Qualitative Data Analysis for Monitoring and Evaluation Training Course

This five-day course applies qualitative analysis to the demands of monitoring and evaluation. Participants learn to analyse key informant interviews, focus group discussions and open-ended responses in NVivo, to link qualitative findings to evaluation questions and indicators, and to produce qualitative evidence that carries real weight in an evaluation rather than sitting decoratively beside the numbers.

In a great many evaluations, the numbers do the work and the qualitative data is treated as decoration: a few quotations dropped in to add colour around the tables. This gets the relationship backwards. The numbers tell you what happened. The qualitative data tells you why, how, and for whom, which is usually the part a programme most needs to learn from. When that data is analysed properly, it does not garnish an evaluation, it carries it.

This course teaches that proper analysis, in the specific context of monitoring and evaluation across African programmes. It covers how to design qualitative tools that answer evaluation questions, how to analyse interviews, focus groups and open-ended survey responses systematically in NVivo, and how to connect qualitative findings to indicators, results frameworks and approaches such as most significant change. It treats rigour as essential, because evaluation findings are acted on and must hold up. Participants leave able to produce qualitative evidence that is credible to a donor, useful to a programme, and honest about what the data does and does not support.

• Link qualitative data to evaluation questions and indicators.
• Design qualitative tools that serve an evaluation.
• Analyse key informant interviews and focus groups in NVivo.
• Analyse open-ended survey responses at scale.
• Apply approaches such as most significant change.
• Compare findings across sites, groups and time.
• Integrate qualitative findings with quantitative results.
• Report qualitative evidence credibly to donors and stakeholders.

This course is designed for:

• Monitoring and evaluation officers and managers
• Evaluators and research consultants
• Programme staff in NGOs and development organisations
• Donor-funded project teams
• Government M&E units
• Learning and knowledge-management staff
• Public health and social programme staff

The course is built around a realistic evaluation. Participants analyse qualitative data tied to evaluation questions and a results framework, then integrate it with quantitative findings, so the analysis is always anchored to a real evaluation purpose.

• Mapping evaluation questions to qualitative data
• Worked analysis of interviews and focus groups in NVivo
• Open-ended response analysis exercises
• Integration with quantitative findings
• A final qualitative evidence brief for an evaluation

Organisations that invest in this training for their teams will benefit from:

• Qualitative evidence that strengthens evaluations
• Credible answers to the why behind the numbers
• More useful learning from programmes
• Stronger, more defensible donor reporting
• Better integration of qualitative and quantitative findings
• Less qualitative data collected and then wasted

Participants who enrol in this training will benefit from:

• The ability to analyse qualitative M&E data with rigour
• A bridge between qualitative method and evaluation practice
• Stronger reporting and evidence skills
• Confidence presenting qualitative findings to donors
• A toolkit of evaluation-focused NVivo templates

At Strategic Revenue Africa, our certification goes beyond proof of attendance—it represents practical competence and measurable capability. Upon successful completion of our training programs, participants are awarded a Certificate of Completion from Strategic Revenue Africa, recognizing their ability to apply acquired knowledge in real-world settings. As an organization focused on architecting sustainable revenue and strengthening organizational performance, our certifications signal that participants are equipped with skills that drive results, not just theory.

Some familiarity with monitoring and evaluation is helpful. Basic NVivo experience is useful but not essential, as core software skills are covered along the way. A laptop with NVivo, licence or trial, is required.