How do user updates affect your SCOPEinsight assessments?
SCOPEinsight’s assessments tools are updated based on user experience. Read more to find out how these updates can affect data comparability, and how to make sure your assessments and reassessments are comparable.
The SCOPE tools
We offer four different tools to assess agribusinesses: the SCOPE Rapid, the SCOPE Input Retailer, the SCOPE Basic, and the SCOPE Pro. Each of these tools is used for a different sort of agribusiness. Because each tool was designed for a different type of agribusiness, their results are not comparable.
It is possible to track an agribusiness’s progress by reassessing it with the same tool. However, we periodically update our tools to improve them and make them more user friendly. Some of these updates can have a significant impact on the SCOPE scores. For this reason, it is important to make sure that you use the same tool version for reassessments as you did for the baseline assessment. If the baseline and reassessment are done with different tool versions, the data will not be directly comparable.
Tool updates: SCOPE Basic 1.0 to SCOPE Basic 2.0
In early 2019, we made a major update to our SCOPE Basic tool. This update, known as SCOPE Basic 2.0, included many changes. These updates increased the reliability of the assessment, which kept the data quality high. They also aligned the tool more closely with market needs and the IWA29, as well as increasing user-friendliness and adding depth and clarity. In the process of making these improvements, we upgraded the entire questionnaire. While some questions only saw minor rephrasing, others were reworked or removed. We added many new questions to the questionnaire, some in the form of two new subdimensions.
These improvements influence compatibility with the previous version of the SCOPE Basic, known as SCOPE Basic 1.0. Approximately 20% of the questions were functionally unchanged, but the other 80% are no longer directly comparable to their pre-improvement counterparts. This means that SCOPE scores from a SCOPE Basic 1.0 assessment cannot be accurately compared to scores from a SCOPE Basic 2.0 assessment. While the overall score can be compared to an extent (scores from the SCOPE Basic 2.0 tend to be lower by approximately 0.2-0.3 points), the changes within the dimensions mean that dimensional and sub-dimensional scores are not comparable.
Tool updates: SCOPE Basic 2.0 to SCOPE Basic 20.21
In mid-2021, we updated our tool again. This update was known as SCOPE Basic 20.21. This update was less expansive than the update to SCOPE Basic 2.0, but still resulted in many changes to the questionnaire. The purpose of this update was to add more clarity to the questions, as well as to align the tool even more closely with the IWA29.
As the update to SCOPE Basic 20.21 was less expansive than the previous update, results from a SCOPE Basic 2.0 assessment and a SCOPE Basic 20.21 assessment can be compared to an extent. Overall scores and dimension scores for the two tools are comparable, but sub-dimension scores are not. Because of the updates to the tool, the sub-dimensions are too specific to be comparable. Thus, if you want to compare results on a deeper level, the best practice is to ensure you use the same tool version as you used for the baseline.
How to ensure comparable data
The most effective way to ensure that the data for your baseline and endline assessments can be compared is to use the same tool version for both. Sometimes, this will mean not using the most updated tool version for the reassessment. However, if the purpose of the reassessment is to track progress by comparing it to the baseline, it is imperative that you use the same tool for maximum data comparability.
Looking forward, we have solved the issue with data comparability for future tool upgrades. Thanks to a new way we have developed to upgrade the tool, upgrades with the SCOPE Basic 20.21 tool will never have an issue with compatibility with future versions of the SCOPE Basic tool. This means that any assessments done with any form of the SCOPE Basic 20.21 tool can be compared to assessments done with any other form of the SCOPE Basic 20.21 tool. However, assessments are done with the older SCOPE Basic tools still can only be fully compared to other assessments done with the same tool.
Are you interested in doing a SCOPE assessment or reassessment with us? Contact us today to see how we can work together.
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