Government, private, and non-profit organizations alike share a common challenge: the need to effectively research, evaluate, and assess the work they are doing. GEARS team is experienced, committed, and ready to meet challenges in research, evaluation, and assessment. GEARS Evaluation & Applied Research division has over a decade of experience assisting federal and community-based clients such as HRSA, CDC, DHHS Office on Women’s Health, Department of Education, and the Department of Labor. Our PhD-level evaluation project directors, using the trusted advisor approach, have developed a reputation for being responsive, trustworthy, and respectful to all clients, partners, and stakeholders in the project. GEARS takes a collaborative approach in working with clients, viewing them as full partners in the evaluation process and integrating clients needs with sound research and evaluation methodology. GEARS has specific expertise in designing and conducting collaborative and participatory evaluations, culturally responsive evaluations, and evaluating gender-responsive programs and initiatives.
Program Evaluation
GEARS program evaluation goal is to help clients understand their strengths and recognize areas that need improvement. GEARS brings a wealth of expertise and experience that we employ in our program evaluation services, which include the following:
- Formative and Summative Evaluation Designs
- Participant Recruitment and Retention
- Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
- Data Collection
- Statistical and Strategic Analyses
- Needs Assessment
- Feasibility Study
- Dissemination of Findings
Performance Metrics
GEARS works with clients to develop, monitor, and assess performance measures to effectively report and evaluate the effectiveness of their programs and policies. This work includes using performance metrics established as well as working with the clients to select the performance measures, the reporting format, and tools.
Focus Groups
GEARS has extensive experience conducting focus groups with participants from diverse age groups, backgrounds, and geographic locations. GEARS has conducted focus groups for public and federally funded projects as well as private organizations and foundations. With the clients needs as the guiding framework, GEARS designs and implements focus groups aimed at producing useful, informative, well-written products to better enhance our clients understanding of the identified topic and to promote successful outcomes. Focus group research is often utilized in our program evaluation work to enhance clients understanding of their work.
A particularly challenging aspect of conducting focus groups is the recruitment of participants who best represent the target audience. The GEARS team is particularly skilled at working with organizations and communities to identify recruitment and retention strategies for hard to reach populations such as at-risk youth, rural communities, and incarcerated or newly released women.
Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
GEARS typically uses a mixed methods approach, using both quantitative and quantitative data from multiple primary and secondary source to accurately capture and analyze all process and outcome activities and outcomes. For qualitative analyses, we use the grounded type approach to analyze information extracted from project documents and collected from interviews, focus groups, and site visits. For quantitative analyses, we use Excel and PSAW(SPSS) to conduct descriptive statistics, investigate the reliability of each scale, develop scale composites, conduct multivariate analyses, hierarchical modeling. GEARS is experienced in describing and the methodology and depicting the findings in a clear manner that is easy for readers without statistical expertise to understand.
Assessments
GEARS has extensive experience in all aspects of assessment from conceptualization and implementation of procedures through to the management, oversight, and development of well-established measurements. With an unwavering commitment to developing trusted partnerships with clients, GEARS is adept at helping clients of varying expertise to understand assessment findings. We are known for developing partnerships and successfully applying assessment findings to improve program processes, effectiveness of employed methods, and short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes.
GEARS works closely with clients to develop assessments of customer and client satisfaction that are tailored to the unique needs of the clients organization, coalition, or network. Our comprehensive assessment is designed using a variety of methodologies and techniques. It results in organizations having an improved understanding of the reasons for their customers and clients level of satisfaction with products and services, as well as insights into customer and client needs. These assessments also identify areas of organizational strength, weakness, and growth.
Literature Review/Environmental Scan
The GEARS team applies our proven methodology to ensure that we assess the field to identify model, traditional, and emerging issues and organizations/programs possession and utilization of information about occasions, patterns, trends, and relationships within its internal and external environment. These methods help GEARS researchers to understand the current knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic, and is critical to designing new programs or enhancing existing ones.
Evaluation Technical Assistance & Capacity Building
As part of our work with several national evaluations, GEARS has provided evaluation technical assistance to numerous community-based and private organizations. This includes conducting conferences, webinars, presentations, and in-person workshops on:
- Obtaining IRB approval
- Consenting and assenting procedures
- Survey Administration
- Conducing Focus Groups
- Data Entry & Submission
- Data Cleaning
- Report Writing
As part of technical assistance, GEARS has capabilities to create a web interface and develop online portals for project communication and shared access and for entry and submission of evaluation data.
