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    Course Overview and Assessment Schedule SOCR8202

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    Yuxuan Lin
    This course teaches students how to use data and empirical methods to evaluate policies and answer policy questions. It covers causal inference, attribution, implementation, and reporting evaluation results. Students will learn techniques for policy evaluation including how to specify an evaluable research question, critique existing evaluations, understand assumptions of different methods, and conduct their own evaluations using statistical software. The course involves 12 lectures, 10 tutorials, and assignments evaluating a policy and conducting an original research evaluation using real-world data. It is taught by Professor Matthew Gray and guest lecturers and uses case studies of actual policy evaluations to illustrate concepts and techniques.

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    Course Overview and Assessment Schedule SOCR8202

    Uploaded by

    Yuxuan Lin
    116 views5 pages
    This course teaches students how to use data and empirical methods to evaluate policies and answer policy questions. It covers causal inference, attribution, implementation, and reporting evaluation results. Students will learn techniques for policy evaluation including how to specify an evaluable research question, critique existing evaluations, understand assumptions of different methods, and conduct their own evaluations using statistical software. The course involves 12 lectures, 10 tutorials, and assignments evaluating a policy and conducting an original research evaluation using real-world data. It is taught by Professor Matthew Gray and guest lecturers and uses case studies of actual policy evaluations to illustrate concepts and techniques.

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    This course teaches students how to use data and empirical methods to evaluate policies and answer policy questions. It covers causal inference, attribution, implementation, and reporting evaluation results. Students will learn techniques for policy evaluation including how to specify an evaluable research question, critique existing evaluations, understand assumptions of different methods, and conduct their own evaluations using statistical software. The course involves 12 lectures, 10 tutorials, and assignments evaluating a policy and conducting an original research evaluation using real-world data. It is taught by Professor Matthew Gray and guest lecturers and uses case studies of actual policy evaluations to illustrate concepts and techniques.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    116 views5 pages

    Course Overview and Assessment Schedule SOCR8202

    Uploaded by

    Yuxuan Lin
    This course teaches students how to use data and empirical methods to evaluate policies and answer policy questions. It covers causal inference, attribution, implementation, and reporting evaluation results. Students will learn techniques for policy evaluation including how to specify an evaluable research question, critique existing evaluations, understand assumptions of different methods, and conduct their own evaluations using statistical software. The course involves 12 lectures, 10 tutorials, and assignments evaluating a policy and conducting an original research evaluation using real-world data. It is taught by Professor Matthew Gray and guest lecturers and uses case studies of actual policy evaluations to illustrate concepts and techniques.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 5
    At a glance
    Powered by AI
    The key takeaways are that this course will provide students with an understanding of analytical techniques to answer policy questions and evaluate policy impact by covering causation, attribution, implementation and documentation of evaluations.

    The four key aspects covered in the course for policy evaluations are causation, attribution, implementation, and documentation.

    The three learning outcomes upon completing this course are to explain issues of causal inference and attribution, specify an evaluable research question related to policy, and communicate and critique existing policy evaluations rigorously.

    Course title: SOCR8202 - Using Data to Answer Policy Questions

    and Evaluate Policy


    Course convenors
    Prof. Matthew Gray

    Course outline
    This course will provide students with a understanding of range of analytical
    techniques that can be used to answer policy and service delivery questions and
    how to measure the impact of policy. It will cover four key aspects of policy
    evaluations
    - Causation: Did the program or policy have a direct impact on the outcome
    or outcomes of interest?
    - Attribution: What was it about the program or policy that led to that
    impact?
    - Implementation: What can be learned about how was the program or policy
    delivered?
    - Documentation: How can key aspects of the evaluation be reported to an
    academic and policy audience?

    Learning outcomes
    Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and
    skills to:
    1. Explain issues of causal inference and attribution.
    2. Specify a research question related to policy evaluation that is answerable
    using empirical methods.
    3. Communicate and critique existing policy evaluations in a rigorous manner.
    4. Understand the assumptions, strengths and limitations of the main
    techniques for evaluating policies.
    5. Use statistical software for applying impact evaluation techniques.
    6. Conduct empirical research using modern econometric techniques for
    policy evaluation.

    Course delivery
    The course content will be delivered in the format of 12 two-hour lectures and 10
    one-hour tutorials. There are also pre-recorded lectures for students who require
    some additional background on specific topics. All lectures will be recorded and
    available via the course Wattle site.

