Improve Group Staff members Stacy Johnson, Jill Lipski Cain and Liz Radel Freeman recently posted on the American Evaluation Association (AEA) 365 Tip-A-Day email alerts. Their topic is the community mapping data gathering method. The AEA alerts highl
April 6, 2012 - 10:14am
Improve Group Staff members Stacy Johnson, Jill Lipski Cain and Liz Radel Freeman recently posted on the American Evaluation Association (AEA) 365 Tip-A-Day email alerts. Their topic is the community mapping data gathering method. The AEA alerts highl
April 3, 2012 - 8:02pm
In honor of the upcoming Earth Day (April 22), the Improve Group’s Workplace Environment (WE) Committee is launching an initiative for the month of April called “Planting the Seeds of a Healthy Workplace.” Each week, WE Comm April 2, 2012 - 8:01pm
The Improve Group has recently been working with the national organization Nonprofits HR Solutions on collecting data for their 2012 Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey.
March 23, 2012 - 3:30am
Surveys are one of the Improve Group’s most frequently used evaluation tools, and for good reason they are great way to get feedback from a large group of people. Surveys are generally quite a cost-effective strategy, because after the initial design and launching of your survey, there’s usually minimal added cost for each survey response you receive. Additionally, surveys are so commonly used that most people are pretty comfortable sharing their insights through a survey administered online, on paper or on the phone.
March 23, 2012 - 3:29am
Two survey personal experiences I had recently point out some good – and bad – practices. You may have had similar experiences.
March 2, 2012 - 4:27pm
Do you do client surveys? If so, do you quickly smile at the positive responses but give a lot of consideration – maybe even a twinge of obsession – to any negative answers, like I do?
We recently closed our yearly client survey and already gathered to review results and think about implications for our work. We heard some wonderful feedback:
- Our clients rated us between excellent (83%) and good (17%) on being responsive to their needs
- Our clients also rated us very highly in timeliness, our ethical standards, and in working respectfully with other stakeholders.
February 27, 2012 - 4:51pm
Have you heard of big data? If not, a recent article in the New York Times provides an excellent overview. If so, you might be thinking, like I am, what the implications are for you, the way you work and the way we understand our world. You might also be wondering why this is a hot topic now.
A few major factors are leading big data to be a current hot topic – and these same factors also greatly affect evaluation, research and planning:
February 22, 2012 - 7:18pm
Have you ever surveyed your program participants, and wanted to “fine-tune” your survey as you went? Or have you wondered how to take a retrospective look at results when your surveys have changed over time or when you have multiple survey occurrences? We often work with programs that have several iterations of participant surveys, administered to reach people who participated at different times. The survey structure might also change over time; sometimes different response scales are used, and sometimes new questions are added or omitted to be relevant to different programs.
February 22, 2012 - 6:21pm
I belong to a listserv called Healthcare Information For All by 2015 (to join, send an email). Many of the topics are about medical practices. Recently a string of posts addressed the role of drama and music in health. As I read the posts, I realized that there are many roles that the arts are playing in health: