ATTACHMENT B –PRINCIPAL FOR CASE STUDY DISCUSSION GUIDE
Introduction
Hello, thanks for giving us time to come and talk to you.
Let me introduce each of us. I am ____________, and this is _____________. [typically, two participating]
Just to remind you, I/we are researchers from the Urban Institute, which is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan, research organization based in Washington, DC. We are conducting a study for the US Department of Health and Human Services on the role of faith-based and community organizations in providing relief services during and after Hurricane Katrina. We have completed a telephone survey of about 200 organizations in the Gulf Coast region and [ORGANIZATION] is one of a handful of organizations that we have chosen to study in depth.
This is not a formal evaluation of the services [ORGANIZATION] provided, but an exploration of how you came to provide the services, what your prior experience was in doing this type of work, who you interacted or collaborated with (e.g., other affiliates, other providers, public authorities), and what your perceptions are about what worked well and what did not work well. The results of the study will help government officials and nonprofit leaders better understand the ways that faith-based and community organizations helped in the relief and recovery efforts, so that we might garner lessons for future disaster assistance.
I also want to make clear at the outset that we observe a strict policy of privacy in our research, so that we can learn by hearing your perspective as fully and candidly as you can share it with us. Therefore, we do not report what you say in any way that is attributable specifically to you, and we will not otherwise, unless compelled by law, share what you tell us here.
Do you have any questions before we begin?
Let me begin with some basic information about you and [ORGANIZATION].
1. Name
Title/Position
Organization
Telephone Number
Does the organization have a religious affiliation? [Specify]
2. How long have you been in [ORGANIZATION]?
a) How long have you been in this position__________?
[As appropriate] Where were you before?
b) To whom do you report ____________________[name and title]?
3. Has [ORGANIZATION] historically provided social services directly?
[e.g., food, clothing, emergency services, counseling, mentoring,
employment assistance, disaster relief]
[If no social services, skip to Q.6]
a) Are these as needed (i.e., only episodic), or part of a sustained,
programmed and staffed operation? [PROMPTS: routinely scheduled, number
of times per week, dedicated volunteer or paid staff, dedicated budget]
b) Are any of these services publicly funded? [How much, from whom?]
4. What programs [and/or] policies do you oversee?
5. Could you provide us with the total budget for social services in fiscal year 2005
prior to Katrina?
6. Could you give us the basic organizational structure (or an organizational chart) so
that we can understand where the Katrina relief effort fits in to overall operations?
a) What was your approximate overall operating budget in fiscal year 2005?
7. Are you part of a larger organization, or in any way formally affiliated with a religious
or other organizational structure? [e.g., Archdiocese, Southern Baptist Convention,
PRC, YMCA]? [DESCRIBE nature of affiliation]
Now, we’d like to talk in some detail about the services you provided in response to Katrina.
8. [For organizations in telephone survey sample]:
We understand that in connection with Hurricane Katrina you offered [Mention
services].
a) Is this correct?
b) Were there other services that you provided as well?
c) How soon in relation to the hurricane’s landfall did you become involved in
relief services? [DETAIL: prior to storm’s landfall, first week after, first month
after, forward in time]
[For respondents who answered first week or first month after the storm]
___ Drinking water/emergency supplies
___ Search and rescue activities
___ Evacuation and transport outside the affected area
___ First aid, medical services
[For all respondents] [Use checklist to prompt for related services that might have been overlooked]
___ Temporary housing/shelter
___ Food/meals
___ Clothing/household goods
___ Medical and first aid services
___ Services for the handicapped
___ Mental health, counseling, support groups or other trauma services
___ Family unification or location of missing persons
___ Cash or loans
___ Fundraising specifically for relief
___ Help applying for public assistance
___ Help applying for insurance claims
___ Help applying for FEMA assistance/following up
___ Help getting legal services
___ Spiritual counseling
___ Housing rehabilitation/rebuilding
___ Job training/employment services
___ Child care or school services
___ Transportation services
___ Other (specify) ___________________
d) Were these services significantly different from services you have provided in
the past [social services or specific disaster relief]?
