About Lesson
Definitions of The Theory of Change Components
- Situation: The originating problem, or issue, set within a complex of sociopolitical, environmental and economic circumstances. The situation is the beginning point of logic model development.
- Inputs: What goes into the Venture: resources and contributions are invested. Inputs include staff, money, time, equipment, partnerships, and the research base.
- Activities: What are the main actions/interventions/programs your Venture uses the inputs gathered to bring about the desired change?
- Outputs: Immediate/early measurable results of what we do and whom we reach: These include numbers of measurable activities, services, events, products, and the people reached.
- Outcomes: These are intermediate effects your activities will most likely have on your customers or that your service users will experience. They are the value or changes experienced by individuals, families, groups, agencies, businesses, communities, and systems. Outcomes include short-term/medium-term benefits such as changes in awareness, knowledge, behaviour, skills, attitudes, opinions and intentions. As well as changes in decision-making and actions.
- Impact: These long-term outcomes often manifest as policy-level results such as social, economic, civic, and environmental changes.
- Assumptions: Our beliefs about the Venture, the people involved, and how we think the Venture will work. Assumptions include our ideas about the problem or situation; the way the Venture will operate; what the Venture expects to achieve; how the participants learn and behave, their motivations, etc.; the resources and staff; the external environment; the knowledge base; and the internal environment. Faulty assumptions are often the reason for poor results.
- External Factors: Aspects external to the Venture but influence the Venture. Dynamic systems interactions include the cultural milieu, biophysical environment, economic structure, housing patterns, demographic makeup, family circumstances, values, political climate, background and experiences of participants, media, policies and priorities, etc.
- Causation: This is the direct effect of an intervention. It has to do with clear evidence that the program or project alone has led to the desired outcome or impact. Causation can only be proven through unbiased and rigorous research methods like randomized control trials.
- Contributions: This is the effect of the intervention on the overall social impact. It holds that the intervention’s activities and other factors led to the observed change, outcomes or impact. It means that the activities are one of the other factors responsible for the results.
- Attribution: To what extent are the beneficiaries and existing evidence attributing the change, outcome or social impact being experienced to the intervention? Attributions are easy ways to evaluate the social implications and validate the theory of change.