About Us
Matt Evans, PhD—President, and Director of Projects
Since 2007 Dr. Evans has done survey research, qualitative research, and program evaluation throughout the United States and in eight other countries. He has special expertise in evaluating social impact programs, particularly those that aim to reduce adolescent pregnancy and teen sexual risk behavior. (He has evaluated Title V, Title XX, CBAE, PREIS, Title V AEGP, Title V SRAE, CAE, and SRAE programs in American Samoa, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.) Dr. Evans has also directed a physical education and nutrition project, a global employee engagement survey in 20 languages, and a mixed-method global employee needs assessment in six languages. He currently directs the evaluations of several projects, including a Boys & Girls Clubs SMART Moves (“Skills Mastery and Resilience Training”) project, and multiple federally funded Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) projects.
Dr. Evans founded Evans Evaluation in 2010 after working as an Associate Director at the Institute for Research and Evaluation (IRE). He holds an Honors BA in English with a minor in Spanish, a second BA in psychology, and a PhD in sociology. Dr. Evans was a Visiting Assistant Professor and taught a variety of college classes, including both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in qualitative research methods. He has also excelled as a scholar, having published in professional journals (e.g., Review of Religious Research, and Rural Sociology), and having made a dozen presentations at the annual meetings of regional and national professional associations (including the American Sociological Association, Religious Research Association, Rural Sociological Society, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and Pacific Sociological Association). Dr. Evans was chosen to present at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 2020 Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Grantee Conference. He has expertise in the Theory of Planned Behavior, and his professional experience also includes work as an editor, contract researcher/analyst, and applied social science researcher. Dr. Evans is the proud father of six children.
Paul Birch, PhD, LMFT—Senior Research Associate
Dr. Birch is a therapist at Well Marriage Center, and Associate Adjunct Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology—Los Angeles where he has taught marriage and family therapy students and conducted research and development around family programs. He was lead evaluator for a major national study of Community Marriage Policies® that was published in Family Relations, has made numerous professional presentations including speaking to the US Council of Catholic Bishops, and recently participated as a technical consultant on the CDC’s task force for “Promoting a Public Health Approach to Sexual Health in the United States.” His work in this field began at the Institute for Research and Evaluation in 2001, and he was chosen director there in 2009. Dr. Birch oversaw over 25 projects and managed seven of them from Alaska to New Jersey and has expertise in evaluation design, implementation, and analysis. His work emphasizes methodological rigor and state-of-the-science methods for accomplishing the purpose of research and evaluation, with a focus on data utilization for program development and improvement. His education includes a BS in psychology, an MS in marriage and family therapy, and a PhD in psychology, with an emphasis in research and evaluation methodology.
Nicole Anderson, MS—Research Analyst & Project Manager
Ms. Anderson started working at Evans Evaluation in 2011. Among other things, she has independently managed the evaluation of a multi-year delinquency prevention program. Prior to working at Evans Evaluation, she worked for several years at the Institute for Research and Evaluation, where she was a project manager over five abstinence program evaluation projects, in Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Ms. Anderson is proficient in statistical analysis, scale development, report writing, and giving presentations. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Brigham Young University, teaching undergraduate psychology classes, as well as a consultant and research analyst for a market research company. Ms. Anderson completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in social psychology at Brigham Young University, and is now working on a PhD.
Jennifer Peacock, MLIS—Project Data Manager
Ms. Peacock joined Evans Evaluation in 2013 to oversee data collection efforts for two implementation evaluation projects. She has a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. Ms. Peacock worked as an archivist for the University of Utah’s Marriott Library, where she specialized in digital archives standards and managed the manuscript collection’s integration into digitized finding aids. She has also worked as a solo-librarian, reference librarian, and research assistant for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.