Latest News

May is cherry-picking season, and my family loves visiting the cherry farms in Brentwood, California, where we get our fill of “tasting” plump, fresh cherries as we gather bags and bags to take home to eat fresh or make into other goodies like smoothies and cobbler. Interestingly, there’s a really narrow window of time when cherries can be harvested!

Earlier this year, TCEC rolled into a new contract, which runs through 2030! It is our privilege to continue serving CTPP-funded projects and providing consistent support for all your evaluation needs. If this is “BRAND NEW INFORMATION,” then allow us to detail the ways your Friends at TCEC will continue to be there for you! 

Accessibility is something we typically talk about in the context of buildings, transportation, and public spaces, but it applies just as much to the documents and digital materials we produce every day. 

It's officially "year in review" season, and it seems like every service has its own version. Spotify Wrapped, Duolingo Year in Learning... I even got a notification from the New York Times Crossword app to check out my "Year in Games!"

Of course, as evaluators, we love seeing the creative ways in which data is reported. We may not be able to tell you how many hours you spent listening to music or learning a new language, but after a busy year, TCEC is excited to present our very own Year in Evaluation! 

In addition to the holidays, you’ve got a very good reason for rejoicing. The Tobacco Control Evaluation Center is excited to launch a brand-new resource created just for you: the Data Viz Idea Lab—a collection of over 50 data visualization and graphic design templates and examples that you can adapt for your own needs.

Creating a data visualization is a bit like developing a survey. There’s more to it than just making a list of questions. You’ve got to start with purpose and audience. Otherwise, you might very well end up with something that doesn’t actually meet the need.

For a data visualization to be effective at communicating your key message, you need good data —data that answers your evaluation questions. So the data visualization creation process actually relies upon decisions made along the way of your evaluation journey…. 

Harvest Your Data (HYD) is a platform for data collection and management, similar to SurveyAnalytics. You can find the HYD website here: https://www.harvestyourdata.com/ 

One of the areas TCEC receives the most questions about is data visualization: 

"Is a bar chart or a pie chart better?" 

"How many graphs am I required to include in a report?" 

"We collected a lot of data, how do I know which I should make into a chart?"

This year, TCEC launched something new: a review service to support your FERs and BERs before you submit them. We were excited to see how many projects took us up on this offer and to learn how the service helps ease some of the challenges of writing reports.

At its core, evaluation is about change. In California tobacco prevention, we use evaluation to learn what works and what doesn't, continually improving our efforts. And sometimes, yes, even your friendly evaluation associates make changes to how we do things internally.

Check out what's new and different at TCEC:

Hello, California tobacco prevention community!

I’m thrilled to introduce myself as the newest member of the TCEC team. My name is Hyewon Park, and I bring a Ph.D. in Lifelong Learning and Adult Education, along with a heart full of stories and a passion for supporting those who need it most. 

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the treasure trove of tools and resources on the TCEC website, but in case the “Our Team” page isn’t one you check up on often, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sophia Strohmeier-Breuning, and I’m one of TCEC’s new Evaluation Associates! 

Need help writing your Final Evaluation Reports? Not sure how to get started? Don't worry! TCEC has a wealth of resources available for report writing. 

Reporting season is in full swing, and TCEC has already held two sessions on this topic. This newsletter details the answers to some questions that came up at those sessions.