We practice evaluation in a variety of domains

A popular definition of evaluation is the process and procedures of measuring the merit, worth, and significance of a project, program or policy.  Meta-evaluation is the evaluation of evaluation. Pointed Arrows works across the applied research and (meta-) evaluation spectrum, with experience in energy efficiency market transformation, K-20 education, railroad safety programs, social change agencies, family support, and adolescent health.  We help organizations and programs develop the appropriate questions, engage key stakeholders in the process, collect and analyze data that answer those questions, and report results and findings.

 

Some Recent Projects

  • Along with Zach Tilton and Tian Ford, Dr. Harnar completed a metaevaluation for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) of the Swedish Evaluation Unit’s last 5 years of evaluations.

  • Dr. Harnar completed a metaevaluation for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) of its market transformation evaluation Systems. The report can be viewed here.

  • As a Senior Evaluation Specialist with Innovated Consulting, LLC, Dr. Harnar worked on multiple evaluation teams, including the evaluation of safety interventions on a Class I railroad, developing a railroad industry-wide Information and Communications Technology needs assessment, and evaluating the Railroaders' Guide to Healthy Sleep website project.

  • For five years, Dr. Harnar provided evaluation services for a grant aimed at developing a statewide network of community college basic skills faculty and administrators.  The work focused on providing capacity building workshops for regional network coordinators and designing systems to track and map statewide project participation with Geographic Information Systems maps (GIS).

  • Youth Activism Against Obesity (YAAO) was a two-year collaborative effort between two Los Angeles-based Healthy Eating Active Communities (HEAC) and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.  Dr. Harnar created and implemented an overall evaluation of the campaign that intentionally deepened the youth’s sense of empowerment by involving them directly as partners in the evaluation process.

  • For a little more than a year, Dr. Michael Harnar developed evaluation studies for various programs related to railroad safety.  One evaluation he worked on, Promising Evidence of Impact on Road Safety by Changing At-risk Behavior Process at Union Pacific, won the 2011 American Evaluation Association’s Outstanding Evaluation Award.