A Practitioner Tool for Developing and Measuring the Results of Interventions

Abstract

It is not uncommon for practitioners to attempt to address a wicked problem by developing an intervention that only addresses a few of the problem’s underpinning causal factors and not the wicked problem in its entirety. To address the whole wicked problem, practitioners need to work through collaborative networks to transition ecosystems of initiatives to a new improved state, or develop interventions that create systems change by influencing others to take action. This paper examines a matrix tool that was created to assist practitioners to develop and evaluate interventions that address simple, complicated, complex and wicked problems. The tool highlights that the type of intervention and the type of measurement that is most appropriate will depend on the scope and the causal logic of the intervention. The four quadrants of the matrix are: basic services, integrated services, social movements and solution ecosystems. To demonstrate how this tool can assist practitioners to develop and measure the results of initiatives, the paper refers to two Australian case studies.