Section 3 Methodology

3.1 Child Care Provider Surveys

Forsyth Futures interviewed local stakeholders at child care homes, child care and pre-k sites, health care providers, public programs, and nonprofits serving young children to develop and test a survey instrument to collect information about the current data landscape and potential interest in a data hub. An online survey was sent out to 159 child care centers and homes in Forsyth County, and staff from Child Care Resource Center followed up by phone with child care providers who had not responded to the email and conducted the survey over the phone if needed. All respondents were paid $15 for their time for completing the survey. 82 respondents representing 105 sites ended up participating in the survey. Responses to multiple choice questions were analyzed quantitatively, and an analyst analyzed the comments from open-ended responses in the survey for major themes.

3.2 Other Nonprofit and Government Organizations

Analysts also invited 16 people representing 24 nonprofit and government programs serving young children and 2 people each representing one of the major local healthcare systems to participate in the survey via video chat. Analysts then analyzed the open-ended responses for major themes to supplement how respondents answered the survey questions.

3.3 Interviews with Communities Who Have a Data Hub

The Forsyth Futures team interviewed four communities across the country, Guilford County in North Carolina, Broward County and Miami-Dade County in Florida, and Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, to capture information on how those communities are approaching their data hubs and what were the lessons learned in their processes to date. The types of information asked in the interview about their data hubs were: the purpose of having the data hub, funding, management/administration, and stakeholders involved. The interviews were recorded and the following is included in this report: key findings from across the interviews, high-level summaries of each interview, and a detailed overview of each community. The key findings were identified by one analyst and confirmed by a second analyst.