| Session Title: Use of Agent-Based Modeling in Program Evaluation |
| Expert Lecture Session 567 to be held in Mineral Hall Section D on Friday, Nov 7, 10:55 AM to 11:40 AM |
| Sponsored by the Research on Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Mark Spranca, Abt Associates Inc, mark_spranca@abtassociates.com |
| Presenter(s): |
| Rajen Subramanian, Abt Associates Inc, rajen_subramanian@abtassociates.com |
| Discussant(s): |
| Mallary Tytel, Healthy Workplaces LLC, mtytel@healthyworkplaces.com |
| Abstract: Standard approaches to outcome evaluation are susceptible to the problems of (1) unexpected consequences as a result of nonlinearity in the impacts of programs and (2) changing impacts because of adaptation of the program participants to program activities. For example, programs adopting new methods of teaching math might in the long term impact students' abilities to creatively solve problems by emphasizing limited approaches to problem solving. As a result, programs exhibiting short term benefits could lead to negative impacts in the medium to long term or cease to have any impact because of the adaptation of program respondents. This paper proposes the use of agent based computational models (ABMs) in outcome evaluation to account for unexpected consequences and the adaptation of responses by program participants. Specifically, ABMs can expand evaluators' abilities to predict the broader scope of program impacts. ABMs can also assist policy designers in developing better program interventions. |