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Building Futures: The Head Start Impact Study
Research Design Plan
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1.1 Study Background
Research Goals and Objectives
1.2 Overall Research Design
1.3 How Do We Define The Treatment?
2. Sampling Plan
2.1 Steps in Sample Selection
Step 1: Include all Head Start Grantees/Delegate Agencies and Children
Step 2: Create Geographic Grantee/Delegate Agency Clusters (GGCs)
Step 3: Stratify the Sample to Ensure National Program Representation
Step 4: Select Sample of Geographic Grantee Clusters (GGCs)
Step 5: Identify Grantees/Delegate Agencies Eligible For The Study
Step 6: Select 75 Grantees/Delegate Agencies
Step 7: Recruit Sites For The Study
Step 8: Select 225 Head Start Centers From The Sampled Grantees/Delegate Agencies
Step 9: Divide the Population of Head Start Children into One-Year and Two-year Participants
Step 10: Select Appropriately-Sized Samples of Head Start
Children
2.2 Sampling Issues
Sample Attrition
Unequal Allocation to Treatment and Control Groups
Excluding Very High-Risk Children
Placing 3-Year Olds Into The Control Group For Two Years
Families (or Households) With Multiple Eligible Children
Grantees/Delegate Agencies Do Not All Serve 3-Year Olds
2.3 Statistical Power
Why Do We Need Such A Large Sample?
Will The Sample Remain Representative Over Time?
3. Field Test Plan
3.1 Introduction
Purpose Of the Field test
3.2. Field Test Design
4. Site Recruitment Strategy
5. Random Assignment of Children
Informed Consent
Monitoring Random Assignment
Use of Incentives
6. Data Collection
6.1 Overview
6.2. Data Collection Strategies
Planned Data Collection Activities
Data Collection Sources
How Will We Encourage Participation?
How Will We Maintain Contact With Families?
7. Measures
7.1. Overview
7.2. Planned Measures
Child and Family Measures
Program-level Measures
Contextual Measures
Summary
8. Analysis Plans
8.1 Basic Impact Estimates
8.2. Impacts On The "Treated"
8.3. Checking for "Non-Response" Bias in the Experimental Estimates Due to Grantee Exclusion
8.4. Measuring Community-Wide Effects
Appendix A: Sample Cluster Stratification
Appendix B: Ways to Analyze Impacts without Placing a Two-Year Exclusion on Controls
Notation and Potential Experimental Groups
The Challenge and a First Response
Some Caveats
A Lower-Bound Strategy
A Complementary Upper Bound
Potential Problems with This Approach
Appendix C: Data Source for Head Start Programs in "Saturation" Communities, FACES 2000
Appendix D: Impact Research-related Amendment to the Head Start Act, 1998, PL 105-285
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