Storytelling

Storytelling involves collective sharing of stories. A simple story might describe a particular change through depiction of the situation before and after that change. Stories differ from other forms of interview response in that they still make sense when detached from surrounding discourse. In evaluation, they tend to emerge when the teller is left to complete his or her narrative without interruption.

Evaluation stories include stakeholder stories, program performance stories, and evaluator stories. Stakeholder stories emerge from interview transcripts, diaries, or open-ended responses to questions. Evaluation techniques such as the most significant change technique (MSC) and Kibel's results mapping look for stakeholder stories. Program performance stories are succinct, evidence-based accounts of overall program performance. Evaluator stories are shared among evaluators to help make sense of evaluation ...