Synergy provides clients with the ability to gain greater insight from their data.  Deploying a range of advanced analytic techniques, we unearth patterns that might otherwise be hidden, informing critical debates with meaningful understanding.  Synergy’s findings have been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals as well as under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education. Our data analytics experts employ such methods as multivariate regression techniques, principal component analysis and factor analysis, geographic modeling, and other statistical techniques in psychology, epidemiology and other fields.

Synergy's evaluation team designs needs assessments; experimental and quasi-experimental studies; trend, gap, and cost-benefit analyses; environmental scans; and case studies using the appropriate methods for the program. Our data collection approaches include site visits, focus groups, cognitive interviews, multimodal surveys, including online surveys, geostatistical mapping, literature reviews, and environmental scans.

Our analytic skills range from the quantitative—such as national estimates using complex survey and sampling design, experiments embedded in complex surveys, appropriate tests of significance, and multivariate data analyses—to qualitative approaches, such as content analysis, coding of open-ended questions, and focus groups. We bring rigor and objectivity to our work by following the position statements on ethical and cultural competency set forth by the American Educational Research Association, the American Evaluation Association, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Health Resources & Services Administration, and the American Association for Public Opinion Research.