In order to effectively assess process, impacts and outcomes among 46 distinct teen pregnancy prevention initiatives, it was necessary for the USC Evaluation team to develop several standardized data collection procedures, instruments, and protocols that would accommodate highly variable programs without sacrificing reliability and validity. This paper describes two of the seven research methodologies developed by the USC research team. The Decision-making Structured Interviews and Decision Scorecard were developed to identify the processes used and influences on counties' decisions for allocating funds. The Program Plan Index (PPI) and scoring system was developed to determine if program plans approved and funded by county governments met the legislative requirements and were consistent with "Best Practices" in public health program planning and teen pregnancy prevention. Semi-annual reports (SAR) and scorecards were developed to track vender program implementation and evaluation progress. Both the SAR and PPI served as a consultation tools to operationalize feedback to funded grantees to help them improve their community-based teen pregnancy prevention planning, implementation and evaluation. This presentation will illustrate how our data collection methods combine both qualitative and quantitative methods and are used to triangulate data for evaluation results.
Learning Objectives: The participant will be able to: 1) Articulate the benefits of including both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in program evaluation research, and 2) Identify key components of "Best Practices" in public health program planning and teen pregnancy prevention used in this evaluation.
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.