Program Evaluation

Incarceration

essay
What Programs Can Help Parents in Prison and Their Children?
Around 2.3 million people live in U.S. jails and prisons, and most of them are parents. What are prisons doing to help them be better parents when they get out? It's more than just a policy question—it's a social justice question.
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May 2, 2022

Program Evaluation

commentary
The Future of REF: Driving a Culture to Maximise High-Quality Research and Impact
To understand the impact of the Research Excellence Framework, RAND Europe studied the attitudes of the United Kingdom's research community towards the assessment. Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, the study team was able to gain valuable insight into researcher views across disciplines, career stages, and types of institutions.
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Dec 14, 2021
Wonkhe
Catriona Manville, Camilla d'Angelo, et al.
Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy

commentary
Commercialisation and Open Science Do Not Have to Be Uneasy Bedfellows
On the surface, tension exists between commercialization and open science approaches to research. But the two approaches are not irreconcilable--they can exist in harmony and complement one another to generate greater impact from investments in research and innovation.
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Aug 6, 2021
Research Professional News
Hamish Evans, Sarah Parkinson, et al.
Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy

commentary
Culture, Performance, and Assessment in Research
The unwritten, and often unsaid, concern in the debate about research culture in the UK is an apparent trade-off between excellence in research and a healthy research culture. But the evidence shows that this is a false dichotomy.
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May 25, 2021
Wonkhe
Susan Guthrie, Jonathan Grant
Counterterrorism

commentary
Are Counter Violent Extremism Interventions Effective?
Government efforts to counter the propaganda and radicalization that lead to violent extremism are becoming more common around the world, but there's little research on whether such programs work. It is critical to conduct more research to tease out which programs are most effective.
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Sep 11, 2020
The RAND Blog
Todd C. Helmus @Helmus, Elizabeth Bodine-Baron @bodinebaron
Decisionmaking

commentary
Assessing Confidence in “What Works” in Social Policy
Policy decisions are increasingly informed (or expected to be informed) by research evidence. Making the process as systematic, transparent and explicit as possible provides users with ways to understand, question and contribute to the eventual policy recommendation, and gives policymakers and practitioners confidence in its credibility.
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Mar 21, 2019
The RAND Blog
Yulia Shenderovich, Alex Sutherland, et al.
Decisionmaking

commentary
Evidence Synthesis—Behind the Scenes
The Royal Society and RAND Europe recently published an evidence synthesis on the impacts of ammonia emissions from agriculture on biodiversity. As well as aiming to provide a useful summary of the evidence to inform ongoing policy discussions, the study was intended to test the Royal Society's recently developed principles for good evidence synthesis for policy.
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Nov 30, 2018
The Royal Society
Sarah Giles, Susan Guthrie, et al.
Program Evaluation

commentary
Tracking Global Trends in Open Peer Review
Open peer review is happening in a variety of forms, but it still accounts for a small percentage of reviews carried out, and it is not clear whether open peer review is increasing in usage. In the future, as the Publons dataset grows, it will be worth exploring the data in more detail.
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Oct 27, 2017
Publons
Sarah Parks, Salil Gunashekar
Counterterrorism

commentary
It's Difficult to Know If Counter-Extremism Programmes in Europe Are Working
The benefits of a stronger evaluation culture for counter-extremism and radicalization programs are clear. Evaluation can provide an evidence-based judgement as to whether a program is working, delivering expected results, and providing value for the cost.
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Jun 26, 2017
E!Sharp
Jacopo Bellasio
Program Evaluation

commentary
Imagine You Have to Start All Over Again Every 12 Months: The Case for Multi-Annual Core Funding in Grant-Making
Multi-annual core funding might allow grantees to grow and mature, and develop or change their ways of doing business. But unlimited renewal of funding is unfeasible as funding priorities change. Providers of multi-annual core funding could develop long-term strategies to prepare for challenges when a funding stream ends.
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Jun 20, 2017
Grant Solutions
Daniel Schweppenstedde
Research Methods

commentary
Why We Need to Experiment with Grant Peer Review
More than 95 per cent of academic biomedical research funding is controlled by peer review of grant applications. It is generally cited as the gold standard for awarding funding, but it appears most effective when used conservatively.
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Apr 4, 2017
Research Fortnight
Steven Wooding, Susan Guthrie
Prison Reform

