Category Archives: Applied Research

Interactive Documentary in Evaluation, Learning and Change

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global pillowcase project-idoc

We’ve continued to work with the Global Disaster Preparedness Center (American Red Cross/ IFRC) on the Pillowcase Project International Pilot and its evaluation. Capitalizing on the features that interactive documentary can offer compared to convention linear video products this i-doc was developed not only to create something that would be more engaging than a traditional text-based report and help disseminate evaluation information to a wider audience (still, designed to complement the text report), but also in an effort to turn evaluation materials into something of a toolkit, hopefully expand the utility of evaluation materials by creating this new kind of product. For learning, training, knowledge management type work we think it has a lot of potential.
A basic illustration of interactive features integrated into a specific sequence can be seen in the video titled “Presentation Structure and Features.” It offers a few examples of the way a viewer can move around within a specific sequence and jump to a particular topic, as well as the way we can integrate a video (though it can be any kind of element- photo, audio clip, weblink, map, pop up article or PDF) within the video. The timeline identifies the location of some of the interactive elements. Point is with this first i-doc we’ve only started to scratch the surface of what can be done in terms of interactivity and the opportunities that this format offers to integrate many types and sources of information into the product.

Pillow Case Project International Pilot Peru: Video Case Study

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In December 2014 we went to Peru for American Red Cross/ Global Disaster Preparedness Center as part of the evaluation team. Purpose was to develop a knowledge-rich video case study about the adaptation, implementation and results of the Pillow Case Project in Peru for use by other Red Cross chapters in Peru as they scale up, as well as by other countries considering the project. Six countries were part of the initial international pilot funded by Disney with more than double that number of participating countries anticipated for 2015. The Video Case Study is intended to be an evaluation and knowledge management product that informs design and implementation from country to country. The opportunity exists to develop additional videos from all the footage we captured and interviews we conducted, more targeted for advocacy and communications. Quimera has also constructed the initial installments for a video-based KM archive for the project based on the raw footage collected in the field.

The inclusion of a video drone as part of the equipment mix was a first for Quimera, very exciting. Aerial footage of the the earthquake and tsunami affected communities offered a very powerful perspective and helped to provide important visual context to the project.

One again Taylor Krauss was part of the Quimera team, and brilliant as always.

Click here to watch the full length Video Case Study.

The Effectiveness of Video Messages in Public Health with High Risk Individuals

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Community-based participatory research conducted in the Bronx, NY, drove the design of Project Three at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. The project explores the effectiveness of video messages to re-engage high-risk individuals in HIV re-testinging as well as improve their knowledge of risk-reduction practices. Video messages were sent as text messages or emails, in Spanish or English, according to patient preferences. Based on a successful innovative video intervention model undertaken in Jacobi’s emergency department Quimera worked with Dr. Yvette Calderon and her team to help conceptualize, design and produce the video series.

This video offers some of Dr. Calderon’s thoughts about the importance of community-based participatory research along with a few snippets from the video message series.

Stay tuned for the results!

USAID/ GEM-3 Project Evaluation Video: What Can We Learn about the Evaluation Process

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Quimera was embedded with the Social Impact evaluation team for over three weeks to document Social Impact’s evaluation of the USAID Philippines Growth with Equity in Mindanao-3 Project. GEM-3 operated throughout Mindanao, with a special focus on the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other conflict-affected areas of Mindanao. USAID’s Office of Learning, Evaluation and Research (PPPL/LER) wanted to document the GEM-3 evaluation process as a way to capture evaluation in action, to support and illustrate their new evaluation policy, and to share learnings about what makes a good evaluation, from design to implementation.

In this short snippet one of the evaluation team members discusses some of the challenges of trying to quantify project impact.

To view the entire video click the sections below

Click here to watch Part 1: Framing the Evaluation.

Click here to watch Part 2: Data Collection.

Click here to watch Part 3: Final Thoughts.

US Department of State: Evaluation Training Video Components

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Quimera worked with Social Impact to develop video components for SI’s evaluation training courses provided to the US Department of State, Designing Evaluation and Managing Evaluation. The footage used to create the videos was drawn from the USAID GEM-3 Project Evaluation Video, also developed by Social Impact and Quimera for USAID’s Office of Learning, Evaluation and Research (coming soon to USAID/ LER).

This snippet opens a section focusing on community interview techniques.

UBELONG/ Cusco Research Expedition Video Report: Intro

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UBELONG partnered with Quimera to make video a part of their qualitative research toolkit during UBELONG’s Cusco Research Expedition. Quimera provided the team with some basic training prior to departure then it was up to the team to manage in the field. With a crazy schedule, packed with research and volunteering responsibilities, the team did a great job of documenting the expedition, capturing individual interviews, describing the process, initial thoughts, and overall experiences. While the camera rotated between team members the majority of the footage was shot by co-expedition team leader, and UBELONG Co-Founder, Raul Roman, a master behind the camera. Upon the team’s return to DC Quimera took the raw footage and edited the material into a video report which mirrored the same basic structure as the text-report.

 

NASTAD/ A Través de Nuestros Ojos (Through Our Eyes): A Video Report

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In this chapter the research team discusses the importance of a report in video form, complementing the text-based report. Quimera worked with NASTAD to develop a video report based on a year-long qualitative research project investigating responses of health departments and community-based organizations to the HIV/AIDS crisis among Latino gay men in the U.S. The video report mirrors the written report: A Través de Nuestros Ojos (Through Our Eyes): Promoting Health and Social Equity to Address HIV/AIDS Among Latino Gay Men.

This video report was the first video report funded by the National Institutes for Health Office of AIDS Research, and one of the first by NIH.

SAIS/ Johns Hopkins: Video in Practical Research Methods

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Professor Raul Roman, also Co-Founder of UBELONG, has invited me in to his class on Research Methods for a number of semesters to discuss the use of video in qualitative research and evaluation. Here’s a video we did from the very first time I came to class… lots of fun, and the students were fantastic.

Red Cross Tsunami Recovery: Identifying the Change

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Quimera worked with the Tsunami Recovery Program to pilot an ethnographic video-based research method to help better understand program impact on beneficiaries and their communities in southern Thailand. Informed by participatory video the approach was intended to support evolving standards of beneficiary accountability, transparency, and stakeholder inclusion in program evaluation. A handheld camera was placed into the hands of beneficiaries in facilitated interview sessions, enabling beneficiaries to discuss and film various aspects of the program and its impacts on their lives.

Quimera and Red Cross were invited to present this video and a methods paper at the 2010 12th Annual Chicago Ethnography Conference as well as the 2013 American Evaluation Association Annual Conference. Quimera was invited to participate as part of an American Red Cross Panel, “Monitoring and Evaluation as Tools Towards Evidence-based Program Design” at the 2011 World Conference on Humanitarian Studies, Innovation Track. The video was also used as part of a presentation that Barese was invited to make at the 2012 International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) sponsored by World Bank Independent Evaluation Group and Carleton University.

UN Population Fund/ African Youth Alliance Video Report: M&E

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Latin American Youth Center: Tobacco Prevention

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Quimera worked with a team of young people from LAYC to develop a community intervention to help decrease tobacco sales to minors. The strategy included the development of an educational video, conceptualized, produced and edited by the youth team. Quimera trained the team in basics of documentary film making, concept development, interviewing techniques, production and editing, guiding the team through the entire process. The team then took their educational video out to the community, targeting neighborhood shopkeepers, owners and employees, letting them better understand the health risks to young people from smoking as well as the local laws (and penalties) regulating tobacco sales to minors.

This is a snippet from the video report created by Quimera following the team throughout the project. The full version of the project video can be seen here.