Post on 15-Jul-2015
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Personal Finance Outcome Assessments: Methods and Metrics for Face-to-Face Classes and
Social Media Outreach Barbara O’Neill, Ph.D., CFP®, CRPC®
Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University oneill@aesop.rutgers.edu
The Million Dollar “So What?” Question…
At the end of the day…did your financial education program make a difference?
How do you know?
The Current State of Financial Education Program Evaluation • Current evaluation efforts are still far from
satisfactory
• General lack of evaluation capacity
• Evaluation is often treated as an after-thought
• Outcomes (e.g., measures of changed behavior) are often confused with program outputs (e.g., number of participants)
• What gets measured gets funded
• With evaluation results, you can… – assess impact of programs on learners
– see if you accomplished what you planned
– know if a program was “worth it”
– celebrate success and learn from failure
– make informed decisions to improve, hold, or fold programs
– promote your program and win public support
We are in an “Accountability Era”
Consider a Third Party Program Evaluator
• Some funders require this (e.g., FINRA Investor Education Foundation and IMLS)
• No potential for conflict of interest by one entity performing both education and evaluation role
• Takes evaluation “monkey” off busy educators’ back
• Build into grant funding requests
• See http://www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/evaluation/evallogicmodel.html • Begins with the end in mind • Explains what a program is and what it will accomplish • Shows relationships between inputs, outputs, and outcomes
Introducing the Logic Model
Building a Strong Financial Education Program
INPUTS OUTPUTS OUTCOMES
Program investments
Activities
Participation
Short
Medium
What We
Invest
What We Do
Who We Reach
What Results
SO WHAT??
What is the VALUE?
Long-term
Staff
Money
Time
Volunteers
Partners
Equipment/Technology
Policies
Research
INPUTS
OUTPUTS
What We Do Who We Reach
ACTIVITIES Assess needs and assets
Design curriculum
Educate students
Conduct workshops
Facilitate learning groups
Sponsor conferences
Work with the media
Partner – collaborate
PARTICIPATION Participants
Clients
Customers
Users
Groups
Reactions - Satisfaction
OUTCOMES What Results for Individuals, Organizations, Communities..…
SHORT Learning
Awareness
Knowledge
Attitudes
Skills
Opinion
Aspirations
Motivation
MEDIUM Action
Behavior
Practice
Decisions
Policies
Social action
LONG-TERM Conditions
Human
Economic
Civic
Environment
OUTCOMES
Commonly Measured Items That Are Not Outcomes
• Participant satisfaction
• Number of people taught
• Units of education completed
• Number of events held
• Time and money spent
• Level of effort
Impact Evaluation Data Collection Methods
• Surveys (Paper or Online)
– Post-evaluation only (short programs)
– Pre- and post-evaluation
– Follow-up (e.g., 3 months later)
• Focus groups
• Interviews
• Observations
• Tests of knowledge/ability
• RARE: Control groups and longitudinal studies
Typical Survey Questions • General reactions to the program
• Changes in knowledge
• Changes in motivation, confidence, and abilities
• Intended changes in behavior
• Actual changes in behavior
• Future programming needs and preferences
• Demographics of participants
• Qualitative/open-ended responses
Post-Then-Pre (Retrospective) Evaluation
Method • Compares knowledge and attitudes before and
after a financial education intervention
• Administered once at the end of the intervention
• Helps avoid biases due to people thinking they know more than they know
Case Example: Humpty Dumpty
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again”
So Who/What Was Humpty Dumpty?
Probably NOT what you think!
Post-Then-Pre (Retrospective) Evaluation Method
• Why? Because people don’t know what they don’t know! • Who knew what Humpty Dumpty really was? • Five point rating scale
– 1 = Strongly Disagree – 5 = Strongly Agree
• Post: After listening to Barb, I know the history of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme
• Pre: Before listening to Barb, I knew the history of the
Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme
Post-Then-Pre Evaluation • Also known as a “Retrospective” evaluation • Helps identify changes in knowledge, attitudes, and
behavior
Another Post-Then-Pre Evaluation Example
Big Advantage: Avoids the problem of learners under-estimating what they don’t know before a program
Critical Incident Technique • Qualitative evaluation research method where
program participants tell personal stories
• Often used with “Train the Trainer” programs for professionals (e.g., teachers, librarians)
• Incidents are categorized and deemed successful (positive results) or unsuccessful (negative results)
http://www.joe.org/joe/2013june/tt2.php (Journal of Extension article)
More About the Critical Incident Technique
http://www.adb.org/documents/information/knowledge-solutions/the-critical-incident-technique.pdf
• Ask subjects to describe- through interviews-incidents that they handled well or poorly (need not be spectacular events)
– Example: How did library staff handle patrons’ personal finance questions?
