Simplifying data collection for process evaluation of community coalition activities – an electronic web-based application

Abstract

It is important to document and measure coalition-based program activities in order to analyse and evaluate the process of program implementation. This paper describes the development and implementation of an electronic, web-based application to simplify data collection for this research process. Childhood injury prevention project officers collaborated with injury prevention researchers to adapt a process log monitoring system initially developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track coalition activities for evaluating community efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease. The adapted process log was converted into an electronic, web-based application that project officers completed daily. The web-based electronic log proved to be a practical tool that not only simplified the documentation and reporting processes for health professionals involved in the program, but also provided a rich source of data for subsequent comprehensive analysis of project implementation. Development, implementation and evaluation of this web-based process log, to the best of our knowledge, is the only program of its kind in use and provides a simple data collection solution for practitioners, policy makers and researchers involved in injury prevention programs and other community-based programs throughout the world.