Section 4: This section will teach novice researchers:

1. The advantages and disadvantages of specific quantitative data collection strategies for rapidly assessing needs and evaluating programs.
2. The benefits of including quantitative data collection strategies in research, including studies using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach.
3. How to develop survey questionnaires and the different methods that can be used to administer surveys.
4. How to conduct the pure experiment, the pre-experiment, and the quasi experiment to evaluate programs.
5. How to collect quantitative data in a systematic manner and in a way that integrates quality control mechanisms.

Example of what you will find in this section:

Experimental Designs. Experimental designs are often used to evaluate some kind of intervention, such as social services or medical treatment.  The various models are described below:

Quasi-experiments. These designs can be useful when the implementation team wants to test some intervention but has no opportunity to do random assignments. Random assignments are not always feasible. In some cases it would be unethical to deny individuals access to a particular treatment by assigning them to a control group. But the researchers would still want some comparative data to argue that any changes found between the pre- and posttest periods could be attributed to the program and not to some other intervening factors. In the model visualized below, the implementation team would attempt to construct a comparison group with similar features as the intervention group. This model can be conceptualized as follows.