Resources for Grant Writing, Needs Assessment, and Evaluation
This page provides a list of evaluation resources recommended by the Community Research, Evaluation & Development (CRED) Team. This web page is still a work in progress, so check back for more resources as we build this page.
Cooperative Extension Grant Planning
Check out our UACE Grant Writing Checklist for helpful information about researching funding opportunities, honing a project, writing your proposal, and following departmental requirements. Make use of the funding and grant planning resources available to you through the Office of Research, Innovation, & Impact. Other grant planning resources:
Grant planning timeline with auto-fill dates
Detailed project timeline example
Cooperative Extension Impact Statements
If you're ready to summarize the impacts of your program, this impact statement template can help you summarize your work for stakeholders.
Engaging Stakeholders in Data for Decision-making
Evaluation data, along with contextual and demographic data from secondary sources, should be considered when making programmatic decisions. Sometimes data can be confusing to understand, or they do not tell the full picture on their own. The CRED team uses "Data Interpretation Sessions" to facilitate discussion with stakeholders around data. These sessions help decision-makers grapple with the implications of the data for their program/community, and help us as evaluators to better understand the context and what the data "look like" on the ground. These are some of our prompts and helpful tips for engaging stakeholders in data for decision-making.
Secondary Data Resources
Secondary data refers to already existing data that have already been collected by someone else. This includes everything from large survey datasets collected by government agencies, to administrative data about people participating in specific programs, to specific assessments and reports for local programs. A selection of high quality secondary data resources for Arizona are listed below, grouped loosely by theme. All of these resources are free to access except where otherwise noted. These resources can also be found in our Existing Data Resources Handout.
American Community Survey Data Profiles: A user friendly entry point into the vast pool of data at data.census.gov. Includes data on demographics, education, housing, labor & workforce, health insurance coverage, and more. Data are updated annually.
My Tribal Area: Data profiles including both Census & American Community Survey data for tribal nations and homelands in the United States. Includes data on demographics, education, housing, labor & workforce, health insurance coverage, and more. Data are updated annually.
PolicyMap: Interactive mapping tool that allows access to a wide array of data at the community, county, and state level. Includes data on demographics, income & spending, housing, economics, education, health, and quality of life. Data are frequently updated. However, PolicyMap uses a 'freemium' model where some data are only available with a paid account.
MAG AZ Demographic Viewer: Interactive map showing a selection of key data from the Census & American Community Survey at the block group level. Allows the user to generate custom reports for a wide array of geographies. Data are updated annually. For a guide to using this resource, download our MAG AZ Demographics Handout.
Gallup Arizona Project: Center for the Future of Arizona partnered with Gallup to poll Arizonan's every 10 years on their beliefs, values, and what they want for the future. Available downloads include the Gallup Arizona Report presenting the survey results, an action agenda based on the shared values found, and individual and organization-level surveys.
Timely Data Resources during the Pandemic:
ADHS COVID-19 Data Dashboards: Data dashboards providing frequently-updated data on the spread of COVID-19 across Arizona at the state and county level and the implications for businesses and schools. Data are updated daily.
AZ Office of Economic Opportunity Unemployment Statistics: Data dashboards providing weekly and monthly data on unemployment statistics across Arizona at the state, county, and local level.
Census Household Pulse Survey: Interactive data dashboard & data tables providing week-by-week data on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on households in states and the nation as a whole. Includes data on food security, income loss, employment, housing instability, and more. Data are updated weekly.
Census Small Business Pulse Survey: Interactive data dashboard & data tables providing week-by-week data on the effects of the COVID-19 on small businesses in states and the nation as a whole. Includes data on overall effects of the pandemic, changes in revenue, workforce, remote work arrangements, assistance applied for and received, and more.
Feeding America Food Insecurity Projections: Interactive map showing projected food insecurity rates by county, congressional district, and state across the nation due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes both the overall and child food insecurity rates. Data were last updated in March 2021.
University of Oregon RAPID-EC Project: Series of research briefs with interactive data visualizations showing analyses from a national survey of households with young children on the effects of COVID-19 pandemic. Includes data on household financial stressors, mental health of caregivers, relationship conflicts, well-child visits, and more. New briefs are released weekly.
