USING RANDOMIZED CONTROL DESIGNS IN EVALUATING SOCIAL SECTOR PROGRAMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Abstract

Seven case studies—from Bolivia, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Taiwan (China), and Turkey—demonstrate the feasibility of conducting rigorous impact evaluations in developing countries using randomized control designs. This experience, covering a wide variety of settings and social programs, offers lessons for task managers and policymakers interested in evaluating social sector investments. The main conclusions are: first, policymakers interested in assessing the effectiveness of a project ought to consider a randomized control design because such evaluations not only are feasible but also yield the most robust results. Second, the acute resource constraints common in developing countries that often make program rationing unavoidable also present opportunities for adopting randomized control designs. Policymakers and program managers need to be alert to the opportunities for building randomized control designs into development programs right from the start of the project cycle because they, more than academic researchers or evaluation experts, are in the best position to ensure that opportunities for rigorous evaluations are exploited.