Data Sources & Procedures for Collecting Data
Applicants should consider how they will acquire and share data with THIS-WIC, including administrative data or cost/budget information. The evaluation of the proposed telehealth intervention will likely need to include data collection with WIC staff and/or participants (“human subjects,” see the section below for more information).
THIS-WIC will select and provide funded applicants with the instruments (e.g., surveys, tracking logs) that will be used for data collection.
For awarded projects, we anticipate that the data that will need to be collected include, but are not limited to:
1. WIC Administrative Data
- Outcome data on participant characteristics
- Summary reports by time period
- Data may also be used as the sampling frame for the participant survey described below
2. Tracking Data from Telehealth Interventions
- Frequency and length of time spent engaged with the telehealth innovation for both providers and participants
- Other relevant user-data for use of the telehealth innovation
- Note that data should include an ID field to allow for linkage to the WIC administrative data or staff characteristics, as appropriate
3. Cost Data
- Cost data organized by task (i.e., developing the telehealth program) and by time period (i.e., monthly, quarterly) depending on the source; these data will be provided by different stakeholders engaged in the intervention (i.e., SA, local agencies, telehealth intervention contractor)
- Stakeholders will provide information for cost estimates as appropriate per participant, per participant month, or per contact occasion
- For each stakeholder organization, cost documents will be expected to estimate staff time (coded in full-time- equivalent units) and personnel (i.e., managerial, non-managerial personnel) expenditures
4. WIC Participant Surveys
- THIS-WIC team will conduct a WIC participant survey using a telephone interview process
- THIS-WIC will work with grantees to identify a process and procedure for recruiting participants to take part in the survey
5. Key Informant Interviews
- Grantees must agree to make available key personnel involved in the intervention design and/or delivery (e.g., local agency directors, breastfeeding counselors, WIC nutritionists) for the THIS-WIC team to conduct key informant interviews
- Interviews may also include WIC participants; THIS-WIC will ask for grantee’s help in identifying and recruiting WIC participants for interviews
Human Subjects Safety
All evaluation activities involving people (i.e., human subject), including WIC participants and WIC staff, must be carried out in alignment with federal and state regulations, institutional guidelines, and policies that govern human subject research. These regulations and guidelines exist to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects. All research and evaluation involving human subjects must be reviewed, approved, and overseen by an Institutional Review Board (IRB).
THIS-WIC will lead the IRB approval process, and will submit protocols to the Tufts Institutional IRB, which will oversee all research and evaluation involving human subjects. Project implementation and/or evaluation cannot begin until approval from the Tufts University IRB is received. Should grantees have their own IRBs/research review processes, THIS-WIC will work collaboratively with them to complete the review and approval process.
