Most Significant Change Technique

The most significant change (MSC) technique is a dialogical, story-based approach designed to run throughout the life of a program. In what is basically a form of continuous values inquiry, examples of significant program outcomes are collected and presented to designated groups of stakeholders who deliberate on the value of these outcomes in a systematic and transparent manner. In evaluation, its primary purpose is to facilitate program improvement by focusing the direction of work toward explicitly valued directions and away from less-valued directions. Other possible roles are to provide decision makers with a vicarious experience of the project, encourage recognition of diversity in values among stakeholders, identify unintended outcomes, and provide performance information in the form of client success stories.

Initially devised for the evaluation of ...