Evaluation Methodology

Several research methods were proposed to evaluate this initiative, as described below.

Document Review

WD and the ABSN programs in each of the four regions provided the evaluators with a number of program documents for review, with 61 reviewed overall. These documents are summarized in the table below by region and type.

Table 3: Summary of program documents

Document Type	British Columbia	Alberta	Saskatchewan	Manitoba
Annual/ Manager Reports	3	0	1	1
Activity Reports	3	0	3	0
Planning	3	0	2	0
Administration	7	0	1	0
Marketing	0	1	1	11
Governance Policy	8	0	0	0
Research	1	0	0	0
Training Materials	0	7	1	0
Partnerships	0	0	0	7
TOTAL	25	8	9	19

Site Visits, Focus Groups and Interviews

In March and April 2005, visits were conducted to each of the four provincial regions in order to collect data from three groups of stakeholders: ABSN Business Users, ABSN Partners/ Business Intermediaries, and Key Informants. In all, 62 individuals were contacted during the site visits. Table 4 provides a summary.

Table 4. Regional site visits

Province	Dates	ABSN Business Users	ABSN Partners/ Business Intermediaries	Key Informants
British Columbia	March 9, 2005 – March 10, 2005	0	10	5
Alberta	April 11, 2005	4	8	2
Saskatchewan	April 15, 2005	0	3	4
Manitoba	March 15, 2005	7	16	3
TOTAL		11	37	14

ABSN Business Users Focus Groups

The ABSN Business Users Focus Group Guide was designed to gather information on the following topics:

• Materials and services provided by ABSN;
• Past and present needs for business information;
• Levels of awareness and access to ABSN;
• Business needs of entrepreneurs;
• Challenges faced in starting businesses; and
• Suggestions for the telephone survey.

Originally, the intention was to conduct one focus group with ABSN business users in each region, however, the varied composition of the regional ABSN programs made this impossible.

The ABSN Business Users Focus Group Guide was designed based on the DCM and is provided in Appendix 2. At each focus group, participants were asked to sign a Consent Form and were provided with an information sheet that summarized this evaluation study.

ABSN Partner/ Business Intermediary Focus Groups

The ABSN Partner/ Business Intermediary Focus Group Guide was designed to obtain:

• Insight into the needs of Aboriginal entrepreneurs;
• Insight into networks of Aboriginal entrepreneurs and service providers, and ABSNs role in the development of these networks;
• Information about the need for business information and the level of support and service provided to Aboriginal entrepreneurs;
• Information about the challenges faced by Aboriginal entrepreneurs;
• Suggestions for the telephone survey; and
• Recommendations for WD about the future of ABSN.

The ABSN Partner/ Business Intermediary Focus Group Guide was based on the DCM and is provided in Appendix 3. It should be noted that in Saskatchewan, ABSN Partners/ Business Intermediaries were interviewed individually by telephone due to geographic distance.

Key Informant Interviews

The ABSN Regional Staff and the WD Senior Staff Interview Protocols were designed to obtain:

• Insight into key informants’ perceptions of initiative effectiveness and ability to meet the priorities of WD and the federal government;
• Insight into relationships between agencies (WD and ABSN, CBSC and ABSN) from the key informants’ perspective;
• Information on the management/staff structure of ABSN;
• Information on initiative outputs (resources, awareness of ABSN, access to ABSN resources, frequency of ABSN use);
• Insight into the role of ABSN in the development of networks of service providers from the key informants’ perspective;
• Information on the challenges faced by Aboriginal entrepreneurs; and
• Suggestions for topics for the telephone survey.

The protocols were based on the DCM. The ABSN Regional Staff and the WD Senior Staff Interview Protocols are provided in Appendices 4 and 5, respectively. At each focus group, participants were asked to sign a Consent Form and were provided with an information sheet that summarized this evaluation study.

Telephone Survey

Initially, it was planned that brief telephone interviews would be conducted with ABSN users to obtain information on the experiences of Aboriginal entrepreneurs starting businesses and dealing with ABSN. However, due to both the difficulties involved in obtaining contact information for an adequate number of end users and the variation in ABSN programs across regions, these interviews were not completed as planned. Only one Business User was contacted individually by phone and this interview proved helpful in finalizing the Business User Focus Group Guide.