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KnowledgeBases > The Writing Successful Grants KnowledgeBase > Element 1 > Activity 1 > Task 1: Get Organized for Data Collection

Guideline:

Organizational data consists of three components to - demographic, process, and outcome. The demographic data identifies a school's clientele and community. The process data identifies what teachers are doing. The outcome data addresses student academic achievement. Preparing first, focusing on how to collect the data avoids costly misdirected efforts. The provided resources offer information assisting the grant seeker in organizing for data collection. When using advance statistical techniques to analyze data, it is best to seek out assistance from practitioners specifically trained in advanced statistics.

Checklists Possible Project-Level Evaluation Activities

This worksheet from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook lists possible evaluation activities for each project stage from planning to policy.

Guidelines Conducting a Comprehensive Needs Assessment

This tool from the U.S. Department of Education's An Idea Book for Planning is useful for managing the data collected during the needs assessment. It consists of two parts: Data Sources Matrix and Data Collection and Analysis Plan.

"The Data Sources Matrix helps organize needs assessment data collection by identifying information sources and methods of data collection. In the matrix, fill specific sources of information you already have on hand from the school profile (e.g., student achievement data, results from a parent survey with results that are pertinent to the planning effort) so you do not duplicate efforts. Then, list any additional information the team decides to collect. Examine each focus area to make sure that there are data describing the status of major aspects of the priority focus areas."

"The Data Collection and Analysis Plan prioritizes the "focus areas" for which data will be collected and it lays out the data collection and analysis plans. First, define the team's key questions, the data collection methods (i.e., surveys, interviews, focus groups, shadowing, etc.), instruments to be used by analysis subcommittee members, and summarize the plans for analysis. List two to three "focus areas" the team plans to study in order of highest (#1) to lowest priority for data gathering. Respond to the questions for each focus area."

Alternate format: PDF

Guidelines Data Collection Considerations

This resource from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Evaluation Handbook provides a list of things to consider when deciding upon data collection methods and instruments.

Practical Tips Advantages and Drawbacks of Various Data Collection Procedures

This chart compares the pros and cons of eight data collection methods.

Practical Tips Statistics Every Writer Should Know _EXTERNAL_LINK

This resource describes in "plain English, some basic concepts in statistics that every writer should know."

References Collecting Input from Constituent Groups

This document provides resources offering basic information on survey design, focus groups, and interviewing.

References Overview of Data Collection Procedures

This document provides an overview of six data collection techniques that can be useful in profiling the school.

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Next: Task 2: Collect Student Achievement Data


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