Introduction to Realist Evaluation for Social Services (November 2022)
Registration
Interested applicants can register for the course via NUS Online Application Portal.
Registration has closed.
About
The course is designed to provide social service professionals, community workers, policy-makers and researchers, with an introduction to theories and concepts of realist evaluation.
In community development and other fields of practice, interventions are often described as being complex and have outcomes that are dependent on context and are challenging to evaluate. Realist evaluation can help make sense of the outcomes from these types of interventions. Instead of providing one-off verdicts on its success or failure by asking, “Does the intervention work?”, realist evaluation examines “What works, for whom, under what circumstances and why?”. Recognising that interventions do not work in the same way for everyone, everywhere, realist evaluation seeks to systematically develop and test theory, specifically the causal mechanisms that are activated in different contexts, leading to different outcomes. It is multi-method and draws on both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Trainer
Dr Robyn Tan is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, NUS. Her research interests include studying the implementation of policies, programmes and interventions. She has a keen interest in applying theory-driven evaluation approaches, particularly, the realist logic of inquiry in real world policy and service settings.
Course Fee
This course is SSG-approved. Participants who are Singaporeans or Singaporean Permanent Residents will be eligible for 70% of the course fees, excluding GST. Singaporean participants who are aged 40 years old and above will be eligible for higher subsidies of up to 90% of course fees. Participants must record at least 75% attendance, and pass all assessment components, to be eligible for SSG funding. The table below shows the breakdown of the course fee payable.