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Session Title: Putting the Pieces Together: Making Inferences in a Complex Multimodal Evaluation

Panel Session 308 to be held in Mencken Room on Thursday, November 8, 9:35 AM to 11:05 AM

Sponsored by the Government Evaluation TIG

Chair(s):

Sara payday loan  Speckhard payday loan ,  United States Citizenship and Immigration Services,  sara.speckhard@dhs.gov

Discussant(s):

Rebecca payday loan  Gambler payday loan ,  United States Government Accountability Office,  gamblerr@gao.gov

Abstract: This session will consist of a panel discussion of how best to collect, integrate, and synthesize information obtained from a complex multi-modal evaluation. The evaluation of the Web-based Basic Pilot program funded by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services will be used to illustrate issues, such as: how best to use qualitative data collection techniques to frame questions to be used in quantitative data collection; challenges in integrating and synthesizing quantitative and qualitative data collected in site visits; and how to synthesize findings from the various data sources into coherent and practical answers to the questions of interest to the governmental policymakers funding the evaluation. Time will be allowed for audience members to volunteer information about their experiences with other complex multi-modal evaluations.

Using Focus Groups to Shape Quantitative Data Collection Denise payday loan  Glover payday loan ,  Westat,  gloverd1@westat.com Dr. Glover has extensive experience in conducting focus groups and conducting other qualitative research efforts. For the evaluation of the Web Basic Pilot Program, she was the team leader for qualitative data collection efforts, including focus groups. She conducted the focus groups conducted at the start of the evaluation and provided input to the quantitative evaluation team on questions to be asked during the quantitative data collection activities. Her talk will address how to design the focus groups to maximize their usefulness and how to provide input to the quantitative team responsible for designing quantitative data collection instruments.

Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collected During Site Visits Molly payday loan  Hershey-Arista payday loan ,  Westat,  mollyhershey-arista@westat.com For the evaluation of the Web Basic Pilot Program, Ms. Hershey-Arista actively participated in all phases of the site visits, including instrument design, conducting pretest site visits, training interviewers, and synthesizing the qualitative and quantitative information from the site visits (which included employer interviews, employee interviews, and abstracting information from record reviews) to provide descriptions of the employers visited. She also prepared a summary of what information was learned from the site visits to assist in answering each of the policy questions raised by the federal government. She will talk about her experiences during this process.

Putting the Pieces Together in the Evaluation Report Carolyn payday loan  Shettle payday loan ,  Westat,  carolynshettle@westat.com Dr. Shettle has extensive experience in research design and report writing. For the evaluation of the Web Basic Pilot Program, she served as Project Director and had lead responsibility for writing the final report. She will talk about the challenges faced in writing reports requiring the synthesis of sometimes contradictory findings in order to maximize its usefulness to the government and other policy makers.