commentary
UK Prisons Are in 'Crisis,' So What Can Be Done to Improve Performance?
Prisons in the UK are experiencing record numbers of suicides and other violent incidents, as well as staff shortages. Policymakers working on prison reform need more effective ways to measure the performance of prison programs.
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Feb 20, 2017
Criminal Law and Justice Weekly
Emma Disley
Law Enforcement

commentary
Reform of 'Stop and Search' Requires Effective Communication
The UK's Home Office commissioned the development of a new training package and standard of practice for the use of stop and search. As the program is rolled out nationally, officers need to receive consistent and persuasive messages about the purpose and goals of the training.
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Oct 27, 2016
Police Oracle
Lucy Strang, Chris Giacomantonio
commentary
Does Intervention or Investment Innovate? Social Impact Bonds at the Close of the Peterborough Prison Pilot
There is limited evidence to support the assumption that social impact bonds offer a particularly effective way to spur innovation in service provision and will only have beneficial effects.
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Jan 25, 2016
The RAND Blog
Emma Disley, Chris Giacomantonio
Parenting

commentary
MIECHV Reauthorization: Recommendations from Research
Funding for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program was extended through fiscal year 2017, without policy changes. If Congress decides to make policy changes to MIECHV in the future, research on home visiting programs can inform recommendations.
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Apr 17, 2015
The RAND Blog
M. Rebecca Kilburn, Grace Evans
Children and Families Legislation

commentary
Benefit-Cost Analyses of Child and Family Preventive Interventions
In thinking about scaling programs and services for children, youth, and families, the research community should consider economic evidence as part of their research programs in order to inform funding decisions.
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Mar 12, 2015
Social Policy Report of the Society for Research in Child Development
Kimber Bogard, Lynn A. Karoly, et al.

Page 1 of 4

Quoted

The Biden administration's lack of a competitive economic strategy, not just in Oceania but throughout the Indo-Pacific, is providing China with unique opportunities to leverage its Belt and Road Initiative to deepen trade, investment, and infrastructure development. Chinese economic overtures tend to be successful, given that Pacific Island countries are overwhelmingly small and impoverished.

Derek Grossman

Senior Defense Analyst

Source: Foreign Policy

While neurodivergent diagnoses are not automatically disqualifying from Army service, any new recruit who reveals a diagnosis jumps through hoops to serve. Some described having to prove that their diagnoses do not impede their ability to serve, which puts the burden on an eighteen-year-old to prove a negative for which the Army has no assessment criteria.

Cortney Weinbaum

Senior Management Scientist

Source: Modern War Institute (West Point)

Now Is the Time for Space Traffic Management

Which Working Conditions Could Restore Teacher Well-Being?

Amid an Epidemic of Loneliness, Nonprofits Are Helping Keep Veterans Connected

America Is Winning Against China in Oceania

What Does Environmental Justice Look Like?

The Policy Currents Podcast

Helping Coastal Communities Plan for Climate Change

Managing Escalation in Crisis and War

Measuring Wellbeing to Help Communities Thrive

Assessing and Articulating the Wider Benefits of Research

Program Evaluation

What Programs Can Help Parents in Prison and Their Children?

The Future of REF: Driving a Culture to Maximise High-Quality Research and Impact

Commercialisation and Open Science Do Not Have to Be Uneasy Bedfellows

Culture, Performance, and Assessment in Research

Are Counter Violent Extremism Interventions Effective?

Assessing Confidence in “What Works” in Social Policy

Evidence Synthesis—Behind the Scenes

Tracking Global Trends in Open Peer Review

It's Difficult to Know If Counter-Extremism Programmes in Europe Are Working

Imagine You Have to Start All Over Again Every 12 Months: The Case for Multi-Annual Core Funding in Grant-Making

Why We Need to Experiment with Grant Peer Review

UK Prisons Are in 'Crisis,' So What Can Be Done to Improve Performance?

Reform of 'Stop and Search' Requires Effective Communication

Does Intervention or Investment Innovate? Social Impact Bonds at the Close of the Peterborough Prison Pilot

MIECHV Reauthorization: Recommendations from Research

Benefit-Cost Analyses of Child and Family Preventive Interventions

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