    1
    Indicative assessment and schedule
    - Assignment 1 - Critique of selected policy evaluation (1,500 words, 20%)
    LO3,4
    o Due 9am Thursday 8th April 2021
    - Oral presentation - Policy brief from evaluation (10 minutes, 20%) LO4,5,6
    o Due 9am Monday 31st May 2021
    - Assignment 2 - Research evaluation using real-world data (3,500 words,
    35%) LO2,4,5, 6
    o Due 9am Tuesday 15th June 2021
    - Class test (2 hours, 20%) LO1,4,6
    o Undertaken between 9am Monday 7th June 2021 and 5pm Friday 11th
    June 2021
    - Class participation (5%) LO1-6

    Lecture and tutorial times and location


    Lectures
    Tuesdays 11am-1pm in MORAN G007 or online via zoom

    Tutorial Group 1: Tuesdays 2-3pm (online via zoom)


    Tutorial Group 2: Tuesdays 3-4 pm (online via zoom)
    Tutorial Group 3: Wednesday 9-10am (face-to-face)
    Tutorial Group 4: Wednesday 11am-12pm (online via zoom)

    2
    Lecture schedule
    Week 1
    Lecture 1 Introduction to course

    Week 2
    Lecture 2 Case study 1: Changes to the Child Support Scheme
    Tutorial 1

    Week 3
    Lecture 3 Quality of data: Evaluation methods (Part 1)
    Tutorial 2

    Week 4
    Lecture 4 Evaluation methods: Techniques for extracting meaning from data (Part
    2)
    Tutorial 3

    Week 5
    Lecture 5 Case study 2: Evaluation of Work for the Dole
    Tutorial 4

    Week 6
    Lecture 6 Case study 3: COVID-19 JobKeeper and Jobseeker impacts on poverty
    Tutorial 5

    Week 7
    Lecture 7 Evaluation methods (Part 3)
    Tutorial 6

    Week 8
    Lecture 8 Case study 4: Sexual assault trials
    Tutorial 7

    Week 9
    Lecture 9 Presentation of data
    Tutorial 8

    Week 10
    Lecture 10: Case study 5: Evaluation of income management
    Tutorial 9

    Week 11
    Lecture 11: Case study 6: The inter-international impact of Vietnam War service
    Tutorial 10

    Week 12
    Lecture 12: The data and evidence environment in Australia; Recap course material
    Tutorial 11

    3
    Professor Matthew Gray
    Director, ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods
    E [email protected]

    Matthew is Professor of Public Policy at The Australian National University. Previous


    appointments include Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
    and Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. He has published
    research on a wide range of social and economic policy issues and has undertaken
    major evaluations of government policies and programs including the family law
    system, income management, service delivery models and place-based interventions.
    From 2005 to 2010 he was responsible for the Longitudinal Study of Australian
    Children.

    Professor Toni Makkai


    Emeritus Professor

    Toni Makkai is Emeritus Professor at the ANU Centre for Social Research and
    Methods. She is a quantitative social scientist who has worked extensively in key
    policy arenas including drugs and crime, crime statistics, victimisation, aged care and
    regulation, politics and immigrants, and professional socialisation. She has published
    widely across these areas and has been involved in the collection of major datasets
    many of which are available through the Australian Data Archive for secondary
    analysis.

    Associate Professor Ben Edwards

    ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods

    Associate Professor Ben Edwards is a Senior Fellow at the ANU Centre for Social
    Research and Methods where he is focused on policy relevant research on child and
    youth development and advising and supporting longitudinal studies (the Longitudinal
    Study of Australian Youth, Ten to Men, Home Interaction Program for Parents and
    Youngsters (HIPPY) and a new longitudinal of children in the Philippines).
    Internationally, he advised the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
    Development (OECD) on the measurement of non-cognitive skills in longitudinal
    studies.

    Previously as Executive Manager of Longitudinal Studies at the Australian Institute of


    Family Studies he had leadership role in the development of Growing Up in Australia:
    The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Australia’s national longitudinal study
    of children of over 10,000 children; The Australian Temperament Project, a birth
    cohort study of Victorian children born in 1983; and Building a New Life in Australia:
    The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants, and in the development of a
    Commonwealth data linkage integration unit.

    4
    Rob Bray PSM
    Research Fellow, ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods

    Rob has been a Research Fellow at the Australian National University since 2010
    following a long career in the Australian Public Service where he worked on many
    aspects of social policy including social security, employment, housing and residential
    care. In recognition of his work, in particular with regard to the analysis of poverty in
    Australia, he was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2010. His work in both the
    public service and at the ANU has had a strong quantitative focus. His research
    interests continue to range across many aspects of social policy including its
    relationship to the economy and its impact on well-being. This has included work on
    the interaction of the tax transfer system and the role of the Australian minimum
    wage, wealth and debt in retirement as well as income distribution and social
    outcomes. He has also undertaken a range of commissioned research projects for a
    number of Commonwealth government departments, including on the evaluation of
    income management.

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