Our Services

CRG staff have had success in securing federal, state, and private funding as well as having an excellent working knowledge of the entire grant development process. We can advise on:

• Funding sources
• Development of the core idea for a proposal
• Potential collaborative partners
• Research design
• Writing and assembling a strong proposal

Contact us if you are looking for a research partner for a grant!

CRG has several decades of experience in creating program evaluation designs to collect and report on process, performance, and outcome data. We work with our clients to plan and conduct evaluations that gather both quantitative and qualitative information to serve these and other purposes. In general, these evaluations are useful for:

• Measuring program effectiveness to demonstrate to legislators and others that the investment is being well-spent. Conducting policy-relevant research to further the effective and efficient administration of criminal and juvenile justice programs and systems in Vermont.
• Ensuring the participants of the program are realizing the benefits of the services.
• Developing a better understand of service performance and the delivery.
• Planning for continuous improvement

EVALUABILITY ASSESSMENTS

Evaluability assessments help program leaders and stakeholders determine what data will be needed to be able to conduct an evaluation of the program. CRG’s experienced personnel consults with organizations on collecting the data that is most important to the organization, the program, and for evaluation. CRG also consults on the design and development of customized data collection and case management systems.

OUTCOME EVALUATIONS

An outcome evaluation answers the question “Is anyone better off?” These evaluations are meant to demonstrate that the program is effective in meeting the outcomes established and determine the effects that the program has on participants.

PROCESS EVALUATIONS

Process evaluations answer the question “How well did we do it?” CRG can help develop performance measures upfront and track the process or in an existing program identify and evaluate the measures. The process evaluation will also help assure that appropriate documentation exists to replicate the program and to ensure appropriate administrative data is being collected.

CRG is the only research organization in Vermont that links administrative data sets from law enforcement, judiciary, corrections, child welfare and community organizations. With the proper permissions, we can add these data to other data sets to evaluate, predict and describe outcomes, programs, and policy changes. Administrative datasets lend themselves to many types of analysis including:

PREDICTIVE MODELING

This technique is used to help predict the future. It is the crystal ball of statistical procedures. Working with stakeholders, we create models that are informed by equity and other best practices.

TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

This technique is used to evaluate the changes in behavior over time. Time series analysis is used to compare points in time and rate of crime, imprisonment, substance use, and other events.

SURVIVAL ANALYSIS

This technique can be used to help determine who desists or continues in criminal behavior, time until rearrest, or reoffending.

In general, qualitative research aims to create a rich description of the experiences, understandings, and meanings that people have about concepts related to specific research questions. Qualitative research is useful for describing complex or unexpected phenomena, understanding how people perceive their experiences, and highlighting the experiences of smaller populations who are unlikely to be captured in large data sets.

Also, in some cases, the data needed to answer questions using statistical methods are not robust, are lacking in quality, are not being collected, or are inaccessible to researchers. In these cases, qualitative research methods can be used to conduct exploratory investigations of the topic or phenomena of interest.

FOCUS GROUPS

Focus groups bring several individuals together to be interviewed simultaneously concerning their opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions about a specific topic of interest. We handle all aspects of focus group administration including: identifying the target groups, recruiting participants, crafting the questions, facilitating the conversations, analyzing participants’ responses, and summarizing the results.

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

In-depth interviews are like focus groups in that they are designed to evoke opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions from individuals to gain insights about a specific topic of interest. However, researchers will talk to respondents individually. We handle all aspects of interviews including: identifying the appropriate interviewees, recruiting participants, crafting the questions, facilitating the conversation, analyzing participants’ responses, and summarizing the results.

CONTENT ANALYSIS

Content analysis uses secondary data sources (e.g., newspapers, legislation, police reports) to answer questions related to how crime and criminal justice issues are perceived/portrayed. For example, content analysis can be used to examine how messages about crime are conveyed by the media, whether organizational policies are consistent with legislative mandates, and the context surrounding police-citizen interactions.

Would you like to find out what the latest research shows on a particular topic? A literature review can help ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the topic, and to identify similar work done within the topic area. It provides a critical synthesis of the relationship among different works and relates this research to your work. Sometimes the literature review is written as a separate report, or it can be part of the introduction to a research study. It is suitable when you want to:

• Review the literature published on your topic area or program
• Identify gaps in knowledge for further exploration
• Compare previous findings
• Identify potential areas for research

Our researchers can assist you in defining the objectives of your survey, identifying the appropriate population to survey, optimizing the sample design, and selecting the best method for survey administration. Once the survey results have been obtained, our researchers will analyze the data, interpret the results, and issue an easily understandable report that is rich in data visualization.

CRG informs public policy through the accurate analysis of policy alternatives and the study of current public policy. We draw conclusions and develop recommendations from data on the policies, procedures, and proposals at issue, and from the relevant scientific literature.