Racial Equity Tools

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Data Collection Methods

Overview

This section includes a number of resources, tools and Tip Sheets on many forms of data collection used in evaluation: surveys, focus groups, group data, community mapping. There are also resources on some other methods, such as ethnography and story-gathering. Some of the resources also show how particular methods have been adapted for particular issues – for example, evaluation of advocacy. For more, see also the sections on Inclusive Evaluation and Evaluation Basics, and the Tip Sheets on How Can We Design Focus Groups to Give Us the Best Information Possible, and How Can We Design Survey Interviews and Questionnaires to Give Us the Best Information Possible. Both Tip Sheets provide information that takes into account race, racism and privilege in the processes and content of those forms of data collection.

Tipsheets

• How Can We Design Survey Interviews And Questionnaires To Give Us The Best Information Possible?
  Center for Assessment and Policy Development
• How Can We Design Focus Groups To Give Us The Best Information Possible?
  Center for Assessment and Policy Development

Tools

• What You Should Do If You Haven't Gotten a Respectable Response Rate
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Collecting Group Data: Nominal Group Technique
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Collecting Group Data: Delphi Technique
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Focus Group Interviews
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Collecting Group Data: Affinity Diagram
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Survey Procedures
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Methods for Collecting Information
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Record the Decisions You Make with Your Data
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Community Mapping
  PolicyLink
• A Handbook of Data Collection Tools: Companion to a " Guide for Measuring Advocacy and Policy"
  Organizational Research Services
• Moving Toward Equity Data Review Tool
  Center on Great Teachers & Leaders at American Institutes for Research

Resources

• Sampling
  Ellen Taylor-Powell , University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• Collecting Evaluation Data: An Overview of Sources and Methods
  Ellen Taylor-Powell and Sara Steele , University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
• We Did it Ourselves: An Evaluation Guidebook (Chapter 10)
  SRI International , Sierra Health Foundation
• Best Practices for Survey and Public Opinion Research
  The American Association for Public Opinion Research
• Survey Design
  Creative Research Systems
• Basics of Conducting Focus Groups
  Authenticity Consulting, LLC
• Getting Inside the Story: Ethnographic Approaches to Evaluation
  GrantCraft
• Measuring Impact Isn’t for Everyone
  Mary Kay Gugerty & Dean Karlan
• Lean Data Approaches to Measure Social Impact
  Acumen
• 2 of 5: BY THE NUMBERS using disaggregated data to inform policies, practices and decision-making
  The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Why Am I Always Being Researched?
  Chicago Beyond

Also in this section:

• Collecting Data
• Information Sources