9. Now, to talk a little more specifically about each of the services you provided: [DISTINGUISH, if more than one service]
a) In what time frame were these services provided? [DETAIL: prior to the
storm’s landfall, in the immediate aftermath, forward in time]
b) Where were these services provided (e.g., geographic locale, physical
facility)?
c) Were you providing any of these services in collaboration with another
organization?
[If yes, return for details in Q. 19-24]
d) How different were the needs in Katrina to what you had done in the past?
10. Were you able to do any advance preparation after the first storm warnings
appeared? [DESCRIBE]
a) Did anyone/any organization give you specific instructions about how to deal
with the storm, or what would be expected of your organization? [What, from
whom?]
b) How much pre-storm preparation were you able to implement as planned?
How much of your own physical facility, and other resources, were accessible after the storm? [PROBE: How much damage did they sustain, what other problems hindered access?]
12. How long did it take you to put relief efforts into operation? [DESCRIBE:
hours? days?]
13. Was your staff available to help in the immediate aftermath?
[If no, skip to c)]
a) How many? [what percentage of existing staff]
b) How did you contact them?
c) What problems did you have in getting staff assembled?
14. Have you used volunteers as a substantial part of your programming in the past?
[PROBE: what functions, numbers per week, continuous service or revolving,
supervised in house or other]
[If no, skip to Q.15]
a) Was it possible to use volunteers during and after Katrina? [Why? Why not?]
b) What problems did you encounter in getting volunteers to help?
c) How did you supervise volunteers to ensure that they understood their
responsibilities, knew who to answer to/how to coordinate their work with
others?
15. How did you establish (or reestablish) connections with individuals who would
need your help?
a) Were these individuals principally from the local area? Were they largely
known to you?
b) How did you determine who would receive services from you? Do you think
you missed individuals who did not get served elsewhere?
c) [for congregations] Were they principally members of your congregation?
d) Did you keep any records of who or how many individuals you served?
[e.g., race, ethnicity, age, individuals, families, homeless, income, type and
place of residence]
e) Do you know how many individuals that you served have left the area?
f) Do you know how many of those who left have returned to you for services?
16. Did any individuals get referred elsewhere? [where, why?]
a) Did you refer mostly to your affiliates or organizations in which you had prior
contacts, or to others? [PROBE: nature of their prior knowledge, acquaintance
with referral organizations]
b) Did you communicate with the evacuees or the receiving organizations once
they were referred on? [DESCRIBE, nature of follow-up]
c) Were there services that were needed but not available from any source?
[DESCRIBE]
d) Do you know how many individuals left the area?
e) Do you know how many of those who left have returned to you for services?
17. Can you give us an estimate of the cost of the relief services you provided?
a) [For congregations] Did you receive any funding from your congregation, or
affiliate? [DETAIL: general church funds, tithes, special offerings]
b) Did you get any contributions from private sources around the country?
c) Did you receive any funding from federal, state, or local sources? [Specify]
d) How soon after the storm did you get funding? How helpful was it?
e) Did you have to seek out funding or did it come to you? [DESCRIBE: from
members, local affiliate, broad public response?]
f) Did you try to get any other special funding for your Katrina relief efforts?
[If yes,] From whom? How much?
g) Overall, how easy or difficult was it to get the funding you needed?
18. Can you tell us about how your relief efforts have changed since the storm?
a) Of the services that you named above, what ones are you still providing?
b) Of those that you are not providing, when and why did you stop?
19. Were you aware of other relief efforts and plan your response around them?
[DESCRIBE]
a) Did you have existing relationships with other responders? [DETAIL: in the
immediate area; in other locales]
b) Did you attempt to establish relationships in anticipation of the storm?
20. Did you formally collaborate with other organizations, to plan or implement relief
services?
