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An impact evaluation is an assessment of the actual results of a change. The term implies a broad evaluation that considers unintended consequences. In other words, a program or project may achieve its targets but then have an overall negative impact. Alternatively, a program that is viewed as a failure due to budget and schedule issues may have a far more positive impact than anticipated by its planners. The following are illustrative examples of an impact evaluation.
CitiesA 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.TransportationA 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.
EducationAn 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.MarketingA 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.|
| Type | | | Definition | A broad assessment of the total observed results of a program, project or strategy including unintended consequences. | | Related Concepts | |
Program Management
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