Social Research
The SPCS provides experts in qualitative and quantitative social research that will provide your project with the solid foundation it requires for moving forward. We built the capacity to engage a broad range and diverse constituency and have worked in partnership with many research organizations.
Our researchers use a range of qualitative and quantitative methodological applications for bringing understanding and finding solutions to complex social issues. Tools used in the research process include; literature / best practice reviews, surveys, needs assessments, environmental scans, questionnaires, focus groups, statistical analysis and interviews.
Evaluation
Evaluation is fundamental to service delivery and new service development and is a top priority of funding agencies and governments. Is what we are doing making a difference? Are we meeting our goals and expectations?
The staff at the SPCS are skilled in program and organizational evaluation. We will design with you an evaluation process that will meet your needs including environmental scans, outcome-based evaluation, needs assessments process evaluation and developmental evaluation.
Asset Based Community Development
The SPCS’s community development work is about engaging people. We work with individuals and groups to plan and implement projects or activities to improve or expand vital social services, come up with new ways to solve problems, and improve the quality of life for citizens – especially those who are excluded or marginalized.
The community development team is involved in organizing meetings, identifying problems, asset mapping, finding resources, bringing the right people to the table and supporting the many talented individuals and organizations in our community in making things better.
Facilitation
Facilitation is a powerful tool providing a focused and unbiased approach to planning. The Social Planning Council of Sudbury’s facilitators have strong leadership and communication skills, a deep knowledge of group and interpersonal dynamics and the skills to design appropriate processes to lead participants through the decisions necessary to achieve their goals. The role of facilitation is proven in aiding successful planning in multiple areas including:
- Group and single meeting facilitation
- Program development
- Network development
- Partnership development
- Policy development
- Integrated services development
- Client and community stakeholder engagement
Data Analysis
As a member of the Community Data Consortium the SPCS has access to significant data bases at a local, provincial and national level. We can create customized products that include the numbers and analysis that is important to understanding the realities of our communities. The SPCS will work with you to determine your data needs and will provide expert guidance on gathering the data and understanding the implications.
Network Analysis
A picture is worth a thousand words. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a tool for evaluating relationships and connectivity. Network Analysis provides the tools to gather data and present it visually using a variety of maps that provide clear pictures of what the data is telling us. It can reveal important attributes of a network showing who the leaders and connectors are, what are the clusters of activity and connectivity and identify who is on the periphery, isolated or not at connected to a network. SNA analyzes the structure of connections within a network by displaying information in a visual graph and analyzing the information through calculations as well as visual interpretation, revealing the collective momentum within a network. SNA encourages cooperation and discourages silo tendencies within networks by displaying each actor’s distinct role within a network. Data exploration is performed by displaying nodes and edges in various layouts, attributing characteristics and metric properties.