Module 2 Apply It

Referenced Measurement Projects

• The Needs Survey is a collaborative measurement project that explores the service requirements of low-income families in Waterloo Region. It focuses on understanding the demographics of families accessing support, identifying priority support areas, evaluating service accessibility, and uncovering barriers to service utilization.  The survey was used in an initial pilot and validation process in October of 2024 and plans wider data collection in May of 2025.  This survey is open to any Community Services in Waterloo Region to participate free of charge.  In addition to accessing the shared service insights, you will also have access to a dashboard showing your organization specific data.  You can read more about the Needs Survey here or reach out to greta@marillacplace.ca if you are interested in participating. 

• The Youth Impact Survey is an initiative of the Children and Youth Planning Table to measure (and positively impact) the wellbeing of youth in Waterloo Region.  The survey is used to regularly collect data from youth and then share it in openly available data briefs.  The data is understood with youth in a series of sense-making sessions and is used to inform a series of youth recommended actions which are then implemented in the community.  You can learn more about the Youth Impact Survey here. 

• The M4C Belonging Measurement Project is a collection of organizations in Waterloo Region that are measuring their program participants experience of belonging.  The project includes access to a catalogue of validated questions for measuring belonging in different age groups.  You can also join the project to access a personalized data dashboard where you can view your belonging data or the data of the entire collective.  The group data is also viewable on a public facing dashboard accessible on the M4C main page. 

• M4C Belonging Interventions is a list of research-backed interventions that have potential to improve your program participants sense of belonging.  These suggestions are the result of a literature review of effective techniques for impacting belonging.  You can access them (and 10 rules for belonging) by visiting the M4C main page.

Standardized Questionnaire Tools

• Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) Screeners are widely used, validated tools that assess various mental health concerns, including mood (e.g., PHQ-9 for depression), anxiety (e.g., GAD-7 for generalized anxiety), alcohol use, and eating behaviours. These measures are available in many languages and can be freely downloaded from the PHQ website: phqscreeners

• PsyToolkit is a free platform offering tools for creating and running psychological experiments and surveys, with a vast library of peer-reviewed psychological scales. Here is a link to their library: PsyToolkit’s survey library.

• YouthREX is a provincial initiative providing accessible data and resources to inform and improve youth programs, services, and policies in Ontario. The Data Hub offers data on Ontario youth, highlighting trends and issues to inform practices, programs, services, and policies that are responsive to their unique experiences. Access outcome measures, process measures, and qualitative tools, tailored to youth 15- to 24- years old, that assess your program's effectiveness and better understand your stakeholders and program activities. Here is a link to their youth-friendly measures Youth-Friendly Measures - Youth Research and Evaluation eXchange.

• SurveyMonkey is an online platform for creating, distributing, and analyzing surveys, with templates to guide your question design and ready-made samples accessible with a free account to inspire and guide your question design. Here is a link to their templates.