Most Significant Change
Contents |
Strengths:
- Can be used when you do not have a baseline to compare your impact findings to.
- Possible to detail to what extent the described changes (positive and negative) have been derived from the radio.
- Is story-based and as such relates to the way in which many less literate communities and people are used to sharing information.
- By asking to hear stories - as opposed to other hard data info - the interviewee puts the changes in a coherent local context, providing you as a researcher with a fuller picture of the impact caused by the change.
- MSC is a tool easily understood and easily handled also by ordinary people.
- When observing a set of simple rules it is possible to use MSC rigorously.
- When in need of quick impact data aspects of MSC can be used for documentation purposes.
- MSC does not need to be very expensive to carry out.
Weaknesses:
- Care needs to be given to avoid any kind of skewing of information by the researchers.
- Important that the method is used very systematically to ensure the value of results.
Limitations:
- A facilitator is needed the first couple of times such an MSC exercise is carried out.
Short description:
Most Significant Change (MSC) is a story-based impact assessment tool, systematized by Rick Davies and Jessica Dart (2005) which builds upon the strong oral traditions that often prevail in communities with low levels of literacy – some of the communities where community radio as a development tool has a very special role to play. Most participatory evaluation and impact assessment methods require comparison with baseline study or other earlier research findings. Often, this information does not exist. The Most Significant Change method has been developed to meet exactly these situations. Most Significant Change is a tool that is easy for community groups to use. For impact assessment, the most important question will be: What is the most significant change that has taken place in your life – or in the life of the community – since the advent of the community radio station? Through structured interviews with carefully identified interest groups a series of “significant changes” are registered. More about MSC...
Used to:
MSC is used to document community change derived from - in this case - the work by and around the community radio. It can, naturally, be used to document other kinds of change as well. While institutional, content and audience research does not necessarily bring forth the final, actual change in the community to which the community has contributed, MSC - when properly applied - does that.
How to put into practice:
A well described and recently tested methodology, presenting step-by-step ways forward. See examples below.
Examples:
Most Significant Change used to assess impact in three community radio stations in East Africa as part of the Econews Nairobi coordinated 'East Africa Community Media Project' EACMP. Coupled with the MSC based is an information and communication audit and a sustainability assessment. The report ensemble includes three national reports and one regional summary report:
Country reports: Kenya: Tanzania: Uganda:
Online resources:
Communication Initiative documents examples of evaluations from all continents
Panos London: the challenges of evaluating social change
For further study:
The ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique: A Guide to Its Use The original description of methodology developed by Rick Davies and Jessica Dart (2005)
Who Measures Change? An Introduction to Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation of Communication for Social Change. Further elaboration of original methodology by Communication for Social Change Consortium.
Author(s):
Birgitte Jallov (under construction)
Contributions from:
