Impact Evaluation: Principles & Practice

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

There is one prerequisite:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This course takes an in-depth look at procedures and challenges associated with establishing the outcomes and impacts of social programs and policies. Topics that will be examined include: the nature of causation; dealing with issues of attribution; conceptual and technical considerations associated with experimental and quasi experimental designs; as well as alternative strategies for causal analysis.

This subject is designed to enable students to:
• understand fundamentals of causal description and causal explanation;
• understand the nature, role and logic of experiments in the evaluation of social programs;
• identify strengths and limitations of summative evaluation studies;
• become familiar with alternative approaches and methods for conducting impact evaluations; and
• apply this knowledge to real-world settings.

There are three pieces of assessment:

• Written task of 3000 words due in Week 4 (30% );
• Written task of 6000 words due at the end of the subject (60%);
• Class or forum participation throughout the semester (10%).

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This subject is not available as a breadth subject.