Webinar: Alternatives to Using Random Assignment for Outcome Evaluations

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Random assignment is often upheld as the gold standard in research because it ensures any differences in outcomes between experimental and control groups are attributed to the treatment or experimental procedures rather than other factors or conditions. However, randomly assigning people to experimental or control conditions is not always possible for various reasons.

This 45-minute webinar hosted by the Evaluation and Sustainability Training and Technical Assistance (ES TTA) team at RTI International and the Center for Court Innovation summarizes the benefits of random assignment and reasons it is not always feasible to build into an evaluation design, describes alternative designs to apply when the ‘gold standard’ is not possible, and discusses data and design questions researchers need to answer in order to understand the design that is right for their outcome evaluation.

Panelists:

• Samuel Skaggs, Research Criminologist, RTI International
• Sarah Fineran, Director of Research, Iowa Department of Corrections