Designs: Experimental Designs, Quasi Experiments, and Non-Experimental Designs
Validity issues of causal claims are always at the forefront of evaluation design. It is critical for the evaluator to understand issues of internal, external, measurement, and statistical validity. Though the classical experiment remains the standard for evaluating statistical and causal rigor, many evaluations continue to use quasi experiments and non-experimental designs.
For this Discussion:
Review this week’s Learning Resources and pick two of the following scenarios of causal claim:
Field Experiment: Minimum wage legislation will lead to higher unemployment.
Cross Sectional Study: Capital punishment deters crime.
Time Series Study: Privatization of government-owned industries will increase economic growth.
Time Series Study: Airline deregulation will result in lower airfares.
Please respond to the following questions below:
1) Explain an evaluation of the most important validity issues of each causal claim chosen.
2) Explain the variety of validity issues possible in each scenario.
3) Provide a rationale for what qualifies as “most important” to you.
4) The evaluation should also include identifying illustrative and supportive examples related to the scenarios.
5) Please relate relevant and credible references from the Learning Resources.
6) In what ways do you agree or disagree that the validity issues in the scenarios of causal claim are the most important?
7) Provide a rationale, including examples or references.
LEARNING RESOURECES
• Langbein, L. (2012). Public program evaluation: A statistical guide (2nd ed.). Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe.
• McDavid, J. C., Huse, I., & Hawthorn, L. R. L. (2019). Program evaluation and performance measurement: An introduction to practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• United States Government Accountability Office (USGAO). (2012). Designs for assessing program implementation and effectiveness. In Designing evaluations: 2012 revision Download Designing evaluations: 2012 revision (pp. 31–49). Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588146.pdf