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Consortium for Organizational Research & Evaluation

services.

The Consortium for Organizational Research and Evaluation has the capacity to provide a broad range of organizational and evaluation research services, including:

Evaluation research planning, design and implementation

CORE faculty and staff are committed to working closely with our clients to custom-tailor research and evaluation plans for their specific needs. Professional planning and design insures that the proper forms of evaluation (for example, process, cost or impact) are conducted employing the most appropriate research methods.

Design of intake processes, program reports, and data collection tools

There are many potential sources of useful information that can be used in organizational and evaluation research. It is important, therefore, to identify these sources at the start of a project. One source of valuable information comes from forms that are set up and maintained by your staff. These include, but are not limited to, case intake forms, telephone and office contact logs, and activity logs that track programs and the number of participants involved. In addition to data from these administrative records, we can develop questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, and observational guides to gather other kinds of information. After the various forms of data have been collected, we can analyze them for you and prepare for presentation. This can be accomplished in any number of ways depending on capabilities and needs of your organization.

Performance measurement and effectiveness studies

CORE can assist with a variety of performance measurement and effectiveness studies. Performance measurement focuses on measurement on a regular basis of the results and efficiency of services or programs. Regular measurement of progress toward specific outcomes is a critical component of managing-for-results.

Effectiveness analysis is used to evaluate two or more alternatives that will achieve the same objective (or level of benefits) without measuring the benefits. Important considerations of such work include the relative costs of alternatives, as well as equity issues. Cost effectiveness analysis requires less time and information than cost-benefit analysis.

Client and organizational surveys

Client and organizational surveys can serve number of related purposes. They can help justify and explain your program by helping you understand your clients’ experiences with your organization in order to see how effective your programs are in meeting their needs. Client surveys give your clients the chance to comment on your program and suggest how it could be improved. Organizational surveys can help measure changes in organizational development and can be used to determine how to more effectively meet the needs of both internal and external clients. They may include employee attitude surveys, job satisfaction surveys, and employee feedback surveys among others. These surveys also can help determine how best to allocate the limited time and resources available in your organization.

Needs assessments

With every needs assessment, the broad focus is on determining the gap between “what is” and “what is preferred.” CORE uses systematic procedures (e.g., key informant interviews, focus groups, surveys, administrative records, indicators, GIS-based mapping) to help clients identify organizational or program priorities based on identified needs.

Benefit-cost analysis

In this era of tight fiscal budgets, cost studies are increasingly important tools for public policy and program decision-makers. Two major types of cost studies, which are sometimes confused, are “cost-benefit” and “cost-effectiveness” studies.

Cost-benefit studies typically promote efficient resource allocation by allowing policy-makers to weigh the monetized values of the expected benefits of a proposed program(s) with the estimated costs. Cost-effectiveness studies, on the other hand, allow policy-makers to express and compare existing program(s) outputs in terms of their related costs.

Performance management consultation
Focus groups
Third-party monitoring system design
Grant writing assistance
Process redesign
Development of performance indicators
Organizational diagnosis
Strategic planning
Policy analysis
Organizational training on evaluation and research