Much of our work focuses on providing useful information to program managers and policymakers. The evaluation projects we design and the technical assistance we provide are formulated to improve the lives of those who face significant social and economic barriers.
Four core values guide our work:
Enhance individual, family, and community well-being.
Address social & economic inequities.
People, programs, and communities are embedded within a larger social, political, economic, and cultural context. That’s why we identify and consider those economic and social settings when conducting a research or evaluation project. We seek to leverage existing resources and build collaborations among service providers, courts, and other stakeholders.
Implement evidence-based strategies.
We believe in evidence-based policy and practice. We use rigorous and innovative methods to collect and analyze quality data that will generate results. We also help programs improve their data monitoring and performance measurement, so they can engage in continuous quality improvement practices.
Communicate clearly with a variety of audiences.
We write readable reports, policy briefs, and journal articles. We prepare Infographics that make quantitative results accessible to practitioners and policymakers. We organize and deliver presentations and webinars as well as disseminate project findings to relevant audiences.
Our Approach
Since 1981, CPR has conducted hundreds of projects with various topics, scope, budgets, and timelines for a wide range of audiences. We know that each evaluation or technical assistance project must be tailored to meet a client’s unique needs. Thus, we collaborate with clients to ensure that research, evaluation, and technical assistance needs and product expectations are met. Regardless of its size and scope, we approach each evaluation and technical assistance project with flexibility and strive to design a useful and practical product for our clients.
Design
Our first question to clients is, “What do you need?” That answer helps us identify what information and products will best serve our clients. Next, we design a project to test an intervention and gather information or provide technical assistance services to meet those needs. Our goal is to design the most rigorous project feasible. We have experience doing needs assessments as well as formative evaluation, process studies, and impact/outcome evaluations. We are also skilled in a range of rigorous research approaches, including randomized control trials and quasi-experimental designs (with and without a comparison group).
Collect
Most of our projects utilize a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) design, and integrate multiple sources of data. We are also well-equipped to collect data using a variety of formats and the latest technology, such as online surveys or in-field tablets.
We handle various types and sizes of datasets, and most of our projects incorporate new data collection with available administrative datasets or program data. For example, data for a project typically includes focus groups or individual interviews/surveys with clients, interviews with key or expert informants, and an extract from the administrative database maintained by the program.
Analyze
Our analytic team regularly conducts quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method analyses. We conduct data analyses that are appropriate to the available data and audience. For quantitative data, this ranges from simple cross-tabulations to more complex multivariate and multilevel analyses. Our evaluation projects also routinely involve qualitative components designed to place findings in the context in which a program operates, and the way such factors mediate service delivery and program outcomes.
Share
We ensure that project findings and technical assistance provision are communicated to and are useful for our clients. We apply best practices in information and graphic design to develop practical and useful products for our clients. This includes briefs, reports, manuals, toolkits, and emerging visual-based trends such as Infographics and engaging slide presentations. In collaboration with clients, we also present project results at professional conferences and publish articles in academic and practitioner journals.