Our Mission
To implement collaborative and meaningful evaluation and research by:
Designing projects which answer relevant questions
Providing results that help organizations learn and take action
Building the capacity of organizations to conduct evaluation
Our Services
The PiER Center partners with communities to maximize the impact of their public health efforts through evaluation and research. We provide expertise and support in planning, implementing and disseminating evaluation and research from local community work to improve community health. Working with the PiER Center means you will learn about the real impact of your work in a way that meets your needs, your funders’ needs, and your staff needs.
Technical Assistance
Collaboration is a key element of every PiER Center evaluation. Building the capacity and skills of our partners through training and learning leads to better evaluation and stronger programs. The PiER Center provides in person training and technical assistance as well as virtual methods of capacity building.
PROCESS & OUTCOME EVALUATION
The PiER Center's expertise in conducting formative, developmental, process, outcome and impact evaluations means the team is ready to jump into evaluating your program at any stage.
WEB-BASED REPORTING
The PiER Center creates custom systems for reporting that can be built right into your own grants management software or serve as a standalone system for collecting and managing evaluation data.
Dissemination
The PiER Center has a core philosophy that dissemination and learning are a critical aspect of any evaluation. We believe that programs will be more effective and sustainable if they are part of an efficient feedback loop where evaluation results are shared widely, discussed frequently and used by programs.
CROSS-SITE EVALUATION
The PiER Center has a unique skill in developing and implementing cross-site evaluations. The foundation of a cross-site evaluation is a common, core dataset based on prioritized evaluation questions and an inventory of funded activities across sites. The core dataset is a critical part of a cross-site evaluation as it allows us to assess the initiative progress across sites and within subgroups of sites implementing similar activities.
DATA COLLECTION
Most of our evaluation projects involve a mixed-methods approach, incorporating and triangulating qualitative and quantitative data to answer prioritized evaluation questions. The methods in our toolbox include survey development and implementation, web-based progress reporting, GIS mapping and analysis, interviews, focus groups, social network analysis, population dose methodology, environmental audits, concept mapping, policy impact assessments, direct observation of behaviors and systems analysis.
Our Products
“Thank you so much for your support! We are proud of our work on this grant and proud to partner with PiER!”
Work with The PiEr center
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS IS A CORNERSTONE of OUR WORK; WE VALUE THE TIME AND EFFORT NEEDED TO AUTHENTICALLY ENGAGE WITH OUR PARTNERS.
Community Organizations
Our expertise is evaluation, our partners' expertise is their work, program and community. We do not just want to hear from partners about their work, we want to capitalize on their expertise in/with their community.
When you choose to work with the PiER Center you will learn about the real impact of your work in a way that meets your needs, your funders’ needs and your staff needs.
Funders
The PiER Center has access to diverse skill sets and expertise within the team and across the Institute for Health Research team. We can walk down the hallway and talk to an expert on diabetes, medication adherence, the built environment, GIS coding, and/or complex statistical modeling.
The PiER Center delivers quality data that is clear and presented using accessible, tangible methods to maximize utility and relevance for all audiences.