Teaching Paper: Developing a Data Analysis Plan for Digital Community Engagement

Data analysis is a critical component of evaluating community engagement in the digital age. This Teaching Paper introduces a structured plan for analyzing data collected from surveys, focus group discussions, and digital engagement metrics. It outlines key steps including data cleaning, descriptive and thematic analysis, metric-based evaluation, cross-comparison, visualization, and reporting. Practical notes support practitioners in managing both quantitative and qualitative data in low-resource and diverse cultural settings. A case study demonstrates how a non-profit organization applied this plan to identify gaps in digital literacy and optimize engagement strategies. By integrating methodological rigor with practical usability, this paper equips researchers, evaluators, and practitioners to transform raw data into actionable insights that inform decision-making and strengthen digital community engagement.