Transferability of Lessons From Program Evaluations: Iron Laws, Hiding Hands and the Evidence Ecosystem

Area of Science:

• Social Science Research Methodology
• Program Evaluation
• Knowledge Transfer

Background:

• Assessing the transferability of social research and evaluation findings presents significant challenges.
• Existing efforts rely on statistical causal inferences or reasoned arguments based on program design and delivery data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore methods for identifying transferable lessons from social research and evaluation.
• To outline conditions necessary for confident transfer of research findings.

Main Methods:

• Review of argumentation strategies for lesson transfer (statistical vs. reasoned case).
• Emphasis on rich descriptions of program, context, and beneficiaries.
• Highlighting the role of existing evidence in research design.

Main Results:

• Transferability assessment benefits from detailed program and context information.
• Identifying transferable lessons is an iterative community learning process.
• Understanding fluctuating causes, program capacity, prior knowledge, and new evidence is crucial.

Conclusions:

• Confident transfer of social research findings necessitates understanding complex causality and program specifics.
• Rich evidence, iterative community engagement, and incorporating prior knowledge enhance transferability.
• Future research should focus on these factors to improve the application of social science insights.