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How Else Can Logic Be Conveyed?

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Everything You Wanted to Know About Logic Models But Were Afraid to Ask

This paper addresses situations where a private foundation designs an initiative and awards grants to a number of sites to participate in the initiative in their local setting. The basic ideas are applicable to other situations.

What is a Logic Model?

The term "logic model" comes from the evaluation field, but these models don’t just belong to evaluators or the evaluation plan. As the term suggests, they are a basic element of programming that communicates the logic behind a program, its rationale. A logic model’s purpose is to communicate the underlying "theory" or set of assumptions or hypotheses that program proponents have about why the program will work, …show more content…

The parts would be accompanied by a less detailed full model given on one page that shows how the parts fit together into a whole.

Logic modeling is an art than requires practice!

How Else Can Program Logic Be Conveyed?

Logic models represent a visual way of expressing the rationale or thought behind a program. Two other forms of expression may help concurrently support the development of a logic model, or accompany the model if it is to be communicated through written materials.

One form is a short narrative that explains in words why this program is believed to be successful. A good narrative does the same thing as the logic model, but it may be more clear or persuasive, especially if it conveys the program planners’ deep understanding of "the problem," or a passionate argument about why certain strategies or actions are believed efficacious. A narrative can also communicate a programming philosophy or ethic that a visual model cannot.

A second form is a set of "if-then" statements. These statements, which are written out as a set of short bulleted phrases, are unabashedly analytic. "If such and such can be achieved or is allowed to happen . . . then such and such will follow. And if such and such follows, then we should see some decrease in the problem which we are addressing, or increase in the type of outcome we’re looking for." Good "if-then" statements help supply some of the detail missing in a logic model; they attempt to fill in as many of the

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