TY - JOUR
T1 - Strategies for Researching Programs’ Impact on Capability
T2 - A Scoping Review
AU - Rijke, Wouter J.
AU - Meerman, Jan
AU - Bloemen, Bart
AU - Venkatapuram, Sridhar
AU - Van der Klink, Jac
AU - Van der Wilt, Gert Jan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Researchers seeking to assess the impact of a program on the capability of its target audience face numerous methodological challenges. The purpose of our review was to see to what extent such challenges are recognised and what choices researchers made in order to address them, and why. We identified 3354 studies by searching five databases in addition to cross-checking references from selected studies. A total of 71 studies met our pre-defined selection criteria: empirical studies reporting data on how interventions impacted the beneficiaries’ capability, providing sufficient detail on how impact was measured, in English language. Four independent raters assessed those studies on four domains: descriptive information, consideration of causal attribution, operationalisation of capability, and interpretation of findings. Challenges related to capability impact assessment were not widely explicitly acknowledged, and available measures to address these challenges were not being used routinely. Major weaknesses included little attention to causal attribution, infrequent justification of the specific content of capability, and failure to research the constitutive elements of capability and their interactions. Research into a program’s impact on the capability of its recipients is challenging for several reasons, but options are available to further improve the quality of this type of research.
AB - Researchers seeking to assess the impact of a program on the capability of its target audience face numerous methodological challenges. The purpose of our review was to see to what extent such challenges are recognised and what choices researchers made in order to address them, and why. We identified 3354 studies by searching five databases in addition to cross-checking references from selected studies. A total of 71 studies met our pre-defined selection criteria: empirical studies reporting data on how interventions impacted the beneficiaries’ capability, providing sufficient detail on how impact was measured, in English language. Four independent raters assessed those studies on four domains: descriptive information, consideration of causal attribution, operationalisation of capability, and interpretation of findings. Challenges related to capability impact assessment were not widely explicitly acknowledged, and available measures to address these challenges were not being used routinely. Major weaknesses included little attention to causal attribution, infrequent justification of the specific content of capability, and failure to research the constitutive elements of capability and their interactions. Research into a program’s impact on the capability of its recipients is challenging for several reasons, but options are available to further improve the quality of this type of research.
KW - Capability approach
KW - capability impact assessment
KW - capability operationalisation
KW - causal attribution
KW - impact assessment
KW - well-being measurement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159148416&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/19452829.2023.2209027
DO - 10.1080/19452829.2023.2209027
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85159148416
SN - 1945-2829
VL - 24
SP - 401
EP - 423
JO - Journal of Human Development and Capabilities
JF - Journal of Human Development and Capabilities
IS - 3
ER -