Research design case · 2025
Evaluating Psychological Support and School Counselling
A multi-stakeholder study and instrument design for UNRWA schools in Syria
A mixed-method framework designed to examine access to psychological support and school counselling and understand the experiences of students, families, schools and service providers. The work remained at the design and instrument-development stage, so this page reports no findings or impact claims.
Professional contribution: study design, instrument development and collaborative reviewDesign stage only · Syria · 2025Work summary
Presentation reviewed:
- Work type
- Collaborative research design
- Status
- Design and instruments; no data collection
- Date and scope
- April–July 2025
- Tareq’s role
- Contributing to study design, instrument development and team review
- Outputs
- Tools for four stakeholder groups and a briefing note
- Evidence scope
- No realised sample or field findings
How can school counselling and psychological support be assessed through connected perspectives while protecting children and institutional data?
Design scope
Documented contribution
A technical role in study design and instrument development within a collaborative process.
Study design
Framing the problem, objectives, evaluation questions, mixed methodology, target groups and an initial work plan.
Instrument development
Preparing successive questionnaire drafts and reviewing them before consolidation into a multi-stakeholder package.
Technical coordination
Preparing a briefing note to clarify roles, ethics, data protection, intellectual property and dissemination requirements.
Training content
An official team contribution to developing and reviewing materials related to school counsellor roles, counselling and psychosocial support.
Instrument system
Four perspectives designed to reveal the gap between service availability and lived experience.
Students
Safety and school climate, access to support, service experience and school participation.
Parents and guardians
Awareness of services, communication with the school, observed change and family needs.
School principals
Service availability, coordination, referral, institutional support and training needs.
Counsellors and support providers
Workload, service reach, patterns of need, perceived effectiveness and professional support.
Proposed study logic
Placing measurement in context before reaching a judgement on effectiveness.
Define the scope
Specify the service, groups, schools and assessment period.
Use multiple forms of evidence
Combine surveys with open questions and proposed interviews or focus groups.
Compare perspectives
Read student, family, school and provider experience within one framework.
Interpret responsibly
Separate availability, satisfaction and observed change from proof of causal impact.
An example of the approach
Connecting an evaluation question to a decision
An illustrative example composed for this page from the design themes; not an original institutional questionnaire item or an approved instrument.
| Element | Illustrative application |
|---|---|
| Evaluation question | Do students know how to access school support? |
| Proposed indicator | Share reporting that they know the support pathway; no value calculated at this stage |
| Proposed instrument | An age-appropriate question and open follow-up, subject to ethical and methodological review |
| Decision it could inform | Whether the school needs to explain access to support more clearly |
Timeline
From the first draft to clarification of institutional conditions.
10 April 2025
Study design
Preparation of the study framework, methodology, target groups and initial instrument pathway.
22–24 April 2025
Questionnaire review
Collaborative development of revised tools for students, families, principals and support providers.
17 July 2025
Briefing note
Clarification of roles, ethics, confidentiality, data protection, intellectual property and dissemination before implementation.
Final status
Design not implemented
No data collection began, so there is no realised sample, dataset, result or published impact indicator.
Integrity and privacy
What this page shows and intentionally withholds.
- The platform does not publish original institutional questionnaires, correspondence, colleague names, or school and student data.
- The page does not attribute authorship of the School Counsellor Roles and Responsibilities presentation or the full training modules to Tareq.
- The contribution is described as technical and collaborative design, development and review, not individual ownership of an institutional package.
- UNRWA is named only as the historical project context; TAS does not represent or imply endorsement by the Agency.
Requirements before implementation
Clear safeguards before collecting any data from children or schools.
Approved roles and responsibilities
Ethics review and informed consent
Data-protection and confidentiality plan
Intellectual-property and dissemination terms
Approved sampling and administration procedures
Analysis and reporting plan
FROM IDEAS TO PRACTICE
Need a study design or evaluation tools for your programme?
Start with your programme question and stakeholders, then define the design, tools and outputs you need.