Outcome and Impact Assessment

Description: Valid assessment of the outcomes or impact of a social program is among the most challenging evaluation tasks, but also one of the most important. This course will review monitoring and tracking approaches to assessing outcomes as well as the experimental and quasi-experimental methods that are the foundation for contemporary impact evaluation. Attention will also be given to issues related to the measurement of outcomes, ensuring detection of meaningful program effects, and interpreting the magnitude of effects. Emphasis will mainly be on the logic of outcome evaluation and the conceptual and methodological nature of the approaches, including research design and associated analysis issues. (Participants in this class and/or the one on The Basics of Program Evaluation will each receive one copy of the new 7th Edition (Sage, 2003) Rossi et al. text, Evaluation: A Systematic Approach.)

Prerequisites: Some background in social science methods and statistical analysis will be necessary to effectively engage the topics covered in this course.

Instructor: Dr. Mark W. Lipsey is Director of the Center for Evaluation Research and Methodology at Vanderbilt University. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of public policy, program evaluation research, social intervention, field research methodology, and research synthesis, with particular emphasis on programs for children and youth. He published many books, articles, and technical reports (e.g., co-author of the 7th Edition of the Rossi et al. Evaluation: A Systematic Approach, Sage, 2003, a leading textbook in evaluation), and has consulted widely (e.g., in the U.S., Europe, India, Africa). He is a former Editor-in-Chief of AEA's New Directions for Program Evaluation and has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Evaluation, Evaluation Review, Evaluation Studies Review Annual, and Evaluation and Program Planning. He received AEA's Paul Lazarsfeld Award in 1996 and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society. Dr. Lipsey has taught regularly in The Evaluators' Institute since its inception in 1996.

Certificates: CAEP IIA.d and CQEM III.i

CEU: 2.1   Fee: $1150