The CTSC Program Evaluation services are uniquely designed to support clinical and translational science researchers throughout every stage of the projects. Whether you are developing new programs, assessing research impact, or fulfilling grant requirements, we provide comprehensive, tailored support that adapts to your specific needs. Our approach is utilization-focused, participatory, and methodologically flexible, following the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation and the American Evaluation Association Standards. Collaborating with CTSA hubs across the country, we employ innovative evaluation strategies that strengthen both local and national research initiatives. By partnering with us, you ensure your research achieves its full potential with data-driven insights and measurable outcomes. Please note that all services are subject to availability and may require % effort on the grant to fund the evaluation.
How Our Evaluation Services Empower Your Research:
Service Overview: This foundational service helps researchers define clear objectives, structure projects, and build a roadmap to guide activities and outcomes. We work with you to develop logic models and theories of change that are directly aligned with your research goals.
Why You Need It: Beginning with a clear conceptualization ensures that your project remains focused on measurable success. This not only increases its likelihood of funding and long-term sustainability but also provides a solid foundation for future research, giving you confidence in the continuity and success of your work.
Deliverables:
- Customized logic models outlining project flow and key components.
- Theories of change that link your project's actions to its expected outcomes.
- Well-defined objectives and success metrics based on the Translational Science Benefits Model.
Timeline: 3-4 weeks.
Engagement Highlight: Setting up a strong conceptual framework enables a clear research trajectory, reducing the risks of misalignment and ensuring that the project’s outcomes are achievable and measurable.
Service Overview: This evaluation provides ongoing, real-time feedback during project implementation. By assessing the project’s effectiveness as it unfolds, we help adjust strategies to improve outcomes while the research is still active.
Why You Need It: Formative evaluation helps you identify challenges early, giving you the opportunity to make data-driven modifications that enhance the likelihood of success before your project reaches its critical stages.
Deliverables:
- Mid-term evaluation reports highlighting areas for improvement.
- Continuous feedback loops that help refine the project.
- Recommendations for adjustments to enhance outcomes.
Timeline: 4-6 weeks, depending on the complexity of the research.
Engagement Highlight: Formative evaluation is ideal for adapting ongoing projects and piloting new interventions, ensuring flexibility and agility in research execution.
Service Overview: Process evaluation focuses on the internal workings of your research project, assessing whether the implementation is faithful to the project’s design. It provides an analysis of whether activities are being carried out as planned and highlights operational strengths and areas for improvement.
Why You Need It: Particularly useful for complex, multi-site projects, process evaluation helps ensure fidelity to the project model across different locations or teams. This prevents deviations that could affect the research outcomes.
Deliverables:
- Implementation fidelity reports documenting the consistency of project delivery.
- Feedback on operational efficiency and recommendations for improvement.
- Insights on resource optimization to enhance project delivery.
Timeline: 6-8 weeks, depending on the size and scope of the project.
Engagement Highlight: Process evaluations ensure that your research is implemented correctly and consistently, which is essential for maintaining the validity of the project’s results, especially in multi-site or large-scale studies.
Service Overview: Conducted at the end of your project, summative evaluation assesses whether your project achieves its objectives, measuring the final outcomes and overall effectiveness. It includes a full review of how well the project met its goals and contributed to desired outcomes. Requires % effort on the grant to fund the evaluation.
Why You Need It: This evaluation is critical for demonstrating the success of your research to funders, stakeholders, and institutions. Summative reports can also serve as key documents in securing future funding and scaling your project.
Deliverables:
- Comprehensive final report detailing project outcomes.
- Recommendations for scaling, replication, or follow-up research.
Timeline: 6-8 weeks post-project completion.
Engagement Highlight: Summative evaluations provide you with critical, data-driven documentation to highlight the success of your project, making it easier to secure ongoing support and scale your project for broader impact.
Service Overview: This service focuses on evaluating the broader societal impact of your research, including bibliometric analysis of research outputs and a review of your research’s contributions beyond academic publications. We use models like the Translational Science Benefits Model to highlight how your research benefits society. Subject to availability and requires % effort on the grant to fund the evaluation.
Why You Need It: Demonstrating your research’s societal impact is critical in an increasingly competitive funding environment. This service provides evidence that your research contributes to real-world change beyond citations and grants.
Deliverables:
- Developing data collection instruments such as surveys, data entry forms or databases in Redcap (secure and HIPAA compliant).
- Bibliometric analysis of books, articles, or other publications to track author or researcher output and impact.
- Impact evaluation using the Translational Science Benefits Model.
- Evaluation plans for future grant proposals.
Timeline: 6-8 weeks.
Engagement Highlight: Research and impact evaluation helps you demonstrate the real-world value of your work to funders, policymakers, and communities. By highlighting how your research benefits society—beyond traditional metrics like publications and citations—you position your project for increased visibility, funding, and real-world application. This service is essential for researchers looking to influence public policy, inform best practices, or secure ongoing funding. It provides robust, data-backed evidence of your research’s broader contributions to societal well-being.
