Estimating the needs of the homeless and low-income population in Chicago is essential before the research is initiated. Needs assessment allows understanding of the necessities issue among the targeted population to better clarify their problems and reorient Outreach Chicago’s performance (Adler & Clark, 2015). Homeless people, veterans, and those who are financially unstable can be asked what obstacles they struggle to solve the most and what necessities could be more useful to get from outreach services. The list of more essential items could direct the research to the more precise and accurate questions in the interview. It could also help analyze data with a better understanding of the targeted group and assist in proposing solutions at the end of the study.
After the research is done and the ways to make the company’s service better are highlighted, evaluation studies can be realized. The new changes inserted in the company’s work can be assessed with evaluation research by studying the general satisfaction of the clients after implemented modifications. To make sure the program is successful, formative analysis can be used by value changes according to the information gathered from the interviews whilst the study is implemented (Buelin et al., 2019). For instance, Outreach Chicago’s clients might state that they find food packages the most unnecessary and they would have replaced food with a bigger number of hygiene products. Then, the company can start realizing the changes according to the reviews from the interviews and gather new feedback from the clients during the research realization.
Another type of evaluation is process evaluation, which estimates whether the program is being realized as designed. In other words, it might be useful to assess how different the service delivery is in various regions of Outreach Chicago’s performance to compare the quality of service the customers receive. Finally, the outcome evaluation could help the researcher understand if the implementation of qualitative research on general satisfaction with the service provided by Outreach Chicago accomplishes the company’s goals and positively affects its planned result. The latter can be estimated by repeating surveys and getting reviews from the customers with a new set of aid provided by the company.
References
Adler, E. S., & Clark, R. (2015). How it’s done: An invitation to social research (5th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Publishing.
Buelin, J., Ernst, J. V., Kelly, D. P., & DeLuca, V. W. (2019). Formative evaluation techniques. Technology and Engineering Teacher, 78(5), 21-23.