[If no, skip to Q. 22]
a) With whom did you collaborate? [DETAIL, including denominational affiliate,
umbrella organization, schools/universities, hospitals, other nonprofit, public
agency, location of each]
b) Did you work with or get assistance from your affiliate/governing body?
c) How did you communicate with these other organizations in the immediate
aftermath of the storm?
d) What was the nature of the collaboration [use checklist as prompts]
____ Sharing facilities, staff or other resources, other in-kind
contributions;
____ Receiving financial support;
____ Referring clients out for additional support;
____ Receiving individuals or families in need of help
____ Receiving advice or instructions;
____ Providing advice or instructions;
____ Planning relief services;
____.Other
.
e) When did these arrangements occur [before, during, or after Katrina]?
f) Were any of these arrangements created because of the storm, or were they
continuations of relationships that had existed before the storm? [DESCRIBE, for each]
g) Were any of these arrangements crafted in anticipation of the storm?
h) How did you establish a chain of command or otherwise coordinate with
the other organization(s)? [PROBE: who led the effort]
21. Is the collaboration still in place?
a) [If not] How long did the collaboration last?
22. What other organizations did you contact or try to contact in relation to delivering
relief services? [SPECIFY, what organizations for what services—including Red Cross, schools, universities, hospitals]
Did you work with any service providers, in any other jurisdictions?
[If no, skip to Q. 24]
a) Did you contact any organizations to transfer individuals to their care?
[DETAIL: How, how often, across jurisdictions?]
b) For what types of services?
c) Did you stay involved with those individuals or organizations?
d) Were any evacuees referred to you?
24. What government agencies or officials did you contact, or try to contact, in
relation to delivering relief services? [Specify: federal, state, local, public hospitals, schools, etc.]
a) What help did you seek?
b) Did you try to contact FEMA or the Red Cross specifically? How soon were
you in contact with either?
c) What help did you get [from whomever you contacted]?
d) Had you worked with any of these agencies or individuals before? Did prior
relationships help in getting desired assistance?
e) Did you get any assistance in assessing individuals’ eligibility for publicly
funded services?
f) What help did you fail to get? Why?
25. What helped or hindered your getting assistance from other organizations?
26. How did you get help across jurisdictions, in the area, and especially across
states?
27. Overall, did the networks or collaborations succeed?
a) What do you think were the most significant barriers to coordination or
collaboration? [Open, use checklist as prompts].
___ location of potential helpers
___ lack of knowledge about others’ capabilities, availability
___ lack of communication
___ insurance or liability issues
___ resources (yours or potential partners)
___ determination, willingness to establish the lead
___ government rules, regulations
___ other
b) What would you do differently next time?
28. Can you talk about what influenced [ORGANIZATION] to respond as it did? [PROBE: is response tied to professional, organizational or religious mission]
a) Had your colleagues discussed potential relief work prior to Hurricane Katrina?
[DETAIL: when, under what circumstances, beyond what was described
earlier]
b) [As appropriate] Does the organization consider itself faith-based?
c) Does the organization consider itself community-based?
[PROBE, in what way: local representation on the board, targets a local
neighborhood or community, staffed by local residents, other]
29. What do you think worked well in your response to Hurricane Katrina? Why?
[OPEN: opportunity to review major problems, how they attempted to fix them,
what it worked]
30. What do you think you could have done better? Why? [OPEN: as above, opportunity
to review major problems, how they attempted to fix them, whether it worked]
31. Do you feel you have any advantages compared to other organizations or
public agencies delivering disaster relief services? [e.g., flexibility, speed of
mobilization, access to volunteers, absence of explicit mandate]
a) Are there advantages related to your organization’s size, mission, relationship
with an umbrella affiliate or other organizations?
32. In what way were you disadvantaged compared to other organizations?
a) [For publicly-funded FBCOs] Would you be able to respond differently if you
did not have a contractual responsibility to deliver services?
33. What feedback have you gotten about what recipients liked or disliked about the
services you provided?
34. What would you like to do differently to deliver more effective disaster relief in the
future?
a) What would you change about your relationship with your affiliates to better
coordinate in a future disaster?
b) What would you change about your relationship with public agencies to better
coordinate in a future disaster?
35. Do you have any written documents that you can share with us, such as
emergency disaster plans, MOUs with partner organizations, or meeting notes with
partners or other organizations with whom you interacted around your hurricane relief
efforts?
Thank you so much for your time. This has been very helpful.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Interview Guide: |
| Author | FKramer |
| Last Modified By | fkramer |
| File Modified | 2007-07-10 |
| File Created | 2007-07-10 |