Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition Book

	Executive Summary	1
1	Introduction	13
2	Welfare Reform Monitoring and Evaluation: The Current Landscape	24
	Descriptive and Monitoring Studies	26
	Studies of Welfare Leavers and Related Groups	28
	Randomized Experiments	30
	Caseload and Other Econometric Models	31
	Process, Implementation, and Qualitative Studies	33
	Other Welfare Reform Studies	34
	Studies on Topics Related to Welfare Reform	34
3	Research Questions and Populations of Interest
	Populations of Interest	37
	Outcomes of Interest	39
	Questions of Interest	41
	Nationwide Versus Individual State Assessments	49
	Assessment	50
4	Evaluation Methods and Issues	54
	Overview of Evaluation Methods	55
	Evaluation Methods for the Questions of Interest	63
	Issues in Evaluation Methodology	73
	Assessment of Current Evaluation Efforts	93
	Next Steps	99
5	Data Needs and Issues	102
	Survey Data	104
	Administrative Data	128
	Data Access and Confidentiality	138
	Program Description Data	141
	Qualitative Data	144
	Summary and Assessment of the Current Data Infrastructure	146
6	Administrative Issues for Maintaining the Data Infrastructure	149
	The Current System	150
	A Proposed System	154
	References	161
App. A	Major Current Welfare-Related Research Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services	171
App. B	Summary of Current Welfare Reform Projects	187
App. C	The Statistical Power of National Data to Evaluate Welfare Reform	209
App. D	Summaries of National-Level Survey Data Sets Relevant to Welfare Monitoring and Evaluation	221
	Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff	235
	Index	241