Evaluation Methods

This course aims to provide students with a range of specific technical skills that will enable them to undertake impact evaluation of policy. Too often policy is implemented but not fully evaluated. Without evaluation we cannot then tell what the short or longer term impact of a particular policy has been. On this course, students will learn the skills needed to evaluate particular policies and will have the opportunity to do some hands on data manipulation. A particular feature of this course is that it provides these skills in a real world context of policy evaluation. It also focuses primarily not on experimental evaluation (Random Control Trials) but rather quasi-experimental methodologies that can be used where an experiment is not desirable or feasible.

• Postgraduate students and staff
• Further details regarding eligibility criteria are available here

The target audience for this course will be students who are keen to learn more about impact evaluation and the associated statistical techniques. Participants will get the opportunity to develop some skills in the use of STATA software.

• Basic knowledge of STATA is assumed
• Familiarity with regression analysis would be an advantage for this course
• Knowledge of descriptive and inferential statistics is required

Number of sessions: 8

• Regression-based techniques
• Evaluation framework and concepts
• The limitations of regression based approaches and RCTs
• Before/After, Difference in Difference (DID) methods
• Computer exercise on difference in difference methods
• Instrumental variables techniques
• Regression discontinuity design

4 x pre-recorded lectures, and corresponding lab sessions.

NB. Lectures should be watched before the corresponding practical lab (eg. Session 1 should be watched before Session 2 takes place, Session 3 should be watched before Session 4 takes place, and so on...)

Information will be provided on the course Moodle page for how to access the relevant software on your personal machine.

Click the "Booking" panel on the left-hand sidebar (on a phone, this will be via a link called Booking/Availability near the top of the page).

There may be an online open-book test at the end of the module; for most students, the test is not compulsory.

Moodle is the 'Virtual Learning Environment' (VLE) that the SSRMP uses to deliver online courses.

SSRMP lecturers use Moodle to make teaching resources available before, during, and/or after classes, and to make announcements and answer questions.

For this reason, it is vital that all SSRMP students enrol onto and explore their course Moodle pages once booking their SSRMP modules via the UTBS, and that they do so before their module begins. Moodle pages for modules should go live around a week before the module commences, but some may be made visible to students, earlier.

For more information, and links to specific Moodle module pages, please visit our website

• Elements of Social Science Research
• Specialist Statistics