Research Plan

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are people who have a stake of some form in the program, deal day to day with the clients, are program participants, families of program participants, funding sources, and get paid to provide services (Linfield & Posavac, 2019). Within my evaluation there are a few stakeholders that must be considered. In my evaluation I would be evaluating the mental health population of the agency Southside Community Services Board, the stakeholders are the executive director, the staff, and the participants they serve. These stakeholders are the ones who are going to be affected the most and involved in the outcome. The executive director is the coordinator of the programs at the Southside Community Services Board. The director also is involved with the clients who are participants in the program. Their role in my evaluation is to provide information about the past clients of the program. The staff members who are there and deal day to day with the clients, role would be providing information on the current participants. The clients play an important role in my evaluation. The current clients of the program are my main focus of my evaluation. I will be evaluating their progress in the program and ensuring their needs are being met.

Type of Evaluation

The type of evaluation I will be conducting for my evaluation is the Improvement Focused Approach. The improvement focused approach is serving the needs of stakeholder, provides valid information, and offer alternative point of view to those serving program participants (Linfield & Posavac, 2019).  The purpose of my evaluation of the Southside Community Services Board is to help improve any areas of the program that needs improvement. According to the text, “Improvements can be made in programs when discrepancies are noted between what is observed and what was planned, projected, or needed” (Linfield & Posavac, 2019). This evaluation will help meet the unmet needs of the program population they serve.  This type of evaluation is necessary for an effective evaluation.

Research Question

My purpose of my evaluation is to ensure that Southside Community Services Board is upholding their mission and purpose to the mental and behavioral health population they serve. My research question is to evaluate the effectiveness of the program and ensuring the population they serve needs are being met. I want to know if there are any improvements needed in the program. I know with my research question I will gather information that is noneffective, but my purpose is to improve effectiveness. Southside Community Services Board serves a population that is much needed in skill building.

Data Collection

For my evaluation data collection, I plan to use observation. By using observations, I will be observing the clients to see what they are receiving from the program. I will be observing to see if the program is beneficial to the client’s needs. I can gather information through observation. The information I will be gathering is based off what I seen or heard while observing the program.

Interview is another form of data collection I can utilize for my evaluation. Interviewing will give me on hands on information about the program. I will interview clients who are higher functioning and able to comprehend what I am asking them, and staff of the Southside Community Services Board. While interviewing the clients I will ask them questions that relate to what they think of the program, and if it is meeting their needs. The participants of the agency can provide good data information on many objective aspects of the program (Linfield & Posavac, 2019). I will ask the staff how the program is going, are they meeting clients needs, and what are some changes that need to be made, if any.

Records of the program will also be a beneficial data collection for my evaluation. If it is possible for me get access to the client’s records, I can utilize that information. With that information I can see the clients progress from over time. I can see if the program is effective to the client’s needs. With the records I can also access past client’s information of the program. With the past client’s information, I can see if the program was effective for them or not.

Research Method

For evaluation my research method it would be a mix methods of qualitative and quantitative research. “Qualitative information helps us to interpret quantitative information and to recognize the unique aspects of different program settings” (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Qualitative evaluator will have direct observation with program activities, discussion with participants and staff, and examination of program documents (Linfield & Posavac, 2019). Quantitative data is a numerical outcome result in the form of surveys, questionnaires, and interviews (Center For Innovation In Research and Teaching, n.d.). While conducting my evaluation qualitative research will be beneficial by observing the activities of the program and interviewing the staff and participants of the program. This will give me insight of how the program is ran. With quantitative research it would provide numerical data information from surveys and interviews. With the qualitative and quantitative research together, it will provide me answers for my research question. I want to find out if Southside Community Services Board is effective and meeting the needs of the population they serve.

References

Center For Innovation In Research and Teaching. (n.d.). Retrieved from Quantitative Data: https://cirt.gcu.edu/research/developmentresources/research_ready/quantresearch/data

Linfield, K. J., & Posavac, E. J. (2019). Program Evaluation: Methods and Case Studies. New York: Routledge.

Corbin, J M., & Strauss, A. L. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techiniques and             procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications