For this reason, USAID evaluation policy prefers a method for selecting a comparison group that is called randomized assignment, as this method for constructing groups that do and do not receive an intervention is more effective than any other when it comes to ensuring that groups are equivalent on a pre-intervention basis. Alternative methods should be utilized only when random assignment strategies are infeasible. Knowledge and experience in performance and impact evaluation designs, methodologies and practical applications, including baseline data collection methodologies required. This type of evaluation allows managers to test development hypotheses by comparing changes in one or more specific outcomes to changes that occur in the absence of the program. Supporting USAID Impact Evaluation in Honduras. 1. 1. When considering which type of evaluation design to choose, project design teams may find that using an Evaluation Design Decision Tree helps them work their way to the most appropriate option. Whenever a prospective impact evaluation involving treatment and comparison groups is being considered, it is wise to undertake a power analysis to ensure that the number of units (people, locations) available for assignment to these groups is adequate to detect important differences between them. Funded by: USAID Country: Honduras Date Range: 2016 - 2021 Project Lead: Pulte Institute. Both experimental and quasi-experimental designs can produce credible impact evaluation findings, but there is a difference, and their classifications signal what that difference is. Use of Randomization in the Evaluation of Development Effectiveness, Impact Evaluations and Development Nonie Guidance on Impact Evaluation, Handbook on Impact Evaluation: Quantitative Methods and Practices (World Bank). USAID/Aprender a Ler Impact Evaluation: Final Report i This Note defines impact evaluations, explains when they should be commissioned according to USAID policy and describes different designs for quasi-experimental and experimental impact evaluations. Evaluators term this the counterfactual. The impact evaluation of MMT uses an experimental design whereby treatment and control schools were randomly selected. USAID How To Note Evaluation Statements of Work. USAID Evaluation Policy encourages Missions to undertake prospective impact evaluations that involve the identification of a comparison group or area, and the collection of baseline data, prior to the initiation of the project intervention. Randomized impact evaluation of Afghanistan's National Solidarity Programme (NSP) Hypotheses and Methodology PHOTO BY DAVID RINCK FOR SOCIAL IMPACT The USAID Water Team, through its Water Communications and Knowledge Management project (Water CKM), conducted a series of six independent ex-post evaluations to better understand the long-term impact and sustainability of its WASH-related interventions. The timeline for the start-up of a prospective Impact Evaluation is driven by the requirement, in most such evaluations, for the comparison group to be selected, and baseline data on both the project’s target (treatment) group and the comparison group to be collected before delivery of the intervention that is to be evaluated begins. By Winston J. Allen, PhD Senior Evaluation Specialist, USAID Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning USAID entered my life in 1963, when I participated in the school lunch program at my elementary school, the Congo Town Municipal Primary School in the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Filed Under: Technical Resources, Guidance, Evaluation Office of Trade and Regulatory Reform 2013 Report(link is external) 3. This results in an impact evaluation that is classified as having a quasi-experimental design. Along this continuum, the preference in USAID's Evaluation Policy is clear: For impact evaluations, experimental methods generate the strongest evidence. For USAID Missions that are considering undertaking an Impact Evaluation to examine causal linkages in a trade facilitation or other type of trade capacity building project, it may be worth noting that in 2008-2009, the OECD commissioned a review of these types of projects to determine whether or not existing approaches for conducting impact evaluations (that include an examination of the counterfactual) … Pilot interventions should be identified during project or activity design, and the impact evaluation should be integrated into the design of the project or activity. Impact Evaluation of USAID's Crime and Violence Prevention Approach in Central America. Two NONIE publications featured on this page are particularly useful as is USAID’s Microlinks web guide, What are the Steps in Implementing an Impact Assessment? Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal InferenceThis updated volume, by Shadish, Cook and Campbell, remains the basic text on what we today call impact evaluation design. Last month, I met with those same four chiefs in Zambia to review our … The school lunch, supported by USAID, was a high […] The authors’ views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. This type of impact evaluation can potentially be employed whenever an intervention is delivered to some but not all members of a population, i.e., some but not all firms engaged in exporting, or some but not all farms that grow a particular crop. USAID Contract AID–486–I–14-00001 (IDIQ); AID–383–TO–17–00003 (Task Order) DISCLAIMER The authors’ views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. U.S. Agency for International Development, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference, Running Randomized Evaluations: A Practical Guide, decision to undertake and impact evaluation, Experimental and Quasi Experimental Design for Generalized Causal Inference. Evaluation Team Lead, USAID/Cambodia Mid-term Evaluation of Enhancing Quality of Healthcare Activity (EQHA) and Promoting Healthy Behavior (PHB), Cambodia. This method helps USAID staff understand if short-term impacts are sustained, or if theorized long-term impacts are realized. Social Impact is a global development management consulting firm. While many of the steps listed in the Impact Evaluation Process above parallel steps taken in conducting Performance Evaluations, several of these steps warrant special attention when an Impact Evaluation is being planned. USAID is updating the 2013 Technical Note on Impact Evaluations. ENDLINE REPORT (FINAL) February 2018. USAID was among the donor organizations that were asked to review both the Statement of Work and the product of this research. BETTER PROJECTS THROUGH IMPROVED Randomized assignment can be achieved in a number of ways including flipping a coin; computer generated assignments, or a lottery, where the number of participants is greater than the number that can draw tickets that assignment them to the intervention (or treatment) group. This toolkit’s page on the decision to undertake and impact evaluation is located in that section and may be worth reviewing as Mission’s prepare more detailed Project MEL plans. 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