20:39h in
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There are many factors that may affect how well someone learns American Sign Language. It is an evolving, regional language. It may be learned formally or informally at different points in a person's life. The learner may be Deaf or not, and have parents who are Deaf or not. Educators and other professionals working with Deaf children needed a way to assess sign language ability that could take these factors into account. Working with a team of sign language experts, Gargani + Company helped develop a test that could accomplish this. It provided evidence that sign language develops differently for linguistically dissimilar groups of children. Understanding these differences made it possible for educators to interpret test results in ways that support learning....

23 Apr

Posted at 20:20h in
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Gargani + Company is embarking on a new project to understand the tradeoffs people face between advancing their own interests and promoting the public good. We hypothesize that people are more willing to give something up when they have greater compassion for the people their sacrifice may benefit. These private-public tradeoffs underlie countless everyday decisions, like those related to consumer purchases, transportation choices, employment, and charitable giving. In particular, we are interested in how and under what conditions these tradeoffs are made by impact investors -- individuals and companies investing in ethical, sustainable social enterprises with the dual purpose of producing a private financial return and a public benefit. More to come. ...

23 Apr

Posted at 20:02h in
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The best projects are those in which we can add the missing piece. We were asked to help develop a program that would cultivate young leaders, improve communities, and empower youth. What we had to start with was a unique conception of social justice and our client’s experience with previous small-scale implementations. We said yes because we knew we could provide a critical missing piece – a systematic approach to designing the program. We learn through trial and error. If we systematize that process by making it more inclusive, data-driven, and imaginative, programs become more effective faster. In this case, we were able to identify a number of strategies for generating revenue that would not merely support the program, but align the interests of stakeholders in ways that would promote social justice. It’s a matter of putting the right pieces in place....

16 Apr

Posted at 18:47h in
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There is a growing belief that systems thinking is the key to understanding and improving our world. But what is systems thinking? Can it be learned? Our client has innovative answers to those questions. They develop computer-based simulations of physical and biological phenomena that help science students develop systems thinking. They asked Gargani + Company to support the development of a new interactive simulation of the human body that integrates molecular, cellular, organ, system, and multi-system mechanisms. We worked as part of the design team as prototypes were developed and tested, and eventually implemented a randomized trial to assess the efficacy of the simulations to promote learning in high school classrooms. Design plus evaluation. The way it should be....