Testing and Evaluation
Understand what is most appropriate for your community or activation in real time
Leverage Community Insights
While you know your community better than we do, you may decide you need additional support to understand what your audience or context needs. For example, you may want to test assumptions around:
Language
Are the languages that will help you reach the most parents and caregivers the same languages that will help reach those who could most benefit from Vroom?Culture
Are there cultural norms or environmental factors that might require specific adaptation?Formatting
Does the benefit of adapting for format outweigh the resource cost to do the adaptation?
It is up to you to decide on the testing activities that best meet your needs. Some Vroom recommended testing activities are:
- Surveys
- Focus groups
- Rapid iteration/prototyping
- Field testing
High-Level Testing Guidance
There are many ways to examine and refine your Adaptation Plan. Based on our experience, a good process for evaluation might include the following.
- Ask yourself, “What questions are we trying to answer?”
Try to build on outreach work you have done in the past. Here are some questions you might seek to test:
- What type of messaging appeals to and motivates the parents in my community?
- Which delivery channels do families find most comfortable and accessible?
- Do different channels lead to different types of engagement?
- Consider, "What might be the best way(s) to get answers?"
Do you need field testing, focus groups, insights, something else? Different testing methods have different advantages and disadvantages, as outlined below.
Testing Methods
- Good when you need quantifiable data you can analyze
- Often more cost-effective than other methods
- Insights may be less detailed
- Less personal and interactive
- Good when you want qualitative inputs
- Can help you understand complex behaviors
- Adds the "human" dimension to data
- Group dynamics can affect the way people answer
- Helps you quickly identify what works and what doesn’t, and for whom
- Enables you to focus your efforts on the things that work
- Resource-intensive
Make a concrete testing plan and start testing.
Include what questions you are trying to answer, the methods you will use, the timeframes and the roles and responsibilities. Try to think about the smallest, fastest, accurate and representative test that will allow you adjust quickly. Your questions should be as focused as possible.Review your findings and incorporate this feedback into your work.
Analyze your results objectively. Don’t get stuck on what is and lose sight of what can be! Use what you’ve learned to adjust your approach where needed.
Representation matters! Find ways to ensure that the families you are seeking to reach are genuinely reflected in your approach.