Tool: DGMT Indicator strength tester

Back to Plan: Step 5

The Indicator Strength Tester Tool will help you to think through any aspect that will affect the appropriateness and effectiveness of an indicator or indicator set. If you would like to test more than one indicator, simply type in the name of the indicator, put it through the test, submit the information and do the next one.  You will see your indicators added to a list at the top of the page. When you are finished, you can generate a PDF document listing all your indicators with their ratings and an interpretation key.

Using this tool accurately is reliant on you reading the information set out in the Knowledge section of this step: Top Three Criteria for Good Indicators.  Go through this information before you start rating your indicators and refer back if you feel uncertain about any of the criteria provided here.  

Are the following statements about your indicator or indicator set true or false?YesNoNote
1. The indicator is valid
If you say no on this one you don't need to continue - the indicator won't be effective.
2. It is measurable and is expressed in terms of numbers/quantities
If you say no - how will you know for certain that change has happened and to what extent it happened? Have a look at the 'basic concepts around indicators' section.
 (i) The phrasing is clear
If you said no to i, ii, or iii you should probably not be saying yes to number 3 because there is a good chance that your indicator will not be reliable if these criteria are not met. If you say no on number 3 you don't need to continue as the indicator won't be effective.
 (ii) The phrasing is specific
 (iii) The phrasing will be understood in the same way by anyone required to collect data on the indicator
3. The indicator will be reliable

If you said no to any of the above questions, your indicator does not comply to the basic criteria for indicators. This means that the probability of it being a valid and reliable indicator is unlikely and will make accurate measuring difficult. Try and identify another indicator or work on the phrasing of this one before you test it again or use it in your programme. Click the reset button to start again. Reset

If you said yes to all the above - how true are the following statements about your indicator or indicator set
Not that much- Probably -Absolutely
1 10
%
The data/information to report on this indicator will be available and easily accessible to the programme
The data/information collection process on this indicator will be uncomplicated and easy for data collectors
The data/information collection process on this indicator will not be a big burden on programme participants or staff
It will not be unreasonably expensive to collect the data/information for this indicator
There is a very good chance that the data/information for this indicator can be collected (and submitted if applicable) timeously
There is a very good chance that data/information for this indicator will be mostly complete - i.e. you will be able to collect or receive most of the data/information that you are expecting for this indicator.
Average (Score/out of 100)

Score Key:

10-49%: Even though you have a valid and reliable indicator, the data collection process is complex and expensive. There is a high risk of collecting low quality data that is not available timeously. If this indicator needs to be monitored routinely you should consider if it will be sustainable in the long term to invest this effort and resource in collecting this information. If this is a key indicator that only needs to be measured periodically as part of evaluation, there might be research methodologies that could mitigate some of its limitations.

50-79%: This is not the easiest indicator to measure and there are reasonable costs involved in measuring it. There is some risk in terms of the quality of the data and its timeous availability. You will need to weigh the costs and risks against the value of having the indicator. It will be worthwhile to consider alternative indicators that might be simpler and less expensive to measure if there are any.

80%-100%: This is a good indicator - well done!