Products
Each of our products is designed to achieve different outcomes and satisfy different needs. Based upon the situation and objectives, we will design a study that best satisfies your requirements.
Economic and Social Impact Studies
Economic and social impact assessment is an important tool to measure the potential or effective costs and benefits of a program or project. An economic and social impact study goes further than profitability and return on investment studies. These studies consider social costs and benefits of activities instead of their mere accounting costs and benefits. This way it is possible to understand the real return of an investment in terms of better community well-being, quality of life, and serving the common good of an impacted community.
The challenge in such studies is to convert such impacts into monetized and economically measurable effects. The real reason for the inability to measure such impacts is that many positive developments in a society do not have a market, making it difficult to measure their outcomes in terms of their market values. Our research determines this value. The studies are especially valuable for foundations, governmental agencies, and nonprofit agencies.
Regional Input/Output Analysis
A regional input/output analysis can be a component of an economic impact analysis. This method measures the cumulative financial effects of the spending brought about by an economic activity within a specific region. The analysis includes three sets of impacts: direct, indirect, and induced impacts.
In measuring the direct effects, we look at the impact of the expenditure in creating regional output, employment, and tax revenue. For indirect effects we look at the impact of the economic activity generated among the region's businesses to meet the demand created by the original activity. The induced effects focus on the impacts of the expenditures made in the region by workers and others who come to use the services or products generated by that economic activity. Using an input/output analysis one can measure expenditures and employment multipliers for each specific economic activity. Such analysis is widely used by both private and government entities.
Program or Project Evaluation
A thorough evaluation is the key element in the successful conduct of a project or program. Our evaluation provides the necessary feedback for the leadership of an organization that will ultimately implement and maintain the program or project. It also provides summary data and empirical proof that demonstrate a program is accomplishing its stated goals and objectives.
Without a third-party evaluation, some organizations may fail to recognize how different components in the program are affecting the participants or participating institutions. In addition, evaluation helps focus staff efforts and project resources on the specific goals of the program. Our evaluations provide unbiased third-party verification of a program's feasibility, progress, and success.
Opinion and Sentiment Survey or Focus Group Study
Opinion surveys are used in a variety of settings for an assortment of purposes. We begin by assessing the needs of the stakeholders and researching the thematic issues from the existing literature and input from the client. After creating the appropriate instruments, we develop a suitable design for the survey or focus group. Our staff then executes the survey and prepares the data. We then analyze the information to determine the implications of the results and prepare a detailed report documenting all phases of the study process.
Needs Assessment
Needs assessments look at the way things are currently functioning within an economic or social entity compared with the way they should be. Community needs assessments are among the most prevalent projects and have special significance in ensuring that the needs of a community are met with regard to social justice, participatory democracy, non-violent conflict resolution, and sustainable economic development.
Needs assessments are used in many areas such as health care, education, housing, workforce needs, and more. It can be employed for development of an organization's core skills and capabilities such as leadership, management, finance, and fundraising. The process allows an organization to identify and address issues and gain the insights, knowledge, and experience needed to solve problems, build needed capacity, and implement change.
Feasibility Study
There is always a logical concern about the success or failure of any business decision. A feasibility study is a preliminary study undertaken to determine and document a project's viability. It is an integral part of a project or program design for organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.
A market feasibility study typically involves testing geographic locations for a real estate development project. Use of such study is not limited to a market analysis. It can be used for many purposes such as technological, systematic, economic, or legal feasability as well as for more abstract fields such as cultural and environmental analyses.
Public Policy Research
A democratic system requires knowledge and understanding of its citizenry as a pivotal component of its political structure. Public opinion is important. It is beneficial for a society to use scientific research to find out more about the impact of its public policies options. Public policy research can be most constructive when the theme and the premise of the research are not based on a particular political ideology.
We can conduct public policy research within a large spectrum of areas such as global warming, energy policy, environmental justice, property rights, legal reform, Medicare reform, health care, Social Security, civil rights, foreign affairs, defense and reform of various international agencies. Many of these areas are global issues. However, every local, regional, or national economy has its own areas of interests that need to be reviewed. We can bring the focus you need via a study that can be prepared for your specific need.