HDFS 461: Program Development & Proposal Writing Course Guide, Oregon State University Libraries

Statistical Resources

Here are some often useful websites for obtaining statistical information. Be aware that search engines miss most of the best statistical information. Give some of these a try before "going Google."

FEDERAL/NATIONAL STATISTICS:

Statistical Abstract of the United States is THE authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Often best to start here.

FEDSTATS provides access to the full range of official statistical information produced by the Federal Government by letting you know which Federal agency produces which particular statistics.
LexisNexis Statistical - Search this database for statistics tables from U.S. government, major international intergovernmental organizations, professional and trade organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, state government agencies, and universities. Downloadable charts, tables, and Excel files!
Child Trends Databank has the latest national trends and research on over 80 key indicators of child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month. Provided by Child Trends, a national leader in the field for over 20 years.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) from the U.S. Dept. of Education, the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) from the CDC, the nation's principal health statistics agency.

STATE & LOCAL STATISTICS

Oregon Benchmarks measures progress towards Oregon's strategic vision. Benchmarks are organized into seven categories: economy, education, civic engagement, social support, public safety, community development and environment.
County and City Data Book is statistical information from the U.S. Census Bureau on a variety of vital statistics including education, health, housing, land area and population, poverty status, and social welfare programs. Data can be scanned on a national, regional, state, county or city basis. All U.S. cities with populations of greater than 25,000 (this includes Corvallis) are included.
Population Research Center Located at Portland State University; includes the Oregon State Data Center, the Oregon Population Estimates Program, and various population research projects.
Data for Local Communities A gathering place for statistical, spatial, and descriptive information about the cities, counties and other civil, economic and natural regions of Oregon and Washington.

ORGANIZATIONS

professional and government

Associations & Organizations is a list of links from the Internet Public Library
Oregon.gov, the gateway to Oregon government agencies, services and information.
U.S. Government Manual for Federal government agency information.

Course Assignment

Develop a proposal for a human services program to meet a community need

Step One: Document the problem. Find statistical information which defines the scope of the problem, comparing national statistics to state and local statistics. For more information see Statistical Resources on this page for some useful websites, or the guide to statistics for more information.

Step Two: Develop ideas for the program. Considering what you have discovered about the scope of your problem, what sorts of interventions are likely to work?

Step Three: Gather research to support the proposed program. State your hypothesis, identify key concepts and list as many synonyms for your key words as you can come up with.

Step Four: Obtain the information. Research articles can be found using good databases and the OSU Libraries catalog is useful for finding books and government reports.

Step Five: Evaluate the information. Here are some tips from the Library Research Tutorial

Step Six: Find funding for your program. See Funding Resources on this page for some ideas.
Don't forget to cite your sources using the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. See this handy guide from another OSU, Ohio State University, for assistance.

Funding Resources

Once you have your program planned out, where are you going to get money to fund it? Check out Resources for Finding and Writing Grants for information on this.

Style Guides Don't forget to cite your sources using the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. See this handy guide from another OSU, Ohio State University, for assistance.