Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment
Program Planning, Research and Development
We can help with a variety of program planning and information management needs. Program planning should be built on a solid understanding of the needs of your organization and the people you serve, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of your current methods of meeting these needs. You may already have a good understanding of these foundations, but if not, we can work with you to develop this information by reviewing your current situation, conducting surveys or interviews, or conducting formal needs assessments.
After you have identified a general goal or set of goals you wish to accomplish, or a problem or set of problems you want to solve, there will still typically be a need to carefully map the steps necessary to reach those outcomes, and the type of information you will need in order to make mid-course corrections and know if your plan is working. This is more difficult than it sounds, and rushing past this stage is likely to cause problems later. We can facilitate the process of articulating these details in a way that will make your work flow more smoothly and successfully.
Once you know what specific improvements you wish to make, there may be no need to reinvent the wheel. Perhaps others have already generated research findings, program models or other resources which can be applied or modified in your situation. We can assist you in searching for these resources and evaluating the appropriateness of existing models for your needs.
Program development includes planning how you will gather and use information as your improvements are implemented. Building an effective management information system from the beginning will greatly ease the task of managing new processes, personnel, and resources and simultaneously documenting outcomes to show how well your efforts are working. We can work with you to design and build this system, incorporating some or all of our evaluation services according to your specific needs.