Gauging treatment impact: The development of exposure variables in a large-scale evaluation study

While guidance on how to design rigorous evaluation studies abounds, prescriptive guidance on how to include critical process and context measures through the construction of exposure variables is lacking. Capturing nuanced intervention dosage information within a large-scale evaluation is particularly complex. The Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) initiative is part of the Diversity Program Consortium, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. It is designed to increase participation in biomedical research careers among individuals from underrepresented groups. This chapter articulates methods employed in defining BUILD student and faculty interventions, tracking nuanced participation in multiple programs and activities, and computing the intensity of exposure. Defining standardized exposure variables (beyond simple treatment group membership) is crucial for equity-focused impact evaluation. Both the process and resulting nuanced dosage variables can inform the design and implementation of large-scale, diversity training program, outcome-focused, evaluation studies.