“The hallmark of applied evaluation is that it produces useful, credible information for decision makers in complex and dynamic service settings.”

At EGS, we believe meaningful evaluation is both a science and a relationship. Our philosophy centers on co-creation, cultural responsiveness, and ethical engagement, where community members, program staff, and evaluators work in partnership to ask the right questions and use data to generate real-world impact.

We are deeply rooted in mixed-methods inquiry, drawing equally from quantitative and qualitative traditions. Quantitatively, we use pre-post outcome measures, longitudinal tracking, and statistical modeling to assess impact, equity, and effectiveness. For example, our team has led federally funded evaluations analyzing treatment engagement, mental health outcomes, housing stability, and client retention, delivering evidence that informs decisions at both the clinical and policy levels. As we wrote in our program evaluation chapter, “quantitative data…allows us to comprehensively track client outcomes and engagement levels. This data is crucial in identifying trends, understanding client needs, and refining strategies to improve service delivery” (Smith Ramey & Volk, 2024).

At the same time, we recognize that not all that matters can be counted. Our qualitative work, interviews, case studies, photo elicitation, and focus groups amplify the voices of those often excluded from traditional evaluation models. In Where Everyone Knows Your Name, we noted, “by viewing community members as partners and co-researchers, researchers can facilitate impactful and sustainable transformative changes” (Smith Ramey, Volk & Milacci, 2025). This ethos guides our work with vulnerable populations, ensuring that insights are grounded in lived experience, not just numerical indicators.

We are also guided by participatory frameworks such as Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Empowerment Evaluation. These models promote shared ownership, capacity building, and trust, which lead to more actionable findings and sustainable outcomes. Our evaluation approach often includes stakeholder co-design, real-time data feedback loops, and collaborative interpretation sessions.

Finally, our team brings a reflexive, relational lens to all our work. We engage in autoethnographic reflection, adapt to community realities, and seek continuous learning. Whether we are analyzing outcomes in a peer recovery program or conducting interviews in a rural mental health initiative, our focus is always the same: To produce data that matters, in a way that honors the people behind it.