Qualitative Data Analysis for CIHTTF Survey Data

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have been working on analyzing respondent data for a survey sent out to members of the Central Illinois Human Trafficking Taskforce as part of the final assessment for the DOJ task force grant. As a Human Services/Psychology student at Millikin, I have analyzed and researched a fair amount of numerical data. It has been an enlightening process to learn how to analyze the data of answers to open-ended questions. At first, I felt challenged by this experience. Eventually, I came to feel grateful for the opportunity to learn something new which will help me as I continue on to graduate school. The survey included questions as to members' overall satisfaction with the task force and suggestions for improvement. The questions were all aimed at finding better ways to assist victims/survivors of human trafficking. While some members were not pleased and did not fully agree with one another on how to better serve this vulnerable population, there were many similar re-occurring themes. Additionally, all members are interested in the same goal - preventing trafficking and helping those who have been / are being trafficked. 

As a student/professional headed into the helping professions, I was pleased to see that the highest number of victim/survivor referrals to various medical, court-related, and law enforcement agencies came from social service organizations. This tells me the importance of social service agency workers being trained on prevention and how to spot signs of trafficking. I hope to be able to take this data and use it to offer trainings to social service agencies in our community. It is my passion to advocate for those who have no voice, and those who are/have been trafficked are certainly among the population suffering in silence. 

Diana Terneus

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