From Theory to Practice: Exploring Long-Term Evaluation Outcomes by Linking to Administrative Data

2019 – 2022

This project developed products intended to expand the use of administrative data in analyzing long-term outcomes of federal social program interventions. Deliverables include a guide to assist researchers in linking program evaluation data to administrative data to examine long-term outcomes and a memo on the potential impacts of data linking on the quality, strength, and representativeness of such data when used for research purposes. Optional work Also included are results of an analysis of long-term outcomes of from the Portland site of the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies. This project followed on a prior project, Assessing Options to Evaluate Long-Term Outcomes Using Administrative Data: Identifying Targets of Opportunity, which assessed the feasibility of creating linked data resources for selected major social service evaluation studies focusing on employment.

MDRC is the contractor for this work

The point of contact is Liza Rodler

Report

Do Employment-Related Outcomes Differ Depending on Which Data Source Is Used? Findings from the Portland Site of the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies

October 17, 2023

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Explore whether and to what extent the choice of an employment data source matters in studies like National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS).

Comparing Long-Term Employment and Earnings in Welfare Programs. Portland, Oregon, Early 1990s.

January 20, 2023

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The findings described in this report represent some of the first available evidence on how individuals who previously received welfare fared in the labor market over the long term and on how sequence and cluster analyses can provide a richer picture of their trajectories and program impacts.

A Guide for Using Administrative Data to Examine Long-Term Outcomes in Program Evaluation

October 14, 2021

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This guide is a resource to assist program evaluation project teams—including funders, sponsors, and evaluation research partners—in assessing the feasibility and potential value of examining long-term outcomes using administrative data.

Compendium of Administrative Data Sources for Self-Sufficiency Research

April 24, 2020

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The Compendium of Administrative Data Sources for Self-Sufficiency Research is an effort to describe promising administrative data sources for evaluations of economic and social interventions. The Compendium was created as part of the Assessing Options to Evaluate Long-Term Outcomes Using Administrative Data (LTO) project funded by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (ACF/OPRE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...