Assignment+template+2+counterfactual


 * Assignment 2**

For the second assignment, you are asked to determine an appropriate approach for assessing impact for your selected case study. As noted in this week's sessions, the key to doing this is through creating a counterfactual. Here you are asked to describe how this will be done for your selected programme given the manner in which it is designed. Along with the overall approach to assessing impact, details of the methods that will form part of the approach and the data that will be collected need to be noted.

For the assignment, you are then asked to complete the third section of an Impact Assessment Plan for your chosen case study--the approaches and methods. The information required for this section and what you should include in your assignment is noted below.


 * 3. Approach and methods **

This section of the Impact Assessment Plan should include the following information:
 * An explanation of the overall approach to assessing impact and how that approach will obtain a reasonable counterfactual
 * The specific manner in which the treatment and control group will be created and how this will be linked to the programme design and in particular the defined eligibility criteria and the roll-out of the programme
 * A discussion of the potential for spillover effects and, if appropriate, how these will be measured and how contamination of the control group will be avoided
 * The timing of data collection including when a baseline will be conducted and when post-treatment data will be collected and how this relates to programme timing
 * The individual quantitative and qualitative methods that will be used to assess impact and what information each of these provide
 * The manner in which the different methods will be combined to create a reasonable approach to assess impact

Additional background documents that may provide inspiration: Designing Impact Evaluations for Agricultural Projects (IDB Technical Notes, December 2010. By Paul Winters, Lina Salazar, and Alessandro Maffioli).