Service Overview: Our team collaborates with you to meet the evaluation requirements outlined by funding agencies. We help develop evaluation plans that align with grant objectives and ensure that progress is documented properly. Requires % effort on the grant to fund the evaluation.
Why You Need It: Grant compliance is critical for securing ongoing funding. This service ensures that your research meets the expectations of funding agencies and provides them with the necessary documentation to demonstrate your progress.
Deliverables:
- Mid-term and final evaluation reports tailored to grant deliverables.
- Documentation of key milestones and progress.
- Custom evaluation plans to meet specific grant requirements.
Timeline: Aligned with grant deadlines.
Engagement Highlight: Proper grant-related evaluation ensures continued funding by showing that your research is progressing as expected and meeting deliverables.
Service Overview: We provide hands-on training and facilitation for research teams, helping to build internal capacity to conduct evaluations independently. Our workshops and training sessions are tailored to your specific needs, ensuring your team is equipped with the skills to manage evaluations in the long term.
Why You Need It: Building evaluation capacity within your team ensures long-term sustainability and reduces reliance on external evaluators. It also enhances your team’s ability to conduct rigorous, high-quality evaluations for future projects.
Deliverables:
- Tailored Training Sessions and Materials on Evaluation Best Practices: Provide customized training sessions and comprehensive materials to equip teams with innovative evaluation techniques. These sessions are designed to meet the specific needs of the organization, ensuring relevance and immediate applicability.
- Evaluation Tools and Frameworks for In-House Use: Offer easy-to-use evaluation tools and adaptable frameworks that can be implemented internally. These resources empower teams to independently assess projects, track outcomes, and make data-driven decisions.
- Training on the Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM): Deliver specialized training on the Translational Science Benefits Model, empowering participants with the knowledge and tools needed to assess and communicate the real-world impact of research. This training enhances the ability to envision and maximize the translational benefits of scientific work.
- Ongoing Mentorship and Capacity-Building Support: Provide continued mentorship and support, fostering long-term capacity building. This ensures that teams not only learn new skills but also have access to expert guidance as they apply them, promoting sustained growth and expertise.
Timeline: Ongoing, based on team needs.
Engagement Highlight: Facilitation and capacity building empower your team to take control of the evaluation process, ensuring that they have the skills needed to conduct future evaluations independently.
Service Overview: Our Network Analysis service leverages innovative analytics to map and interpret the complex relationships within clinical and translational science research. It provides a detailed visualization of interactions between researchers, institutions, and projects, revealing key collaboration dynamics, knowledge flows, and influential figures driving innovation and productivity in your research ecosystem. Subject to availability and requires % effort on the grant to fund the evaluation.
Why You Need It: Clinical and translational research thrives on effective multidisciplinary collaboration. To transform scientific discoveries into practical health solutions, it is essential to understand and optimize the network of collaborations. Our Network Analysis service provides a critical examination of your research community’s connectivity, pinpointing productive partnerships and illuminating opportunities for novel collaborations. It reveals isolated work groups, underleveraged resources, and potential synergies, addressing which can significantly expand the scope and impact of your research. If you aim to enhance knowledge dissemination, foster interdisciplinary initiatives, or boost the efficiency of your projects, this service is indispensable for achieving impact and success in your research endeavors.
Deliverables:
- Predictive Model Enhancement: Network analysis can improve predictive models for patient outcomes by integrating complex data from genetic, environmental, and clinical records, thus enabling clinicians to tailor personalized and preventative treatment strategies.
- Disease Pathway Mapping: Through network analysis, we unlock detailed insights into the pathways and networks involved in disease mechanisms. This helps identify critical intervention points and offers opportunities for breakthroughs in therapy and prevention.
- Accelerating Drug Development: By mapping interactions between drugs and biological markers, we enable researchers to quickly identify potential drug repurposing opportunities and anticipate adverse reactions, thereby accelerating the drug development timeline.
- Clinical Trials Optimization: Utilizing network analysis to select participants based on detailed genetic and phenotypic profiles not only streamlines clinical trials but also enhances their efficacy, potentially reducing both time and costs.
- Research Collaboration Enhancement: By examining co-authorship and funding networks, we enhance understanding of scientific collaboration dynamics, facilitating strategic decisions that promote more productive and innovative research environments.
- Community and Patient Engagement Targeting: We identify key influencers within community and patient networks to enhance the cultural competence and impact of public health campaigns and clinical interventions.
Timeline: 6-8 weeks, depending on the complexity and size of the research network.
Engagement Highlight: Ideal for large, multi-institutional research projects, our service provides crucial insights that enhance collaboration, improve knowledge sharing, and boost overall research efficiency and impact. Equip your projects with the strategic advantage of our Network Analysis to maximize success and foster future innovations.