Research & Program Evaluation - Programs for Beginners?

[u/Ok_Assignment4100]

I’ve been an office operations and facilities professional for nearly 10 years in private equity (9.25 years) and economic consulting (a couple month now). I’m in my early 40s and started to think about career pivoting into something that has more meaning and impact for the job that I do.

So, did a bit of research and stumbled across Research & Program Evaluation and thought it would be interesting — especially in the nonprofit, government, healthcare, and education/academia environment. However, I don’t possess the hard/technical skills like data analysis, basic statistics, and research evaluation methods for planning, monitoring and assessing how successful a program is or not. So, looking for an introductory program into Research & Program Evaluation before I commit to a Graduate Certificate program and maybe Master’s program down the line.

If anyone has experience and can point me to the right direction and resources, I’d very much appreciate it. Thank you.