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ERIC Number: EJ1082068
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Dec
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1098-2140
EISSN: N/A
Unlocking the Potential of the "What Works" Approach to Policymaking and Practice: Improving Impact Evaluations
Granger, Robert C.; Maynard, Rebecca
American Journal of Evaluation, v36 n4 p558-569 Dec 2015
Despite bipartisan support in Washington, DC, which dates back to the mid-1990s, the "what works" approach has yet to gain broad support among policymakers and practitioners. One way to build such support is to increase the usefulness of program impact evaluations for these groups. We describe three ways to make impact evaluations more useful to policy and practice: emphasize learning from all studies over sorting out winners and losers; collect better information on the conditions that shape an intervention's success or failure; and learn about the features of programs and policies that influence their effectiveness. We argue that measurement of the treatment contrast that exists between the intervention and comparison condition(s) is important for each of these changes. Measurement and analysis of the treatment contrast will increase cost and policymakers and practitioners already see evaluations as expensive. Therefore we offer suggestions for reducing costs in other areas of data collection.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A