Director: Sue Giancola, Ph.D. – University of Delaware
The Tracking and Evaluation (TEVAL) Core intends to define and facilitate the short- and long-term success of the Delaware Clinical and Translational Research (DE-CTR) ACCEL Program. Our evaluation plan is based on the theory of how and why the various strategies employed by ACCEL will result in accomplishing the goals of increased research capacity among investigators, improved infrastructure and increased opportunities for investigators, improved community engagement and outreach research programs, and ultimately, the improved health of Delawareans. We strive to provide data to ACCEL leaders to continually improve the DE-CTR, as well as to measure and understand the overall impact of the program. As such, the ACCEL evaluation is theory-based, stakeholder-driven, participatory, and results-based.
TEVAL supports ACCEL in three functional areas:
- Key performance indicator (KPI) tracking
- Core-specific evaluation support
- Targeted studies and broader impacts
These three functional areas address our four Specific Aims.
Specific Aims
- Developmentally define metrics that guide data collection, analysis and reporting for each KCA to aid ACCEL Leadership in directing program improvement, expansion and efficient use of resources.
- Monitor and report progress towards KCA Specific Aims and overall program accomplishments delivered via standardized reports and real-time web-based interfaces.
- Assure quality of T&E activities by monitoring processes and products, and by implementing process improvements to reduce errors and improve efficiency.
- Develop and share best practices in tracking and evaluation across institutions and in close partnership with other IDeA programs, including the National CTR Evaluators Group, and SCTR.
As part of KPI tracking, TEVAL has facilitated the development of a set of KPIs for each Core of the ACCEL Program and for the overall DE-CTR. TEVAL works with each core to measure, track and report on these KPIs. In addition, we have initiated a Quarterly Profile Status Report for each institution to facilitate the updating of investigator profiles and the accurate tracking of successes. Our Core has TEVAL Liaisons at each institution to coordinate the use of these quarterly reports and to continually improve the reports to provide information relevant and helpful to institutions.
As part of TEVAL’s Core-specific evaluation support, we have TEVAL Liaisons within each ACCEL Core. Quarterly, we meet with each Core lead and the respective TEVAL Liaison to review data, discuss evaluation needs, and plan upcoming data collections. As part of ACCEL Core support, TEVAL has:
- Conducted a case study of the Community Advisory Council and engaged in the evaluation of the Community Research Exchange for the Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core
- Designed and implemented a needs assessment, evaluated the Junior Investigator’s Network (JIN), and conducted several event evaluations for the Professional Development (PD) Core
- Facilitated collaboration for an expanded needs assessment and assisted in the design of a Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Core activity data collection form
- Collaborated on the identification of data elements necessary for ACCEL grant categorization, identified and remediated data integrity issues, and planned a funded investigator study for the Pilot Projects Program (PILOT) Core
- Planned with the Database Team for the ORCID launch and conducted our first annual Internal Coalition Effectiveness (ICE) survey for the Administrative (ADMIN) Core
Our third functional area, Targeted Studies and Broader Impacts, involves both understanding ACCEL’s impact on and contribution to the health of Delawareans and sharing best practices in Tracking and Evaluation with the greater research community within Delaware and beyond. As such, we have initiated a 10-year retrospective examination of Delaware Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs) and a mapping of the 2019, 2016 and 2013 CHNAs of all major health systems in Delaware to ACCEL’s efforts and priorities. We also have completed the first phase of a targeted impact study focused on Rehabilitation. TEVAL also collaborates on two strategic partnerships: the Health Community of Delaware and Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Both partnerships intend to work with community organizations on building evaluation capacity, collecting data to inform their ongoing work, and identifying areas of future collaboration. Finally, TEVAL facilities the National CTR Evaluators Group and works with other CTR evaluators to share best practices and co-present at national conferences.
We will expand our collaboration with evaluation partners at SCTR, and share the knowledge gained with our local partners at each ACCEL institution, Delaware IDeA (INBRE and COBRE) Programs, the community, and increasingly with those representing national IDeA organizations and the National CTR Evaluators Group to better incorporate these models,. Importantly, the role of T&E will evolve in parallel with the changing programmatic initiatives of ACCEL. To date, we have measured the expansion, utilization and products of new ACCEL infrastructure. Going forward, we will increasingly address collaboration and engagement at all levels, with an emphasis on the needs of the community.