Making Monitoring Work for Managers

Below are the major headings for the various sections of this report. Each major heading is a hyperlink to a separate document, which in turn may contain links to other documents. This format allows us to provide supplemental material without disrupting the flow of the report.

Preface

I. Introduction

II. The Conventional 
Approach

General assumptions underlying monitoring

A. Four types of  
monitoring

Baseline, implementation, effectiveness, and validation

B. The stressor-response 
model

Stressors are agents of change that produce a response

C. Sample-based versus 
model-based inference

The difference between random sampling and sentinel sites

D. Measuring trends

Tracking and measuring changes through time

E. Summary 

Summary points

III. Complications

Major issues that seemingly thwart good designs

A. Baseline monitoring

Problems with establishing reference conditions

B. Implementation monitoring

Should not be a problem if directions are clear

C. Effectiveness monitoring

Why measuring an effect may mean noting at all

D. Validation monitoring

Same problems as with effectiveness monitoring

E. Further considerations

How does one pay for it all

F. Summary

IV. A Decision-based  
Approach

Monitoring can be explicitly linked to decisions using formal methods 

A. Statistical evidence

How to interpret data

B. Influence diagrams

A tool for analyzing decisions

Figure 4.1

Example influence diagram

Figure 4.2

Possible fuel treatments

Table 4.1

Conditional probabilities for example diagram

C. Benefits of the influence diagram

Six reasons for going through the effort

V. Integrating the Conventional and Decision-Analytic Approaches

How conventional methods fit into the decision-analytic framework, and vice versa

Figure 5.1

Flow diagram of general planning, analysis, and implementation

Figure 5.2

How the 4 types of monitoring fit.

VI. Implications for the 
ICBEMP and NWFP

So what does it all mean

VII. Literature Cited

VIII. Discussion Questions

Questions and answers about the report