UNCC Public Policy Chapter 13- Program Evaluation

Program Evaluation

is to use analysis and quantitative tools to determine the impact of a program, policy, or other intervention

Fundamental challenge of program evaluation

is determining what outcomes have been caused by a particular program or intervention

Treatment Effect

the causal impact of a policy, program, or intervention

The counterfactual

is what would have happened to the same set of actors under an alternate set of circumstances

What is the goal of program evaluation?

is to isolate the treatment effect in order to determine what happened as a result of some policy intervention relative to what would have happened to the same actors in the absence of the intervention

Selection Bias

occurs the participants in some treatment are significantly different in some important respect from the non-participants to whom they are being compared

Causal Relationship

if a change in one, brings a change in the other

Causality

A is responsible for changes in B

Correlation

if a movement in one is associated with a movement in the other

ex: A and B are associated with one another, but A does not necessarily solve B. For example, the economy recovers after a tax cut is implemented; the tax cut may or may not have contributed to the recovery

Reverse Causality

B causes A, rather than the other way around

Omitted Variable

C is responsible for both A and B

Coincidence

A and B have moved together over some period simply by chance and are not likely to be correlated in the future

Dropout or survivor effect

when a random group of participants quit or are removed from a program during the period of analysis

Participant Bias

when the person or persons doing the evaluation of a program may improperly affect the evaluation

Double Blind