Data Mining
I have encountered numerous data sets wherein there was no clear idea of what, how or why the data was gathered or how it could be used. More often than not I am able to take existing data sets and work with them and develop meaningful follow up data collection efforts and analysis. This kind of exploratory data analysis is most effective when I familiarize myself with the service provider/business entity and know what it is that they do and or want to accomplish. Data mining can be very informative when working in close collaboration with the client as we examine the data.
Program Evaluation
This also follows with Program Evaluation services. Based on the client’s internal auditing procedures or measures of quality I offer Program Evaluation Services from a ‘Third Set of Eyes’ perspective. I can come into an organization and offer an evaluation of services based on the perspective that I have no ‘vested interest’ in the outcome of the evaluation other than to offer an unbiased examination of data and or practices. Often I have found that internal evaluations can, at times, be effected by the bias of the person doing the evaluation. This is often an unintended outcome due to the fact that the evaluator has an interest in the outcome.
For instance, suppose you have a supervisor responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of subordinates in how they interact with customers. From the evaluator’s perspective it is in their best interest that the evaluation be favorable to both themselves and the staff. Thus the evaluation can be slanted toward a favorable outcome based on this vested interest of the supervisor.
As an un-interested third-party I can evaluate staff performance in the example above without any existing bias in the outcome. My only goal is to provide my clients an unbiased review of the staff, supervisors or services I am asked to evaluate. The advantage of this is that my client receives a completely impartial report of the review which adds to the quality of services provided to both my customer and my client’s customers.