Six years of lessons learned in monitoring and evaluating online discussion forums

Abstract

This paper presents the plan for evaluating virtual discussion forums held on the Implementing Best Practices in Reproductive Health (IBP) Knowledge Gateway, and its evolution over six years. Since 2005, the World Health Organization Department of Reproductive Health and Research (WHO/RHR), the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU∙CCP), and partners of the IBP Initiative have supported more than 50 virtual discussion forums on the IBP Knowledge Gateway. These discussions have provided global health practitioners with a platform to exchange evidence-based information and knowledge with colleagues working around the world. In this paper, the authors discuss challenges related to evaluating virtual discussions and present their evaluation plan for virtual discussions. The evaluation plan included the following three stages: (I) determining value of the discussion forums, (II) in-depth exploration of the data, and (III) reflection and next steps and was guided by the “Conceptual Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Health Information Products and Services” which was published as part of the Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation of Health Information Products and Services. An analysis of data from 26 forums is presented and discussed in light of this framework. The paper also includes next steps for improving the evaluation of future virtual discussions.