Realist Evaluation Methodology for Development Programmes Training Course

Course overview

Development and humanitarian programmes often produce mixed results: a cash intervention improves food security for some households but not others; a community accountability mechanism works in one district and stalls in another; a safeguarding referral pathway is used by women but not by adolescent girls. Conventional evaluations can report whether outcomes changed, yet may not adequately explain how programme activities triggered change, for whom, under what conditions, and why results differed across implementation settings. Realist evaluation provides a disciplined way to answer these operational questions and turn evaluation evidence into more adaptable programme decisions.

This five-day course teaches participants to design and conduct realist evaluations using context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations. Participants learn to convert a programme theory into testable initial programme theories; identify contextual conditions, resources, reasoning and response mechanisms; develop interview guides and sampling plans; collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative evidence; and refine explanations through retroduction and cross-case comparison. The course also covers realist approaches to contribution claims, equity analysis, unintended effects, and evidence use in adaptive management.

Participants work through a development programme case throughout the course, using practical templates, data extracts and facilitated peer review. They develop a realist evaluation design pack containing a scoped evaluation question, stakeholder map, initial programme theory, CMO configuration matrix, data-collection instruments, analysis framework, and reporting plan aligned with RAMESES II standards. This provides both an immediately usable workplace deliverable and a defensible basis for commissioning or leading a realist evaluation.

The course suits monitoring, evaluation, research and programme professionals working in NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies, foundations, government programmes and implementing partners. It is particularly valuable where teams need actionable explanations for variation in programme performance rather than a single average-effect finding.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Construct an initial programme theory using context-mechanism-outcome configurations
• Formulate realist evaluation questions that specify for whom, how and under what conditions change occurs
• Develop a CMO configuration matrix linking programme resources, participant reasoning and observable outcomes
• Design purposive sampling strategies to test competing programme theory explanations
• Create realist interview guides and data-collection tools that elicit context and mechanism evidence
• Apply retroduction and cross-case comparison to refine causal explanations from evaluation data
• Assess equity, unintended effects and implementation variation within a realist evaluation design
• Produce a RAMESES II-aligned realist evaluation design pack and evidence-use plan

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Managers — who need to explain uneven programme results and strengthen evaluation designs
• Programme Managers — who must adapt delivery models based on evidence about what works in particular implementation contexts
• Evaluation Specialists and Consultants — who design, lead or quality-assure theory-based evaluations for development clients
• Research and Learning Officers — who collect and synthesise evidence to improve programme theories and decision-making
• Humanitarian MEAL Coordinators — who need practical causal explanations across diverse locations, populations and response modalities
• Donor Programme Officers — who commission evaluations and need to assess whether proposed methods can generate usable findings

Requirements and prerequisites

This is a foundation-to-intermediate course. Participants should understand the basic purpose of monitoring and evaluation and be familiar with terms such as indicators, baseline, endline, theory of change and qualitative data collection. Experience supporting or managing a development, humanitarian or public-service programme is useful because exercises use real implementation decisions and stakeholder scenarios. Participants should be able to read simple tables in Microsoft Excel and discuss evidence critically. No prior realist evaluation experience, statistical modelling, coding, NVivo expertise or specialist research qualification is required. Complete beginners in evaluation should expect to review core evaluation concepts before applying the realist method.

Training methodology

The course combines concise instructor-led inputs with progressive work on a development programme case, such as a livelihoods, health, protection or governance intervention. Participants map causal assumptions, build CMO configurations, interrogate case evidence, and practise realist interviewing in pairs. Small groups use Excel and NVivo-style coding frameworks to compare cases and adjudicate competing explanations. Facilitated clinics focus on design choices, ethical fieldwork and reporting quality. On day five, each participant completes an application plan and receives peer and instructor feedback on their realist evaluation design pack.

Course outline

Day 1: Realist evaluation foundations and programme theory

• Realist evaluation purpose, assumptions and appropriate use cases
• Generative causation and the distinction between activities, mechanisms and outcomes
• Context-mechanism-outcome configuration structure
• Resources and reasoning as mechanism components
• From logframes and theories of change to initial programme theories
• Demi-regularities and outcome-pattern variation
• Framing realist evaluation questions for development programmes

Workshop: Participants deconstruct a livelihoods programme theory and produce an initial set of CMO configurations for two target groups.

Day 2: Designing a credible realist evaluation

• Scoping the evaluand, decision users and intended evidence use
• Stakeholder mapping for programme theory elicitation
• Competing hypotheses and rival CMO explanations
• Case selection and purposive sampling logic
• Mixed-methods designs for CMO testing
• Equity, power and intersectionality in realist evaluation
• Ethics, safeguarding and informed consent in mechanism-focused inquiry

Workshop: Participants create a realist evaluation design canvas with evaluation questions, cases, stakeholder groups and an evidence plan.

Day 3: Collecting evidence on context and mechanisms

• Document review for programme theory extraction
• Realist interview question design and probing techniques
• Eliciting participant reasoning without leading respondents
• Observations, process data and implementation fidelity evidence
• KoboToolbox form design for structured field data
• Sampling participants, non-participants and implementation actors
• Data quality, reflexivity and fieldwork audit trails

Workshop: Participants draft and peer-test a realist interview guide and a KoboToolbox data-collection form for one CMO hypothesis.

Day 4: Analysing and refining CMO explanations

• Coding data by context, resource, reasoning and outcome
• CMO matrices and within-case evidence synthesis
• Retroduction for inferring plausible causal mechanisms
• Abduction and theory-informed interpretation
• Cross-case comparison and negative-case analysis
• Using Microsoft Excel and NVivo coding frameworks
• Adjudicating competing programme theory explanations

Workshop: Participants analyse case extracts, populate a CMO evidence matrix and refine or reject an initial programme theory.

Day 5: Reporting findings and using realist evidence

• RAMESES II reporting standards for realist evaluations
• Writing evidence-backed CMO findings
• Distinguishing contribution claims from attribution claims
• Communicating uncertainty and evidence strength
• Translating CMO findings into programme adaptation decisions
• Developing recommendations by context and target group
• Evaluation dissemination and learning-use planning

Workshop: Participants finalise and present a realist evaluation design pack, including a reporting outline and 90-day workplace application plan.

Tools & standards covered

KoboToolbox, Microsoft Excel, NVivo, RAMESES II Quality and Reporting Standards

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions