The development of the Project NetWork administrative records database for policy evaluation

Area of Science:

• Social Security Administration (SSA) research
• Disability policy evaluation
• Econometrics

Background:

• Project NetWork aimed to evaluate return-to-work programs for individuals with disabilities.
• A robust dataset is crucial for credible program evaluation.
• Administrative records offer a potential source for comprehensive data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development of SSA's administrative records database for Project NetWork.
• To assess the feasibility of using administrative data for program evaluation.
• To create a clean dataset for analyzing factors affecting participation and outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Development of a database using SSA administrative records.
• Simulation of complex eligibility rules for program participants and non-participants.
• Inclusion of data on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Disability Insurance (DI) benefits, earnings, demographics, and diagnostics.

Main Results:

• Successfully created a detailed database including 8,248 participants and 138,613 non-participants.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of simulating complex eligibility rules with administrative data.
• Generated clean, edited data files suitable for comprehensive evaluation.

Conclusions:

• Administrative records are a feasible and effective tool for creating comprehensive datasets for program evaluations.
• This methodology supports the use of administrative data for selecting control or comparison groups in future demonstration evaluations.
• The developed database allows for credible measurement of net outcomes and analysis of participation factors.