Research & Evaluation
PHIWM believes that state, regional, and local organizations need access to quality data to understand needs, create programs to address needs, make decisions, track and assess the implementation of activities, and evaluate outcomes of programs aimed at improving health and well-being. We offer a broad range of research and evaluation services designed to help providers, policymakers, and communities target and measure the impact of their programs/initiatives. Our staff have experience in a wide range of research and evaluation services that include both quantitative (numerical data) and qualitative data (descriptive data) methods. We strive to embed health equity into all of our projects, and we have adopted a health equity checklist to hold ourselves accountable for this.
Services
- Identification of best practices through review of the scientific literature and unpublished evidence sources
- Community health needs assessments and environmental scans to understand current community needs, services offered, and gaps.
- Planning and conducting evaluations to assess a program’s implementation process and impact. Activities include creating and implementing evaluation plans; developing logic models; developing and implementing data gathering tools, such as surveys or focus group guides; and working with programs to assist them in developing the structure they need to gather the data necessary for evaluation.
- Gathering, summarizing, presenting, and analyzing data in a way that is meaningful and understandable to a variety of audiences.
- Supporting ongoing performance management efforts through Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) and the development of performance management plans that align with process and outcome evaluation assessments.
- Conducting focus groups, interviews, community listening sessions and other qualitative data gathering methods.
These may take place as part of evaluation efforts or activities aimed at better understanding issues or ensuring a community voice and/or perspective in initiatives.
SELECT PROJECTS
Check out some of our other projects.
SELECT REPORTS & DATA
- Youth Mental Health Roadmap for Western MA (2024)
- Bridging the Gaps: Racial Health Inequities for Black Men in Hampden County (2022)
- Mental Health Inequities Among Springfield Eighth Grade Students: Findings from the 2019 Youth Health Survey (2021)
- 2019 Youth Health Survey of Springfield Eighth Grade Students: Summary of Select Findings (2020)
- Sexual Violence Against Girls and Young Women in Hampden County: An Environmental Scan of Existing Data, Programs, and Policies (2020)
- Springfield Interactive Youth Health Data Portal
- Go Fresh Mobile Farmer's Market Evaluation Report (2019)
- Springfield Health Equity Report: Looking at Health through Race and Ethnicity (2019)
- Age Friendly City Project: Transportation and Housing Assessment Findings (2019)
- Western MA Casino Health Impact Assessment (2014)
Check out our other reports and data resources.
What We Do
