Information Package / Course Catalogue
Applied Impact Assessment
Course Code: ZTE504
Course Type: Area Elective
Couse Group: Second Cycle (Master's Degree)
Education Language: Turkish
Work Placement: N/A
Theory: 2
Prt.: 2
Credit: 3
Lab: 0
ECTS: 8
Objectives of the Course

The aim of this course is to provide students with the ability to provide information about the effects produced by an intervention, to analyze the effects of a program or policy or productive work such as support for capacity building and an enabling environment. In addition, this course aims to enable students to use various statistical and econometric models in the impact assessment process, as well as provide practical skills, analysis, and interpretation to evaluate causality and impact.

Course Content

This course covers an overview of impact assessment, theory of change, assessment criteria, participatory approaches, causal association strategies, randomized controlled studies, quasi-experimental design and methods, comparative case studies, data collection and analysis methods in impact assessment, surveying, statistical and econometric modelling, development and selection of criteria, analysis, synthesis and interpretation skills.

Name of Lecturer(s)
Prof. Ferit ÇOBANOĞLU
Learning Outcomes
1.To understand the concept and scope of impact assessment.
2.To be able to create experimental and non-experimental designs to be used in impact assessment.
3.To be able to carry out impact assessment studies for various rural development and support programs.
4.To be able to use various statistical and econometric models in accordance with the impact assessment methodology.
5.To gain the ability to interpret the results of impact assessment analysis in all subjects within the scope of agricultural economics
Recommended or Required Reading
1.Gertler, P.J., Martinez, S., Premand, P., Rawlings, L.B., Vermeersch, C.M.J., 2011. Impact Evaluation in Practice. The World Bank.
2.White, H., Raitzer, D.A., 2017. Impact Evaluation of Development Interventions, A Practical Guide. Asian Development Bank
3.Lance, P.M., Guilkey, D.K., Hattori, A., Angeles, G., 2014. How Do We Know if a Program Made a Difference? A Guide to Statistical Methods for Program İmpact Evaluation. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: MEASURE Evaluation.
4.Djebbari, H., Lopera, M.A., 2014. Impact Evaluation using STATA. Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP), Québec, April 24, 2014.
Weekly Detailed Course Contents
Week 1 - Theoretical
Impact assessment for evidence-based development, objectives of impact assessment, what questions can impact assessment answer? Impact assessment and economic analysis in the project cycle
Week 2 - Theoretical
Using theories of change to identify impact assessment questions; definition of the theory of change, the issues raised by the theory of change, understanding and applying the theory of change
Week 3 - Theoretical
Basic concepts of impact assessment; definition of impact values, determining control and comparison groups, biases and difficulties for causal inference, impact measurement time, assignment, processing and analysis unit, different impact criteria, concepts of internal and external validity
Week 4 - Theoretical
Random controlled trials; importance of randomness, types of randomized controlled experiment design, random controlled experiment application steps, reporting randomized controlled experiments, working in practice with randomized controlled experiments
Week 5 - Theoretical
Non-experimental designs; difference estimations in differences, synthetic controls, propensity score matching, propensity score weighting, and double robust techniques
Week 6 - Theoretical
Non-experimental designs; regression discontinuity design and discontinuous time series, instrumental variables
Week 7 - Theoretical
Non-experimental designs; endogenous intervention and control function approaches, endogenous switching regressions
Week 8 - Theoretical
Data collection for impact assessment; importance of high quality data, determining what data is needed, data sources, survey design, sampling, data collection and management processes
Week 9 - Theoretical
Determination of sample size for data collection; power calculations, introduction, what is power? power calculations for simple study designs, power calculations for cluster designs
Week 10 - Theoretical
Managing the impact assessment process, planning the impact assessment, selecting the impact assessment design, scheduling and budgeting for impact assessment, interpreting and presenting impact assessment analysis findings
Week 11 - Theoretical
Random assignment, experimental sample, external validity, treatment and control group, stratification, randomization level, internal validity, validity of research design, clustering, power calculations in STATA program
Week 12 - Theoretical
Program impact estimation, outcome variable, average treatment effect, determination of heterogeneous impact in STATA program
Week 13 - Theoretical
Quantile treatment effect in STATA program, determination of undesirable effects
Week 14 - Theoretical
Preparing Literature Based Report and Presentation
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Type of AssessmentCountPercent
Midterm Examination1%40
Final Examination1%60
Workload Calculation
ActivitiesCountPreparationTimeTotal Work Load (hours)
Lecture - Theory143270
Lecture - Practice143270
Midterm Examination125126
Final Examination130131
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours)197
Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes
PÇ-1
PÇ-2
PÇ-3
PÇ-4
PÇ-5
PÇ-6
PÇ-7
PÇ-8
PÇ-9
PÇ-10
OÇ-1
2
3
4
4
OÇ-2
4
4
4
OÇ-3
5
4
3
5
3
4
3
3
4
OÇ-4
4
2
4
3
4
3
OÇ-5
5
3
5
4
5
Adnan Menderes University - Information Package / Course Catalogue
2026