Assessment and Evaluation
Assessment
A great assessment is built on great data. The best place to start is by choosing a well-designed survey of youth behavior and the risk and protective factors that predict them. There are several available, so be sure to carefully consider the length of survey, the cost, the ease of use, and the willingness of your local school system to implement the survey. Surveys are typically administered to middle and high school students.
General resources
Communities That Care
Prevention Needs Assessment Survey
Pride Survey
Youth Risk Behavior Survey
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website is a starting point to learn about a variety of community assessments.
The Prevention Institute website has information about community assessments and evidence-based strategies.
ENACT, part of the Prevention Institute, is a user-friendly database of strategies that communities can implement to improve healthy eating and active living, particularly at the policy and systems change level.
The THRIVE (healthy equity)
Community Health Assessment and Group Evaluation (CHANGE) tool is an action guide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that helps a community gain a picture of the policy, systems, and environmental change strategies currently in place throughout the community; develop a community action plan for improving policies, systems, and the environment to support healthy lifestyles; and assist with prioritizing community needs and allocating available resources.
Qualitative data collection methods
Once you have survey results, you will probably want to dig a little deeper to really understand the meaning behind the numbers. For example, if your survey shows that access to alcohol is high, you may decide to conduct a focus group with students to learn more about their perceptions of alcohol availability. There is a variety of qualitative data collection methods. Click on one of the methods below to see the ones we use regularly:
Focus Groups
Focus groups are a qualitative method of research collection in which a group of individuals that share one or more common characteristics is interviewed by a trained moderator in order to understand how people think or feel about an issue, a service, an idea, or a product. With focus groups, the researcher can collect detailed information from a small group of people that can assist to understand why or how a particular phenomenon occurs. Focus groups should not be used to educate people, to try to come to consensus or agreement about a topic, or when you are dealing with a very personal or sensitive topic. They should also not be used if you need statistical information.
There are 8 essential steps to running a successful focus group:
1. Establish the goals of your project
2. Determine who should participate/design options
3. Design recruitment plan
4. Coordinate all logistical arrangements
5. Determine method and staff for data collection
6. Design and Pre-test questions
7. Conduct focus groups
8. Analyze the data
More information about focus groups:
How to Conduct Effective Focus Groups and Surveys
How to conduct a focus group
Key informant interviews
Key informant interviews are in-depth conversations with people who have specialized knowledge and perspective about the topic you wish to understand. The purpose of the interviews is to collect information from a wide range of people-including community leaders, professionals, or residents-who have first hand information about the issue in the community. These people can provide insight on the nature of the issue and give recommendations for solutions. This can lead to information that could not have been revealed in a survey or focus group. Although face-to-face interviews are ideal, key informant interviews can also be done over the telephone.
More information about key informant interviews:
UCLA Center for Healthy Policy Research
Key Informant Interviews
Univeristy of Illinois Extension Key Informant Interviews
Asset mapping
Asset mapping is an effective tool for understanding the wealth of talent and resources that exists in each community--even those with small populations or suffering from poverty and economic distress. Such an understanding creates numerous possibilities for new and innovative approaches to community empowerment that are compatible with the maintenance of healthy environments. Asset mapping may be used when planning to start a new program, to make program decisions, or to mobilize the community around a particular issue.
What is a community asset?
A community asset is anything that improves the quality of life in a given community such as the skills and talents of community members, community institutions such as libraries, recreational centers, or parks, business that support economic development, local civic associations and other organized groups.
Asset mapping sometimes uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to literally map the assets of interest. Once assets are mapped, it is easier to address community needs.
For more information about asset mapping please click here.
Assessments by Subject Area
Below you will find assessments tailored for specific content areas. These are new and exciting methods that communities can use to understand the community health "story" from different perspectives.
Photovoice
Photovoice.org
Guide to conducting a photovoice project
Active Living Assessments
Creating a more walkable community
Walkability Index
Creating a more bikeable community
Making Your Community More Walkable and Bikeable: a Guidebook for Change
Active Living Checklist
Food System Assessments
What’s Cooking in Your Food System?
A collection of tools and resources about the food system
Healthy Corner Stores Network
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