Assessment Methods and Tools

There are five primary categories of assessment methods: (1) document review, (2) observation, (3) interviews, (4) surveys, and (5) tracers. These are the places where peer reviewers find data to support their ratings. Peer reviewers can also reference empirical data that are not listed here to support their ratings.

As you approach an activity on the site visit agenda, you should be mindful of which tools are most likely to be helpful in that activity (e.g., a discussion with leadership may use mostly interview and observation). The most rigorous scoring will reference multiple tools that converge. Each standard should have at least one tool checked as a primary source of the rating; otherwise, you will need to provide a narrative of rationale for the score.

Tracers represent a method for review of a service, process or person. Tracers can be individually focused (e.g. person receiving service) or assess a “system function” (e.g., leadership, protection of confidentiality). Tracers can also cross or combine both individual experience and system functions. For example, discussion with a participant might reveal his/her experience of a recovery principle in action: “When I came for service, I was warmly welcomed and quickly felt at ease; there was great diversity at the site and I felt the staff embraced cultural diversity-I also needed some help with language translation and this was quickly available to me.”

A key process of the tracer method is to listen to the person receiving service and link to the dimension (e.g., recovery principle) under review. In this case, a link might also be made to the orientation process (system tracer) for peer support staff to review their orientation, training, and performance with regard to cultural competency. Tracers can also be conducted overtime revealing the continuous experience of the individual or the reliability and rigor of the system function.

Following is a list of the common items that you will find in each of the categories.

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