This brief – the fifth of seven toolkit resources that support the Urban Institute’s formative evaluation of the VictimConnect Resource Center – identifies the goals of the planned outcome evaluation of VictimConnect, a nationwide crime victims’ helpline, highlights the outcomes to be examined from VictimConnect’s logic model, and describes how each outcome will be measured and assessed.
An outcome evaluation identifies how a program or service is expected to affect clients or communities and then assesses the extent to which those intended effects have been achieved. An outcome evaluation also provides clarity to stakeholders about a program’s most important goals and produces evidence on the extent to which it is working as expected. The three goals of the Urban Institute’s outcome evaluation of VictimConnect are 1) to examine the extent to which VictimConnect increases the reach of its helpline services by connecting to more victims and more diverse victim populations; 2) to understand whether VictimConnect positively impacts visitors by increasing visitors’ knowledge and their awareness of resources, improving their outlook on next steps in recovery, and facilitating their uptake of relevant victim services, if applicable; and 3) to determine whether VictimConnect strengthens the capacity and efficiency of community providers to offer high-quality services to victims. The four research questions outlined in this brief guide the implementation and outcome evaluation of VictimConnect. Data sources and sampling methods are described. This outcome evaluation of VictimConnect is envisioned to be conducted in conjunction with an implementation evaluation in collaboration with the National Center for Victims of Crime. 21 references and appended table of the “Outcome Evaluation Roadmap”