SSR Professional Development Workshop

Highlights

During the workshop, social service research experts from Singapore, Indonesia, United Kingdom and the United States provided practical knowledge on program evaluation design and implementation to the 80 participants, consisting of policy makers, academics, students, and social service practitioners. The experts shared their experiences in conducting social service evaluations in their respective countries of study and discussed practical concerns such as cost, sampling techniques, research rigor and implementation barriers and solutions. The experts and workshop participants also had an insightful discussion of the benefits and reasons for conducting randomized control trials, including ethical concerns.

The workshop ended with a hands-on session conducted by the SSR research staff and associates. Participants from different organizations worked together to apply the knowledge gained from the earlier sessions in designing their own evaluation program, sharing with each other the programs provided in their own agencies and their understanding of the clients. Towards the end of this session, participants presented and received immediate feedback for their evaluation program. This interaction also provided an avenue for them to share their practical experiences and encourage collaborations in the future.

Program

This workshop will provide practitioners with a deeper understanding in implementing program evaluation through talks by our international conference speakers. A research clinic will also be conducted during the workshop where participants will have an opportunity to propose an evaluation design and receive immediate feedback.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSE

REGISTRATION DETAILS
FEE: $30 PER PARTICIPANT
Registration fee includes full workshop kit, 2 tea breaks and 1 lunch
Date: 23rd April 2015, Thursday
Time: 8.30am to 5.30pm
Venue: Kent Ridge Guild House, NUSS, 9 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119241
Rooms: Dalvey & Evans

Time	Program
8:30am	Registration
9:00am	Session 1: Overview of Program Evaluation Mr. Héctor Salazar Salame, Executive Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, SE Asia
10:00am	Break
10:30am	Session 2: Understanding and Applying Randomization Techniques Dr James Riccio, Director of the Low-Wage Workers and Communities Policy Area, MDRC
11:30am	Session 3: Challenges in Implementation and How to Overcome Them Dr Richard Dorsett, Principal Research Fellow and Director of Policy Evaluation, National Institute of Economic and Social Research
12:30pm	Lunch
2:00pm	Session 4: Balancing Rigor and Practicality Professor Mary C. Ruffolo, Professor of Social Work and Director of Continuing Education Program, University of Michigan
3:00pm	Break
3:30pm	Session 5: Research Clinic (Session for participants to discuss design of potential program evaluations and measurement of outcomes)Facilitated by: A/P Irene Y.H. Ng, Director, Social Service Research Centre, NUS Dr Qiyan Ong, Research Fellow, Social Service Research Centre, NUS
5:30pm	End of Workshop

Speakers

MR. HÉCTOR SALAZAR SALAME

Mr. Héctor Salazar Salame joined J-PAL SEA in August 2012. As Executive Director, he is developing the regional office’s portfolio of projects and growing its institutional presence in Indonesia and the Southeast Asia region. In the years prior to joining J-PAL, Héctor held positions in the New York City Office of the Mayor as well as with international and local NGOs working in Latin America and Indonesia. During this time, he researched, designed and managed initiatives in the fields of poverty reduction, election observation, labour rights advocacy and community participation. Héctor holds a Masters degree in City Planning from MIT (2011) with a focus on Political Economy and an Undergraduate degree in International Affairs from James Madison University (2004). Originally from Mexico, Héctor is natively fluent in Spanish and English. He is also proficient in Bahasa Indonesia.

DR JAMES RICCIO

Dr James Riccio is Director of MDRC’s Low-Wage Workers and Communities policy area, which tests innovative policies to improve labour market, human capital, and quality-of-life outcomes for low-income populations, usually through randomized controlled trials. In addition to overseeing the work of his department, Dr Riccio currently serves as the principal investigator for MDRC’s evaluation of the Family Rewards two-generation conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs for low-income families in New York City and Memphis, Tennessee. In addition, under a contract with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, he is directing a test of an alternative rent policy designed to increase work outcomes for recipients of housing subsidies in four cities. From 2003-2011, Dr Riccio led an MDRC-UK research consortium (including 4 British organizations as subcontractors) that designed and evaluated the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (UK ERA) demonstration, at the time Britain’s largest and most comprehensive randomized trial in social policy, under a contract with the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). He now serves as on an expert advisory panel for DWP’s evaluation of Universal Credit, Britain’s major new welfare reform initiative. Over his long career at MDRC, Dr Riccio has also been a lead researcher on evaluations of a variety of welfare-to-work, employment programs for residents of public housing, and other initiatives. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University.

DR RICHARD DORSETT

Dr Richard Dorsett is Director of Policy Evaluation at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in London. He specialises in the fields of welfare, employment and education/training. His experience covers both large-scale government evaluations and smaller-scale studies. His particular expertise is in impact analysis and he has led numerous projects using both experimental and non-experimental techniques.

Current evaluations include the Work Programme (the main UK back-to-work service) for the UK Department for Work and Pensions; technology in adult learning (a randomised control trial assigning learners to either traditional or blended learning) for the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills, BIS); Traineeships (a voluntary scheme to improve the employability of young people with skills below the level required for an apprenticeship) for BIS; a support scheme for released prisoners (the results of which will be used to calculate payment due to investors in a social impact bond) for the UK Ministry of Justice. He is also part of a World Bank led team designing a survey of nationals, ex-pats and employers in Saudi Arabia. He has previously acted as Specialist Adviser to the UK House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Manchester.

PROFESSOR MARY C. RUFFOLO

Professor Mary Ruffolo’s research focuses on organizational factors that influence sustaining evidence based interventions/programs in community mental health settings, adapting efficacious interventions for children and youth experiencing serious mental health challenges, and addressing ways to disseminate interventions with at-risk populations (e.g., families of children with serious mental illness, adults with severe mental illness). She is involved in evaluating initiatives focusing on integrating behavioral health and primary care. She is committed to research that addresses the needs of vulnerable populations served by the health and behavioral health public systems.

As director of the continuing education program, she is facilitating the instructional technology initiatives within the school to better meet the needs of students and professionals. Her efforts focus on the development of courses and interdisciplinary web-based certificates using a range of digital and web-based instructional technologies to enhance learning.

Date

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Time

8.30am to 5.30pm

Venue

Kent Ridge Guild House, NUSS, 9 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119241
Rooms: Dalvey & Evans