• Provides rich personal perspectives
• Pre-intervention and Post-intervention comparison of number and type of incidents
CIT Questions in NYPL Financial Education
Evaluation • Think about your experiences helping patrons with personal finance
questions. Remember a time when you had a successful experience helping someone with these types of questions. Please write down what happened.
• What made this a successful, positive experience?
• Think about your experiences helping patrons with personal finance questions. Remember a time when you had an unsuccessful experience helping someone with these types of questions. Please write down what happened.
• What made this an unsuccessful or challenging experience?
CIT Summary in Final NYPL Project Evaluation Report
“The change in the percentages of the types of incidents is indicative of change in attitudes and abilities. Also, a new category appeared in the successful incidents, Increased Knowledge/Confidence/Satisfaction, which was not present in the Pre-training Survey. Furthermore, for the unsuccessful critical incidents, the category Lack of Training/ Knowledge which was the most frequently seen theme for the Pre-training Survey was not found at all in the Post-training Survey. These findings resonate with quantitative findings and provide confirming evidence that the Money Matters training has been successful in improving participants’ knowledge of personal finance and their ability to be successful in handling patron inquiries. Additionally, staff members provided eloquent testament in their qualitative responses that their skills have been enhanced and their attitudes and behaviors became more positive for ably handling personal finance queries” (Radford, 2013).
America Saves Week (ASW) Social Media Campaign
• Conducted by eXtension (online program of the Cooperative Extension System), 2011-2015
• Prepared “cut and paste” tweets and FB messages on saving, debt/expense reduction, America Saves, ASW
• Project cooperators from eXtension, America Saves campaigns, military, others
Triangulation (Multiple Methods) Evaluation
Approach • Unique Twitter hashtag: #eXasw
• Follow-up follower/friend survey
• Follow-up project participant survey
• bit.ly analytics to determine number of clicks on unique embedded links
• Pre- and post-ASW Twitter influence metrics (Klout score)
Quantitative Impact Data: 2011-2014
• #eXasw tweets recorded (1,091- 1,503)
• Facebook & Twitter message clicks (602- 2,814)
• Followers/friends reached (3,056- 8,163)
• Followers/friends reached (average): (192-254)
Follower/Friend Survey Results: 2012 Example
• Response: 50% “very helpful” and 50% “helpful”
• 54% visited ASW links; 38% planned to
• 8% joined AS; 38% planned to; 16% already joined AS; 38% had not joined AS
• Mostly positive comments about SM messages
• One negative comment about seeing repeated messages and the need for more action steps
Professional Collaborator Survey Results: 2012 Example • 22/22 Klout scores increased
– Average from 20.3 to 29.3 (vs. 11.22 to 19.68 in 2011)
• Positive comments (e.g., wanted more “cut and paste” messages, improved SM skills, ease of use, continue in 2013)
• State Governor and Senator started following one participant
• Reported likes, retweets, and direct messages
Klout Score Progression • Klout is a measure of a person’s “influence” on twitter
• Based on an algorithm with factors such as number of followers and number of retweets
• Go to www.klout.com and log in with Twitter or Facebook
– 2011: 11.22 to 19.68
– 2012: 20.3 to 29.3
– 2013: 32.6 to 39.6
– 2014: 29.76 to 38.84
Project Take-Aways • Social media messages are great for increasing
awareness but do not appear to prompt much action
• Project participants like having “cut and paste” social media messages
• Twitter influence (Klout score) of project participants became noticeably higher over time
• Social media is an effective outreach tool
Twitter Hashtags • A key component of Twitter use is the hashtag (#)
symbol followed by a series of unique characters
• The hashtag serves like a “magnet” to link together the tweets of Twitter users who are interested in the same topic (e.g., credit) or who are linked together in some way (e.g., professional conference attendees)
• By using a hashtag, users can effectively hold a “conversation” with one another about a topic of interest
Twitter Chats • Online users gather at a specified time (e.g., every
Friday at 3 pm ET) to “discuss” (read: tweet about) certain topics, questions, or issues.
• Synchronous learning environment where participants interact in real time using their Twitter user names (a.k.a.,”handles”).
• As with tweets at conferences, the “glue” that holds Twitter chats together is the designated hashtag
• Twitter chat hashtag creates a running stream of tweets so that everyone can follow the “conversation.”
