Public policy seeks to change the world we live in. Whether it be by improving education, strengthening civil society, or developing agriculture, practitioners anticipate that the outcomes of policies will be meaningful. But how is impact measured? Quantitative impact evaluation provides a toolkit for measuring how a policy, program or project has affected its intended beneficiaries, enabling practitioners to evaluate and improve their efforts.
The speaker will discuss the trials, tribulations, and joys of working in quantitative impact evaluation. As a case study, he will use a recent evaluation of a major agricultural infrastructure programme in the Republic of Georgia. The talk will provide an overview of the research design and its findings; in addition to a discussion of the evaluation workflow, including, planning, budgeting, pitfalls, and the management of client expectations.
Dustin Gilbreath is the Deputy Research Director of CRRC-Georgia, a data-focused think tank in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is responsible for quasi-experimental and experimental research design; oversight of evaluation projects; and policy analysis. Dustin has worked on state capacity, public transport safety, election forensics and administration, polling and society, and think tanks. His writing has been featured in the Washington Post, among other international media outlets. He holds an MA from the Department of Political Science at CEU.