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129 3. Do not undertake M&E activities for which there are insufficient resources to provide quality data and results. If there is not enough staff or money to conduct the fieldwork as planned or to analyse and report on the data collected, develop an alternative methodology for which there are sufficient human and financial resources. 4. Ensure that, to the best of your knowledge and ability, the M&E data are accurate. Address any questionable M&E practices observed during data collection or analysis, whether due to negligence or mistakes by M&E team members. Correct any questionable practices even if additional data must be collected. 5. Ensure that M&E results are accurately represented and attempt to prevent their misuse. It is the evaluator’s obligation to present the full and unbiased picture that the data provide and to correct misperceptions if stakeholders should try to present only the favourable results in a public forum, to use the data out of context (level of representation), or to disregard the noted limitations of the approach. Respect for people begins with the premise that M&E staff have a solid understanding of contextual elements that may influence the M&E activity, and respect relevant differences in stakeholders, such as gender, socio-economic status, age, religion, and ethnicity (Hegans, 2008). Respecting people also includes avoiding using incentives, monetary or other incentives with the aim of attracting them to participate who otherwise would have not. To respect participants, evaluators should: 1. Follow standards and regulations regarding informed consent for participants. Informed consent simply entails that we can only carry out our evaluation only after explaining to communities involved why the activities are being done and the intended outcomes both for themselves and for the project/programme at large (Brydon, 2006). Informed consent refers to informing participants on the study purpose, procedures and its consequences and their right to withdraw before giving consent (Lofman, Pelkonen & Pietila, 2004). Determine the appropriate method for collecting and documenting informed consent, whether in writing or orally, given the level of literacy in local communities. A lack of refusal is not considered informed consent. Informed consent is the voluntary consent to participate in research and is required by each participant in any M&E activity (Williams and Senefeld 2007). The assumption is that free choice about participation will result in accurate information (Lofman, Pelkonen & Pietila, 2004).