Lifting the Lens: Developing a Logic for a Complicated Policy

A new intervention that is designed to be adaptive presents a challenge for evaluators when developing a logic model at the start of a government policy evaluation. Our task became more problematic when the early data collection identified that participant groups had differing ideas about what the policy was intended to achieve. Participants also tended to 'deconstruct' the policy and focus only on the parts for which they were responsible. Realising that traditional logic modelling (that is, a linear approach to describing policy inputs and outcomes developed at the beginning of the evaluation) would provide a simplified picture of the policy, we decided to ground the logic in the evidence. This approach provided a more indepth understanding of how the policy components interact with each other. Our logic became a vehicle to reconceptualise the policy through presenting an alternative perspective to understanding and communicating how the policy works on the ground.