Explain the role of counterfactuals in an impact evaluation.
What will be an ideal response?
Outcomes in the absence of the program are referred to as the counterfactual (contrary to fact) and estimating the counterfactual presents one of the greatest challenges for impact evaluations. The excitement and the challenge of evaluation is that the work is performed in the rough and tumble world of everyday life. It is extremely rare that evaluators can confidently assume that the intended beneficiaries of a social program would not have changed in some way that affected their outcomes in the absence of the program. Both through normal growth and human development, and as a result of their own agency and the external environment in which they live, change of a rather unpredictable sort is routine and commonplace for humans. Nor do evaluators have the possibility of controlling the environment in ways that prevent any change from occurring that is extraneous to the intervention being evaluated.
You might also like to view...
Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution contains the ______.
A. enumerated powers of the Supreme Court B. implied powers of the President C. enumerated powers of Congress D. civil liberties of American citizens
What is a major problem with nonequivalent groups?
A) The groups may differ on the dependent measure(s) at the start of the study. B) There may be confounding variables not controlled by random assignment. C) The groups may differ on the independent measure at the start of the study. D) Both A and B
Critics argue against the use of high-level appointees, termed czars, because
a. they cost too much money. b. they hold too much power. c. they have been used by too few presidents. d. it takes too long to appoint them.
The grandfather clause was used in southern states to
A) prevent blacks from voting in primary elections, even though they had the right to vote. B) guarantee the equal rights of senior citizens for employment. C) deny African Americans the right to vote. D) deny the purchase of land by any person whose grandfather was not white. E) distribute land to former slaves based on how many generations their family had served a slave owner.