Most Significant Change (MSC)

What is MSC | Core reading | Online bibliography | Translations | Email List | Trainers | Software | PowerPoints |History |

What is MSC?

In brief: The most significant change (MSC) technique is a means of “monitoring without indicators” (but can also be used in evaluations)

MSC is a form of participatory monitoring and evaluation. It is participatory because many project stakeholders are involved both in deciding the sorts of changes to be recorded and in analysing the data collected. It is a form of monitoring because it occurs throughout the program cycle and provides information to help people manage the program. It contributes to evaluation because it provides data on impact and outcomes that can be used to help assess the performance of the program as a whole.

Essentially, the process involves the collection of significant change (SC) stories emanating from the field level and the systematic selection of the most significant of these stories by panels of designated stakeholders or staff. The designated staff and stakeholders are initially involved by ‘searching’ for project impact. Once changes have been captured, selected groups of people sit down together, read the stories aloud and have regular and often in-depth discussions about the value of these reported changes, and which they think is most significant of all. In large programs there may multiple levels at which SC stories are pooled and then elected. When the technique is implemented successfully, whole teams of people begin to focus their attention on program impact.

MSC is most useful:

  • Where it is not possible to predict in any detail or with any certainty what the outcome will be
  • Where outcomes will vary widely across beneficiaries
  • Where there may not yet be agreements between stakeholders on what outcomes are the most important
  • Where interventions are expected to be highly participatory, including any forms of monitoring and evaluation of the results

Core reading

  1. ‘The Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique: A Guide to its Use” by Rick Davies and Jess Dart, 2005. If you only want to read one document, read this.
  2.  Order and Diversity: Representing and Assisting Organisational Learning in Non-Government Organisations Rick Davies’ 1998 Ph.D. thesis, describing the method and its use in Bangladesh in 1994-5. See Chapter 8 for a detailed description of its use by CCDB
  3.  “An evolutionary approach to facilitating organisational learning” Rick Davies’ original 1996 internet published paper providing the first public summary description of the method
  4. A Dialogical, Story-Based Evaluation Tool: The Most Significant Change Technique. Dart J and Davies R (2003) American Journal of Evaluation 24(2): 137–155. DOI: 10.1177/109821400302400202. The first published journal article on MSC

Online bibliography

  • Go to the Zotero-hosted online bibliography of publications about MSC, to see a collection of 140+ documents, including journal articles, presentations, conference papers and handouts.

Translations

  • The MSC Translations blog is now the central repository for communications and updates regarding translations into other languages.
  • Here are some of the translations completed to date
    • French: With thanks to Lauren Naville <dcg@drylands-group.org>, working with the Drylands Coordination Group.
    • Spanish: With thanks to Pablo Rodríguez Bilella  for the 2011 update/revised version
    • Arabic: With thanks to Awny Morsy <awnyamer@live.com>
    • Hindi: Status of this version needs to be clarified. Hindi speakers, could you help me?
    • Sinhala: With thanks to Arunasalam Vaithialingam <spo2@cha.lk>
    • Tamil: With thanks to Arunasalam Vaithialingam <spo2@cha.lk>
    •  Japanese: With thanks to Hiroshi Tanaka <nepalippine@gmail.com>and his team of volunteers
    • Indonesian: Location lost but search underway
  • Other translations underway
    • Chinese:  Yao Lu <chinaluyao@yahoo.com> is currently working on it.
    • Italian: Maria Fabiani <info@mariafabiani.eu> is currently working on it
    • Portuguese: Orlando José Leite de Castro <ojcastro@gmail.com> is currently working on it
  • Other translations that have been considered, but we have no news on
    • Malayam: Shaju Jospeh <shaju_v@rediffmail.com>  has expressed interest
    • Urdu: Ehtisham ul Hasan (ehasan@savethechildren.pk) has expressed interest
    • Swahili: Kirogo Mwangi <kmwangi@path.org> has expressed interest
    • Russian: Alexander Karpov <Alexander.Karpov@ecom-info.spb.ru> has expressed interest

Email list

To join the MSC email list, answer these 4 questions and we will then add you to the email list

You can view previous messages posted to the MSC email list by following this link: https://groups.google.com/g/mostsignificantchange-msc-2020-email-list/

Trainers

Software

  • Most Significant Change database (online):  ” now available commercially to help manage MSC stories. It also allows you to do secondary analysis on the stories fairly easily. I have trialed it on a few projects and found it to be really good – especially in supporting the secondary analysis, and managing large numbers of stories” says Fiona Kotvojs, 25/8/2010.

Selected PowerPoint presentations

History

[From the MSC Guide, page 9] The most significant change (MSC) technique was invented by Rick Davies in an attempt to meet some of the challenges associated with monitoring and evaluating a complex  participatory rural development program in Bangladesh, which had diversity in both implementation and outcomes. The program was run by the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB), a Bangladeshi non-government organisation, which in 1996 had over 500 staff and worked with more than 46,000 people in 785 villages. Approximately 80 percent of the direct beneficiaries were women. The large-scale and open-ended nature of the activities posed a major problem for the design of any system intended to monitor process and outcome (Davies, 1996).

