Impact Evaluation

Impact Evaluation

Impact Evaluation Jonathan Poland

An impact evaluation is a study that measures the actual outcomes and consequences of a change. It takes into account both intended and unintended effects of the change, and aims to determine its overall impact. This means that a program or project may achieve its goals, but have negative unintended consequences. On the other hand, a program that is perceived as a failure due to budget and schedule issues may actually have a more positive impact than originally anticipated by its planners. Impact evaluations help organizations understand the full range of impacts of a change and can inform decision-making about future changes or interventions. The following are illustrative examples of an impact evaluation.

Cities

A city expands its highway system to more lanes only to discover that within a few short years traffic jams have once again become a common occurrence. An impact study indicates that the new lanes encouraged development of land further from the downtown core making the city less dense and increasing average commuting distance.

Transportation

A program to develop a system of high speed trains is initially viewed as a failure as it exceeds planned budget. However, within a decade ridership is far greater than business plans had anticipated. The overall impact on the economy, quality of life and the environment can be demonstrated to be exceedingly positive.

Education

An education system abandons standardized testing in high schools in favor of tests crafted by individual teachers. A later impact study looked at data before and after to determine that grade inflation occurred with the abandonment of the standard tests. This led universities and colleges to begin to rank schools and apply more complex admission processes than were far less transparent to students.

Marketing

A newspaper begins aggressively optimizing the titles of its articles with A/B testing. This immediately increases overall revenue. A later impact study indicates that the quality of titles dropped dramatically such that titles often didn’t reflect the content of articles. The optimization effort was associated with a steady decline in reputation, customer satisfaction and subscription rates.

Learn More
Analytics Jonathan Poland

Analytics

Analytics is the practice of analyzing data in order to draw insights and inform business decisions. This can include analyzing…

What is Greenwashing? Jonathan Poland

What is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing refers to the act of making false or misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product or company…

Ecotax Jonathan Poland

Ecotax

An ecotax is a tax levied on activities that have a negative impact on the environment. It is intended to…

Refinancing Risk Jonathan Poland

Refinancing Risk

Refinancing risk is the risk that a borrower will be unable to secure new debt to replace an existing debt…

Change Management Jonathan Poland

Change Management

Change management is the process of planning and implementing changes within an organization. It involves analyzing the current state of…

Conformance Quality Jonathan Poland

Conformance Quality

Conformance quality refers to the production of products and delivery of services that meet specified standards or requirements. It is…

Manufacturing 150 150 Jonathan Poland

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is a critical phase in business development, especially for companies that produce physical goods. The synergies between manufacturing and…

Key Strengths Jonathan Poland

Key Strengths

Key strengths are talents, character traits, and knowledge that are particularly relevant to a given role. These are often listed…

What is the Iterative Process? Jonathan Poland

What is the Iterative Process?

An iterative process is a method of working through a problem or project by repeating a series of steps, each…

Content Database

Search over 1,000 posts on topics across
business, finance, and capital markets.

Trademarks Jonathan Poland

Trademarks

Trademarks are used to identify and distinguish goods and services from those of others in the marketplace. Here’s what can…

Subscription Model Jonathan Poland

Subscription Model

A subscription model is a pricing and revenue strategy in which customers pay a recurring fee for access to a…

Retail Automation Jonathan Poland

Retail Automation

Retail automation refers to the use of technology to automate and streamline various processes in the retail industry, such as…

Barter Jonathan Poland

Barter

Barter is a system of exchange in which goods or services are traded for other goods or services, rather than…

Bausch + Lomb Jonathan Poland

Bausch + Lomb

Baxter International Inc. is a global healthcare company that develops and manufactures medical products and services for a wide range…

Team Manager Jonathan Poland

Team Manager

A team manager is responsible for directing and controlling an organizational unit. This leadership role involves authority and accountability for…

Economic Efficiency Jonathan Poland

Economic Efficiency

Economic efficiency refers to the ability of an economy to produce the maximum possible value using its available resources, such…

Competitive Differentiation Jonathan Poland

Competitive Differentiation

Competitive differentiation refers to the unique value that a company’s product, service, brand, or experience offers in comparison to all…

Types of Fail Safe Jonathan Poland

Types of Fail Safe

A fail-safe is a mechanism or system that is designed to prevent harm or damage in the event of a…