The Evidence Generation initiative works with affiliated agencies to identify the operational and managerial challenges that can limit an agency’s ability to participate in rigorous outcome evaluations. We help agency staff set a course for building and implementing the analytic resources necessary for evaluation. Typically, the work begins by creating or refining an agency’s theory of change with a conceptual framework or logic model that specifies the program’s key components and their relationship to desired outcomes. The next step is to review available information resources and recommend procedures sufficient for measuring the core components of the logic model.
Team members help agency staff with special projects to address data collection challenges. Depending on the organization and its mission, data collection tasks may include improving an agency’s administrative information, its program documentation, and the use of surveys and interviews. Affiliated agencies are helped to identify and use higher-quality information, including research literature, screening and assessment instruments, other decision-making tools, and even other sources of consultation and expertise.
The Evidence Generation initiative is dedicated to helping agencies and programs interested in “evidence-informed practice” (EIP) rather than “evidence-based practice” (EBP). The key distinction is that EIP sees the development of sound evidence as an ongoing process of exploration and discovery that incorporates information from a range of sources, including practitioner experience and judgment. It is not restricted to the relatively few program models and practices that have previously benefited from funded evaluations with results already available in academic journals.
The philosophy of evidence-informed practice is consistent with this brief video from the Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions in Canada.
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