Rick developed the MSC technique as part of the fieldwork for his PhD on organisational learning in non-government aid organisations (Davies, 1996). Both the thesis and MSC were informed by an evolutionary epistemology. While you don’t need to know this background theory in order to use MSC, you can find out more about it in Chapter 7. It is also worth noting that Jess and others have analysed the use of MSC from different theoretical perspectives to that used by Rick. This flexibility is consistent with the underlying design of MSC. More information on the history of the use of MSC, including Jess’s role in its promotion in Australia, can be found in Chapter 8.”

81 thoughts on “Most Significant Change (MSC)”

  1. Hi,
    I’m looking for guideline of photo story book, a kind of tool on M&E. Could you please share related documents?
    Thanks in advance

  4. While I like the document, I find it very weak that you would publish the document encrypted – how is one supposed to take digital notes on it or mark any passage in the pdf? Do you think it is easy to spot the important parts of the document in 105 pages without any tools?

    Please re-upload an unencrypted version if you care about the user friendliness of your product.

  5. Hi Anna
    Thanks for this comment. I don’t think we realised the consequences you have highlighted, when we originally published the MSC guide. I will look into it. regards, rick

  6. Dear Rick
    can we have a conference call about our solution. We like to position it in the market as a possible ICT solution of your methodology. I’m wondering if you’re interested in cooperation with Flock of Birds to develop a software solution for your model.
    Arnold Zwart

  7. Dear Rick
    can we have a some advice for our solution. We like to position it in the market as a possible ICT solution of your methodology. I’m wondering if you’re interested in cooperation with Flock of Birds to improve our existing software solution for your model.
    Arnold Zwart

  8. Email me at rick.davies at gmail.comhttp://mande.co.uk/blog/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-form

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  10. Dear Rick,
    We are planning on having a MSC training in Puerto Rico and would like to have you as a facilitator. Could you please let me know about availability in April-May 2017 and your rates?
    Thanks a lot,
    Monica Vigo
    (Center for Evaluation and Sociomedical Research – University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus)

  12. Hello All,

    First just wanted to say that thanks to Rick! For this is a great site with lots of M&E tools, tips, and guides!

    Also, just a question on implementing the MSC Approach. I’m currently an intern in Mongolia looking to implement a qualitative M&E method and was flirting with the idea of the MSC approach. Regarding the process of selecting the stories, I just wanted to know if the stories eventually get filtered down to 1 MSC story? Or perhaps 1 story per domain of change?

    I’m just a little confused at how many stories we would be left with at each level of selection.

    Please let me know what you think!

  13. One story per domain would be the most common approach, but the process could be designed to then select one story from a number of 1-story-per-domains

  14. Hi Rick and others. I’m wondering if anyone knows of examples where UN agencies especially WFP have tried MSC either directly or with/by NGO partners. Particularly interested in MSC in complex protracted emergencies like Lake Chad but that’s be a bonus. Thanks for any help!

  15. Thanks for the response Rick!

    Also seeking opinions regarding the selection process again: a hierarchical selection process was suggested, but would it be feasible to go through the selection process as one group? Especially if the organization is smaller?

    Thanks again

  16. Short answer: Yes. Hierarchical process is only one of many options, not compulsory and better suited when there are large numbers of studies to review

  17. MSC TRAINING

    Most Significant Change (MSC) is a qualitative, participatory, approach to monitoring and evaluation which supports discussions between stakeholders about the actual impacts of the activity (both positive and negative). It facilitates change management and organisational learning. It is one approach which helps capture the uncountable things that count!
    This two-day hands-on training will allow you to plan and implement MSC as one tool in an evaluation. You will discover the situations in which MSC is and is not appropriate. The training will be practical based. We will use real data from various projects. Over the two days you will implement the MSC approach several times. At the end, you should have the confidence to plan and implement MSC yourself. On optional third day will address use of the “mscdatabase” to support application of MSC and secondary and quantitative analysis.
    The lead trainer is Dr Fiona Kotvojs. She has over 25 years experience in evaluation and has been awarded two national awards in Australia for different pieces of work. Fiona is highly experienced with MSC; she has applied MSC as part of most evaluations she designed or implemented over the past ten years; reviewed applications of MSC and presented papers on MSC at international conferences. Fiona is also a highly qualified and experienced trainer. She has trained teams who have then successfully implemented MSC on a number of programs. She has also trained trainers in MSC who now train others in this approach in developing countries.
    For further information please email fiona@kurrajonghill.com.au

  21. My apologies, I am still re-constructing the website, including links to docs like the Guide
    I hope to sort it out in the next day or so. Please revisit the site then

  22. Hi rick,
    Will you please elaborate “Where outcomes will vary widely across beneficiaries” with example. Do it means various outcomes with same beneficiaries or various beneficiaries(like region wise, gender wise) with same outcome.

  23. Hi Rabinda

    This sentence mainly refers to variations in outcomes across different beneficiaries

    regards, rick

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  26. Hi Rick,

    Good day! I am an undergraduate student here in the Philippines, and I would like to use the MSC Technique to evaluate a GAD Program. I would like to ask if MSC has been used in Applied Psychology? I have been browsing websites and ebooks but I cannot really find “solid” articles that would use MSC in Psychology. I was just wondering if I could ask your help on this as you basically created the whole ME tool.

    Thank you and looking forward to your response. Thanks!

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