Food & Agriculture Data
UArizona SNAP-Ed Interactive Maps: Set of interactive web maps developed in partnership between UA SNAP-Ed and the Community Research, Evaluation, & Development (CRED) Team at UA. These maps are designed to help staff plan initiatives to support healthy eating and active living in the 12 counties across Arizona that UA SNAP-Ed currently serves. The maps display data related to SNAP-Ed activities, community demographics, economic need, food systems, public spaces, school nutrition programs, and early childhood education centers. Data draw from a one-time data collection effort. A video tutorial on how to use the maps can be found here. A brief tip sheet on the components of the maps can be found here.
CACFP Capacity Builder 2.0: Interactive map showing income eligibility for USDA food & nutrition programs and key community resource locations. Some data are updated annually, and some draw from one-time data collection efforts.
Map the Meal Gap: Interactive map and infographics showing food insecurity rates for counties nationwide. Data are updated annually.
USDA Food Access Atlas: Interactive map showing census tracts classified as food deserts (defined as low-income and low-access tracts). Data are updated every 5 years.
USDA Food Environment Atlas: Interactive map showing food access, food retail, food assistance, and socioeconomic indicators for counties nationwide. Data are updated every 5 years.
USDA Census of Agriculture: Data tables and reports showing data on farms, producer demographics, agricultural products, livestock, and acreage by state, county, and congressional district nationwide. Data are updated every 5 years.
Arizona State Land Department Parcel Viewer: Interactive map showing land ownership status, solar potential, conservation districts, grazing allotments, and more. Data are updated monthly.
Economy & Workforce Data
Arizona Employer Viewer: Interactive map showing employers with 5 or more employees in the state of Arizona by size & sector. Allows users to run custom reports by zip code. Data are updated annually.
MAP AZ Dashboard: Interactive graphics and reports on key indicators for Southern Arizona and the Tucson metro area. Data are updated annually.
AZ Economy at a Glance: Interactive dashboards showing key economic indicators for the state of Arizona, counties, and major metropolitan areas. Data are updated weekly, monthly, or annually depending on the source.
Data on Children & Families
First Things First Data Center: Interactive map showing demographic and early childhood system data, including child care providers statewide. Data are updated annually.
MapLIT: Interactive map showing demographics, preschool, and school data. Allows the user to run reports for many different geographies. Data have not been updated since 2018.
Read On Schools Data Center: Interactive map and dashboard showing school demographic and performance data. Data are updated annually.
FTF Regional Needs and Assets Reports: Reports for 28 regions across Arizona presenting a wide array of data in the areas of demographics, economic circumstances, education, early childhood systems, health, and family support. New reports are published every 2 years.
Data on Health & Wellbeing
ADHS Community Profiles Dashboard: Interactive map and dashboard showing data on natality (births), morbidity (hospitalizations), and mortality (deaths) at the community and county level in Arizona. Data are updated annually.
County & Community Health Assessments: County public health departments and some hospitals are required to conduct community health assessments every 3-5 years to assess the major health needs in their service areas. Find a health assessment for your county by searching the web or contacting your local public health department.
CDC Diabetes Atlas: Interactive map and dashboard showing data on diabetes, obesity, and physical activity at the state and county level. Data are updated annually.
County Health Rankings: Interactive dashboard showing data on key indicators for health and well-being, including health behaviors, clinical care availability, quality of life, and environmental factors. Data are updated annually
Resources for Primary Data Collection
Digital Evaluation Tools - There are lots of great digital tools for gathering data in your community when in-person data collection isn't possible. We've compiled links to how-to guides for some of these digital tools, including Zoom-based tools, Facebook polls, and Mentimeter to help you get started.
- A fun quiz to help you decide between REDCap and Qualtrics
Qualtrics- The University of Arizona provides software licensing for this survey and data collection platform. Qualtrics online support page and topics A-Z. Our team also created how-to guides for a few of our favorite Qualtrics tools for evaluation -
- Email distribution
- Offline survey collection
- Qualitative data coding with Text iQ
- Creating visual reports
Non-Survey Methods for Data Collection - Surveys aren't the only way to collect primary data. Sometimes non-survey methods are a better choice for collecting data about your program. We've created a list of common non-survey methods, summarizing important considerations for each approach and their advantages and disadvantages.