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This paper from the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) analyses the various approaches that are available for small n impact evaluations.
It comes to a conclusion that a number of them share a methodological core that could be used as a consensus.
Contents
- Defining small n
- Evaluation approaches for small n impact analysis
- Group I approaches
- Realist Evaluation
- General Elimination Methodology (GEM) – aka The Modus Operandi Method
- Process Tracing
- Contribution Analysis
- Group II approaches
- Most Significant Change (MSC)
- Success Case Method (SCM)
- Outcome Mapping (OM)
- Method for Impact Assessment of Programs and Projects (MAPP)
- Small n attribution
- Tackling bias
- Respondent biases
- Evaluator biases
- Addressing bias
- Towards an integrated framework: common steps for causal inference in small n cases
- The attribution question(s)
- Setting out a programme’s Theory of Change
- Evaluation plan for data collection and analysis
- Identifying alternative causal hypotheses
- Verifying the causal chain
Sources
White, H., & Phillips , D. International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, (2012). Addressing attribution of cause and effect in small n impact evaluations: towards an integrated framework (Working Paper 15). Retrieved from website: https://www.3ieimpact.org/evidence-hub/publications/working-papers/addressing-attribution-cause-and-effect-small-n-impact
Originally sourced from Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS