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Multipaper

Using multiple methods to tell whole stories within complex systems: A tale of three community-driven, mixed-methods evaluations of gender-based violence prevention and response efforts

Using community expertise to sharpen the evaluation focus: A mixed-methods participatory evaluation

Saturday, October 14, 2023
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM ET
Rape crisis center advocates were interested in initiating an evaluation because they witness problems with service quality for sexual assault survivors via the civil legal system. Using a participatory approach, we began the evaluation with qualitative focus groups of rape crisis center advocates across a Midwestern state. This helped the evaluation team situate ourselves in the system context and identify specific constructs that were most important to examine further. Then, together with our partners, we used the qualitative findings to develop a focused quantitative survey of sexual assault survivors. The survey will be used to improve rape crisis center practice, as well as inform policy-makers about gaps in access to services for diverse groups of survivors and different community contexts. After discussing our mixed methods approach and how it influenced our evaluation, we will describe strengths, challenges and limitations, and lessons learned from this process.