The researchers selected the 45 programs based on the advice of expert informants, database searching and web searches, and inclusion criteria such as program effectiveness, evidence of scale up through one of three pathways, and topical focus. They focused on the pathways the programs use for scaling, how they chose and then work with partner organizations, and how the program was reinvented and adapted—or not—as issues of fidelity were addressed.

The team retrieved documents from websites, news releases, evaluations, published journal articles, book chapters, final reports, foundation publications, corporate reports, government reports and publications, and other third-party documents. Team members used a document coding protocol to conduct a content analysis of the documents for each social program. Coding included program attributes, organizational characteristics, effectiveness evidence, funding, partner organizations, adaptations, date of scale up launch, number of sites and several related variables. The total number of documents representing the 45 programs was 497.

To address questions that the written records did not contain answers to as well as to update the information gleaned from written documents, personal interviews were conducted with 100 leaders and staff associated with 44 of the social programs (one program leader did not participate). Interviewees are listed in Appendix B at the end of the report.

Researchers began with the developer or leader associated with the social program and sometimes added one or more additional respondents if their perspective would add considerably to their understanding of the scale up experience. The focus of the semi-structured interviews was on partners considered core to the scale up efforts. Researchers coded several aspects of the partnership such as the type of partner, their role in scale up and how they collaborated and identified themes across interviews. All interview protocols were approved for use by the Western Institutional Review Board.