Chapter 13: Microgenetic Evaluation: Studying Learning as It Develops

The aim of this chapter is to explicate a new method for conducting impact evaluation that is idiographic and sensitive to the details of changes in feeling and thinking through time. Impact evaluation methodology in informal settings (i.e. outside of schools or universities) typically only focuses on average outcomes or, at best, average scores in pre- and posttests (repeated measures design). Such a focus on group averages consistently neglects exploration of the different trajectories of change found in a research sample, while also failing to answer “how” and “why” these different changes occurred. The present chapter introduces the microgenetic method as a solution to redress this neglect. When employed in impact evaluation studies, this method provides the requisite temporal and processual detail to pinpoint mechanisms of change as they are operating. A case study of adolescents’ learning at the zoo is presented as an illustrative example of microgenetic evaluation in action. A reflexive look on refining the method is then described: Our use of questionnaires in this case study to implement microgenetic evaluation proved useful for identifying different trajectories of change but also encountered some limitations. It was particularly difficult to persuade adolescents to elaborate on their responses to the questionnaires within this informal setting. To address this problem we suggest integrating questionnaire data with detailed verbally administered questions used on a subset of respondents, with the aim of drawing out detailed explanations. Furthermore, we outline a reflexive strategy of working between these two data sources to enrich our understanding of each.