How to Develop a Qualitative Evaluation Plan for a Complex National Intervention: Key Steps and Reflections from the RADx-UP Program

Abstract

This article describes the formative process of developing and implementing a Qualitative Evaluation Plan (QEP) for a large-scale, National Institute of Health (NIH) supported program: Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics — Underserved Populations (RADx-UP). RADx-UP includes over 137 projects in the United States that aim to ensure that all Americans have access to timely, accurate diagnostics for COVID-19, with a specific focus on populations the pandemic disproportionately affects. As part of a comprehensive, mixed-methods strategic evaluation plan, our team developed the QEP. We employed qualitative methods to understand RADx-UP academic and community partners’ experiences implementing community-engaged research strategies, and to understand how projects addressed COVID-19 outreach, testing, and response efforts in-depth. This paper describes how our evaluation team developed the QEP in three phases. Within these phases, we describe our processes related to planning the QEP, sampling from a diverse frame of projects, creating interview guides, collecting interview data, analyzing data, and disseminating findings. We provide our key takeaways and lessons learned from creating a QEP for a large-scale research initiative that other researchers may consider when creating similar evaluation plans.