Data + Story: Mixed-Methods Evaluation in Rural Communities
Are numbers enough to tell the full story of your impact?
In this episode of the Common Good Data podcast, Drew Reynolds sits down with Cheralynn Corsack, founder of Local Insight Studio, to explore how mixed methods evaluation can produce deeper, more actionable insight, especially in rural communities.
Evaluation conversations often center on numbers. Outputs. Outcomes. KPIs. But data alone rarely captures the nuance of lived experience. Cheralynn explains how pairing quantitative data with qualitative insight, including interviews, focus groups, and participatory analysis, reveals dimensions of impact that surveys alone cannot surface.
The conversation explores:
What mixed methods evaluation actually means in practice
Why participatory approaches are especially powerful in rural communities
How qualitative insight can reshape and deepen quantitative findings
The challenges of data access and representation in rural contexts
Moving from deficit based narratives to asset based framing
Translating evaluation findings into language communities can understand and use
Cheralynn also discusses the importance of relationship building, trust, and co-creation in evaluation work, and why sharing findings back to communities is not optional but essential.
If you work in nonprofits, philanthropy, or community initiatives and want your evaluation work to be rigorous, human centered, and useful, this episode offers practical insight you can apply immediately.
Our Guest
Cheralynn Corsak specializes in quantitative and qualitative methods that centers peoples’ experiences, giving data back to those who provided it, and facilitating conversations to empower people to contextualize, understand, and use their data to take action.
Cheralynn earned her Master of Public Health in Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health at University of California, Berkeley where she was trained in program planning and evaluation and quantitative and qualitative methods. She earned her Bachelor's of Science from University of South Florida in Public Health and served as an AmeriCorps Service Member outside Atlanta, GA working with youth with behavioral disabilities.
Cheralynn was born and raised in beautiful, rural New Hampshire and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. In her free time, Cheralynn casually bikes around Atlanta and plays volleyball.