More About Twitter Chats • Chat hashtags are often derived from a chat sponsor’s
name (example: #wbchat for WiseBread); industry (example: #creditchat); or program title (#SSHWchat for the Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ program)
• A Twitter chat hashtag creates a running stream of
tweets so that everyone can follow the “conversation” • The formatting convention used to follow Twitter chat
threads is Q1 for Question 1 and A1 for participant responses to that question
Twitter Chat Evaluation Methods
• Online survey (e.g., Qualtrics) link embedded into final tweets (with prizes as an incentive to complete)
Dr. Barbara O'Neill @moneytalk1Apr 29 Please let us know if U found #SSHWchat helpful & take this brief survey: https://rutgers.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9X0V77kUKhOqlWB … Will pull winners at 1:30 pm #sshwchat
• TweetReach statistics: http://tweetreach.com/ (type in chat hashtag to pull a report)
• Follow-up contact from participants (Twitter direct messages, e-mail, etc.)
• Traffic to Web site during and after a chat
• Other?
#eXASchat Evaluation Results
• Four consecutive Monday evenings in February 2014 to promote America saves and saving money
• Hashtag: #eXASchat
• 69 participants
• Estimated reach: 42,838 (estimated overall reach of tweets in report)
• Exposure impressions: 249,382 (based on participants’ followers; tells how many tweets were sent by users to their followers)
• Number of tweets sent by users with > 1,000 followers (96th percentile of all Twitter users): 38
#SSHWchat Evaluation Results
• Held at noon ET on 4/29/14 for Financial Literacy Month
• Topic: Strategies to improve health and finances
• 34 participants
• Estimated reach: 25,294 (estimated overall reach of tweets in report)
• Exposure impressions: 50,553
• Six-question Qualtrics survey: 29% response rate – 100% of respondents reported learning something new
– 100% of respondents reported planned behavior changes
• Comment: “Please have one monthly, if possible”
Archive a Twitter Chat With Storify and Track Use
https://storify.com/ Storify is an organized collection of tweets with links, photos, etc. to “tell a story” from Twitter content Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9iHniFjiVc
Storify Samples: https://storify.com/RutgersNJAES/small-steps-to-health-and-wealth https://storify.com/RutgersSEBS/cook-douglass-community-day-2014-at-rutgers https://storify.com/wisebread/how-are-you-saving-for-retirement https://storify.com/JerryBuchko/mcpd2014-twitter-chat-archive-1
Tips for Telling Your Story • Use simple descriptive statistics (e.g., counts,
percentages, and averages)
• Don’t use jargon
• Don’t overstate your results (e.g., causality)
• Blend quantitative and qualitative data
• Clearly describe who the results represent (i.e., demographic characteristics of participants)
• Be honest about your program’s strengths and weaknesses, while highlighting the positive
Impact Statements: Intentions
As a result of participating in this financial education program, X% of participants reported that they…
• plan to do/use/adopt… • are more knowledgeable about… • are more confident in their ability to… • are more likely than before to do/use/adopt… • will do/use/adopt…
…a particular attitude, piece of information, or behavior.
Impact Statements: Actions
As a result of participating in this financial education program, X% of participants reported that they…
• are now doing… • did… • used… • increased their knowledge of… • adopted… • changed… … a particular attitude, piece of information, or behavior.
Social Media Impact Reports
• Number of participants • TweetReach report outreach numbers • Participant survey data • Data from other feedback methods
• Sample Evaluation Report:
http://www.slideshare.net/BarbaraONeill/sshw-twitter-chat-impact-statement-0414
Public Value Approach
Private benefits accrue to program participants
Public benefits are benefits to those who did not participate in a program
It is possible to exclude non-payers from participating in programs—and enjoying private benefits—but it is not possible to exclude non-payers from receiving public benefits of programs
How Do Financial Education Programs Create Public Value?
Does it narrow an information gap?
Does it address a crucial concern about fairness?
Does one person’s participation benefit people who do not participate in the program?
Does one person’s participation reduce costs for others?
Does the program improve upon market outcomes?
Program participants…
have been shown to change their behavior in specific ways…
that have been shown to lead to specific outcomes…
that directly benefit the participants.
that generate public value.
Participants in a nutrition program…
have been shown to increase their consumption of fruits and
vegetables…
which has been shown to reduce the incidence of diabetes…
which directly improves
quality of life for participants.
which reduces public health costs for all
citizens.
Public Value Statements • Focus on an outcome that matters to
stakeholder(s)
• Use stakeholder’s language
• Avoid jargon and empty words
• Should be short and believable
Public Value Statement Template
When you support _______________________program, participants will ______________________________, (changes) which leads to _______________________________, (outcomes) which will benefit other community members by _____________________________________________. (public value)
Downloadable NEFE Financial Education Evaluation Manual
http://toolkit.nefe.org/Portals/0/Toolkit-Manual.pdf
Questions and Comments?
Barbara O'Neill, Ph.D., CFP®, CRPC
Extension Specialist in Financial Resource Management and Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University Phone: 848-932-9126
E-mail: oneill@aesop.rutgers.edu
Internet: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/money/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/moneytalk1