Background: Impact evaluations draw their data from two sources, namely, surveys conducted for the evaluation or administrative data collected for other purposes. Both types of data have been used to estimate program impacts. This is an introductory essay to a Special Issue entitled “Do the...

This paper describes, somewhat overlapping, types of flaws that have occurred in social experiments. Each flaw is illustrated with examples from previous experiments. Some of these problems result in minor hurdles, while others cause experiments to fail — that is, the experiment is unable to...

When evaluating a pilot or demonstration program, there are risks from drawing inferences from a single test. This paper reviews the experiences of replication efforts from demonstrations using randomized controlled trials in the initial evaluation and the replications. Although replications of...

This paper reviews the use of multiple trials in evaluating social programs. We define multiple trials to include both conducting evaluations in multiple sites concurrently and replications, where the intervention is replicated in one or more sites after the initial evaluation. After defining...

This chapter considers means-tested employment and training programs in the United States. We focus in particular on large, means-tested federal programs, including the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), its successor the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), that program's recent replacement, the...

The federal-state system of unemployment insurance (UI) in the United States was established by the Social Security Act of 1935 during the Great Depression. Under the program, states provide temporary partial wage replacement to involuntarily unemployed workers with significant labor force...