experiments

Experiments TIG Week: William Faulkner on A Righteous Cover-up: Behind the Scenes of the Most Famous “Experiment” in International Development History

Hello! I’m William Faulkner, Director of Flux, an M&E consultancy based in New Orleans. I want to pull back the curtain on perhaps the most famous experiment in international development history – the one conducted by Washington DC’s IFPRI on Mexico’s largest anti-poverty program, PROGRESA (now Prospera).  The Down-Low: Basically, the mainstream narrative of this …

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Experiments TIG Week: Laura Peck on How I Learned to Love the Counterfactual Laura Peck

I’m Laura Peck, recovering professor and now full-time evaluator with Abt Associates.  For many years I taught graduate Research Methods and Program Evaluation courses. One part I enjoyed most was introducing students to the concepts of causality, internal validity and the counterfactual – summarized here as hot tips. Hot Tips: #1:  What is causality? Correlation …

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Experiments TIG Week: Melinda Davis on Research Designs and the Control Group Problem

I am Melinda Davis, a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona in Psychology, coordinate the Program Evaluation and Research Methods minor, and serve as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Methods and Measurement in the Social Sciences.  In an ideal world, evaluation studies compare two groups that differ only on the treatment assignment.  Unfortunately, …

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Experiments TIG Week: Allan Porowski on How to Make Your Chances of Conducting A Successful RCT Seem a Little Less…Random

I’m Allan Porowski, a Principal Associate at Abt Associates and a fan of experiments – when they’re conducted under the right circumstances. Experiments, commonly referred to as RCTs (randomized controlled trials) go through three stages: (1) crazy start-up period, (2) normal data collection period, and (3) crazy analysis period. Hot Tips:  Here are some tips …

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