Our Unique Approach
Evaluations are conducted for a myriad of reasons: to secure funding for a grant, to report to business shareholders about the earnings and progress of an initiative, or to promote the success of new programming within a school district. Regardless of the reasons, evaluations measure and document the progress an organization has made towards their goals. Today, organizations are thinking more critically about how their programs are designed, who they serve, and how to best utilize available resources. New approaches are required to create or improve policies, practices, and programs that lead to desirable outcomes for an organization’s stakeholders.
Creative Research Solutions (CRS) has utilized a culturally-responsive evaluation (CRE) framework since its founding to help our clients reach their goals. CRE, in general terms, is an approach that centers culture and history in evaluation in order to address the systemic issues within the communities many of our clients serve.
CRS crafts or refines existing research questions that are specific to each client by considering the organization’s size, its capacity for growth, its budget, and its stakeholders (see the infographic below). We have found that a well-designed evaluation plan framed by CRE ensures:
- Improvements in human and financial resource utilization
- Meaningful engagement with key stakeholders
- The improvement of a program’s practices and procedures
- Creation or improvement of data collection protocols that support growth
The Mission Behind Our Approach
Our firm’s utilization of CRE delivers data-driven recommendations that support an organization’s strategic growth. It is our mission to increase the benefits of the programs, initiatives, and services provided by our clients. Our firm is committed to supporting organizations that provide vital programs and services to underserved communities. We provide the data collection and analyses that include the input of various stakeholders, which allows our clients to increase the impact of their engagements.CRS considers which stakeholders to engage and how best to incorporate their voices into the evaluation, often through a mixed-methods approach including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and other methods.
Our mixed methods approach gives our clients a rich picture of how well their programs are operating. CRS couples quantitative data with the insights found in qualitative data to ensure that the attitudes, beliefs, and cultures of stakeholders are considered in the development and operation of a program. At the end of our evaluation, our clients receive high-quality recommendations that can be used to thoughtfully and holistically better the lives of the communities they serve.
Continuing to Serve
If you are seeking to bolster your organization’s policies and programming, read more about our team and contact us at info@creativeresearchsolutions.com. Operating for over 10 years, Creative Research Solutions seeks to continue serving organizations who are improving the quality of life through thoughtful approaches to evaluation.