Eval Academy Week: How to Create Meaningful Stories from Your Data by Maegan Trottier and Sheldon Kallio

Date: Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Overwhelmed by data but searching for real insights? You’re not alone. In our work as data analysts at Three Hive Consulting, we regularly meet organizations rich in data in search of clearer paths to understanding. We are Maegan Trottier and Sheldon Kallio, and we’ve discovered that transforming data into actionable findings isn’t just a technical challenge – it’s a storytelling art. Through our program evaluations, we’ve developed key strategies to help organizations cut through data complexity and uncover what truly matters. Here are our Hot Tips to consistently translate data into impact.

Start with the Right Questions

Before starting analysis, we start with these guiding questions:

• Understand: What decisions will these data inform? A clear purpose guides your data’s story.
• Uncover: Who needs to understand these insights? Like novelists writing for their readers, we need to craft our data narrative to our clients’ needs.
• Utilize: What actions do we want them to take? Powerful stories drive change – our data should do the same.

Reflecting on these questions focuses our analysis on what truly matters.

Reveal Stories Through Analysis

Here’s how we transform numbers into narratives:

• Start with context: Start with the big picture before zooming in on details. We use descriptive statistics to understand context before we drill-down into segments or trends that reveal interesting stories.

Example: From a financial empowerment program, the descriptive statistics showed that participants started with high debt and low savings. Looking deeper, we found that a sub-set of participants, those who received matched savings incentives, were more likely to meet their savings goals, highlighting a key program success.

• Find patterns: Some of our most interesting insights come from unexpected relationships.

Example: Evaluating hospice care programming initially revealed broad volunteer involvement across hospice programs. However, we discovered that volunteers who served multiple roles – from patient care to reception – had higher engagement, revealing opportunities to strengthen the volunteer program.

Design Visualizations for Impact

Our data visualizations shouldn’t just display data – they should guide our clients through the narrative.

• Purposeful visualization: We choose visualizations based on the story we need to tell. For example, for monthly engagement trends, a simple line chart reveals patterns more effectively than complex alternatives.
• Strategic design: We guide our audience through the data via intentional design choices (e.g., colour, size, and position). For example, we use colour sparingly to highlight key insights and trends.
• Self-explanatory visuals: We make our visualizations clear and understandable. For example, instead of labelling a chart ‘Engagement Data’, we use ‘Staff Engagement Increased 10% Following the Introduction of a 4-Day Workweek’ – the title should support your story.

Bringing it All Together

The right approach to data analysis can transform overwhelming datasets into compelling insights. By starting with purposeful questions, revealing stories through careful analysis, and designing clear, impactful visualizations, you too can move from data to meaningful insights.

Lessons Learned

The goal isn’t just to understand your data – it’s to use that understanding to drive real change. Whether you’re evaluating program outcomes or tracking organizational metrics, these strategies will help you uncover and communicate the insights that matter most.Get Involved: Ready to transform your data into meaningful insights? Start with one dataset and apply these strategies. Focus on the decisions you need to inform, identify your key audience, and craft a clear narrative through purposeful analysis and visualization. Your data has a story to tell – it’s time to help it speak.

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