Comparing Impact Findings from Design-based and Model-based Methods: An Empirical Investigation

Summary

A new design-based theory has recently been developed to estimate impacts for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and basic quasi-experimental designs (QEDs) for a wide range of designs used in social policy research. These methods use the potential outcomes framework and known features of study designs to connect statistical methods to the building blocks of causal inference. They differ from model-based methods that have commonly been used in education research.