The Counterfactual Definition of a Program Effect

IF 1.1 3区社会学 Q2 SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY

American Journal of Evaluation Pub Date : 2022-01-06 DOI:10.1177/1098214020975485

C. S. Reichardt

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Evaluators are often called upon to assess the effects of programs. To assess a program effect, evaluators need a clear understanding of how a program effect is defined. Arguably, the most widely used definition of a program effect is the counterfactual one. According to the counterfactual definition, a program effect is the difference between what happened after the program was implemented and what would have happened if the program had not been implemented, but everything else had been the same. Such a definition is often said to be linked to the use of quantitative methods. But the definition can be used just as effectively with qualitative methods. To demonstrate its broad applicability in both qualitative and quantitative research, I show how the counterfactual definition undergirds seven common approaches to assessing effects. It is not clear how any alternative to the counterfactual definition is as generally applicable as the counterfactual definition.

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程序效应的反事实定义

评估人员经常被要求评估项目的效果。为了评估项目效果，评估人员需要清楚地了解项目效果是如何定义的。可以说，最广泛使用的程序效果定义是反事实的。根据反事实的定义，程序效果是指程序实施后发生的事情与如果程序没有实施，但其他一切都是一样的话会发生的事情之间的差异。这种定义通常被认为与定量方法的使用有关。但是，定性方法同样可以有效地使用该定义。为了证明其在定性和定量研究中的广泛适用性，我展示了反事实定义是如何支撑评估效果的七种常见方法的。目前尚不清楚反事实定义的任何替代方案如何像反事实定义一样普遍适用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

American Journal of Evaluation SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

11.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： The American Journal of Evaluation (AJE) publishes original papers about the methods, theory, practice, and findings of evaluation. The general goal of AJE is to present the best work in and about evaluation, in order to improve the knowledge base and practice of its readers. Because the field of evaluation is diverse, with different intellectual traditions, approaches to practice, and domains of application, the papers published in AJE will reflect this diversity. Nevertheless, preference is given to papers that are likely to be of interest to a wide range of evaluators and that are written to be accessible to most readers.