Rolling Profiles are similar to ‘human interest stories’, combined with qualitative interviewing and a longitudinal study.   They involve interviewing the same individuals – and a variety of individuals – periodically, across the life of a project, to understand how that individual is changing – or not - (in their knowledge, behaviours, actions, and interactions), and the factors that influence that change.  Analyzing the stories across time, as well as across groups of similar individuals, or even different individuals, is also done periodically and systematically, to look for patterns and trends. 

The changes revealed can be tagged to Progress Markers as well as logframe outcomes.  

The attached resource is a simple 4-page guide that projects have started using to collect this qualitative information (and for many people, to start feeling more comfortable with qualitative data collection and analysis).  Others have taken these 4 pages and improved upon them, modified them and used them extensively in their project monitoring.  

The biggest lesson learned so far with doing Rolling Profiles is that some sort of system, most likely with varios layers, is needed to capture, collate and synthesize qualitative data.  Spreadsheets and matrices are needed to 'play' with the data, organize it and begin to make sense of it.  Further to this, explicit, organized and well-faciiltated 'sense-making' processes and events are needed to interpret the data and use it.