Guidance and resources
Creating and developing a Core Theory of Change
An Enhanced Theory of Change builds on the content included in the Core Theory of Change to provide a more detailed narrative of the hypothesised causal pathways and assumptions included in the theory of change.
An Enhanced Theory of Change supports in-depth evaluations of interventions by clarifying how and under what circumstances the intervention is expected to work, which informs the evaluation design.
An Enhanced Theory of Change includes the same sections as the Core Theory of Change, with space to add more descriptive detail, supporting evidence, and rationale to each of the sections. It also includes the following additional sections:
- Change mechanisms: the underlying processes through which an intervention creates change, explaining how and why each step in a causal pathway leads to the next outcome.
- Outcome and impact measures: an overview of how outcomes and impacts will be measured, for example through self-report surveys or direct behavioural measures.
The Enhanced Theory of Change is presented as a diagram with arrows mapping out the causal pathways. You may wish to use a platform like Miro or Lucid to map out more complex diagrams. The diagram is accompanied by a written narrative document describing the theory of change. This is particularly relevant for a complex Enhanced Theory of Change, which can be difficult to present clearly in a diagram.
Prompts to consider when developing an Enhanced Theory of Change
- Are you developing the theory of change to represent an organisation, a department, a multi-intervention programme, or just one intervention/activity? For example, you might have an organisation-level theory of change, with multiple programmes included in the model. Or you could have a programme-level theory of change that includes multiple different types of activity.
- Are there multiple journeys to reflect within your theory of change? For example, practitioner journey and participant journey. Some interventions are complex and will benefit from being broken down into multiple journeys and maybe even multiple diagrams.
- Are there loops or interactions between activities, change mechanisms and outcomes in your theory of change? Think about how you can represent this in your diagram using different thicknesses of lines where a connection is well-evidenced or particularly important and include a key to explain the visual representations.
- How are you considering the wider context and incorporating evidence in your theory of change? The activities included in your day-to-day delivery may sit within a broader educational theory and be supported by existing evidence, providing an underpinning rationale for your theory of change and contributing to broader sector-wide initiatives.