Project Profile

Halifax and Region Military Family Resource Centre, Toward the Development of a Strategy for Consistent Data Collection

In Nova Scotia, the Halifax & Region Military Family Resource Centre (H&RMFRC) promotes the health and social well-being of individuals, families and communities who share the unique experience of military life in Halifax and surrounding area.  The Centre provides programming and services for adults, child and youth development, community outreach, family support and emergency services, information services, second language services and support to reservists.  However, the H&RMFRC needed help to collect consistent data about its many programs, services and activities.  Working with the Centre, PMCS assisted in developing an approach for consistent information collection and reporting.

PMCS worked with Military Family Resource Centre to:

• prepare for and facilitate a session with key MFRC program stakeholders to identify and agree on consistency issues in data collection, using a sample set of data;

• review and identify recommended revisions to current data collection tools and methods in use at the MFRC with respect to the tracking of program and activity data that is ultimately used to inform the development of annual reports, and program evaluations;

• develop revised data collection tools and methods;

• develop a set of consistency rules that support and are supported by the revised tools and methods of data collection in order to ensure that all users are capturing data in consistent ways; and

• identify how this revised set of tools and data collection methods fits into a potentially larger, comprehensive approach to program planning and evaluation.