Other Sources for Community Risk and Protective Factor Information

You may or may not find sufficient archival data to obtain a clear picture of the risk and protective factors in your community. Sometimes, archival data may not exist or may be too difficult to obtain. In such cases, it can be valuable or necessary to conduct original research to obtain this information. This research need not be complicated, expensive, or difficult. It may involve surveys in targeted neighborhoods or researching existing laws in your community.

Often, original research involves surveys with targeted community members or key informants. Depending on the issue being evaluated, key informants may include such people as substance abuse or mental health treatment providers, social service agencies, social service community groups, clients of programs and social service agencies, and local businesses.

Exhibit 2.2: Original Research for Community Social Indicators provides a few examples of types of original research that you may consider either to replace nonexisting archival data, hard-to-obtain archival data, or to supplement archival data. The first column lists examples of community risk factors, and the second column lists examples of community protective factors. The third column provides examples of the types of original research that you may want to conduct to obtain information about your community’s risk and protective factors.