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News9 November 2023

New report: piloting methods to develop better evidence on student support

New report explores the effectiveness of less commonly used evaluation methods to develop more robust evidence and understand the impact of interventions.
Mental health and wellbeing

Previous work commissioned by TASO found gaps in the evidence on what works to improve the employment and employability outcomes for students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds, and what works to better the outcomes for disabled students.

The aim of the Efficacy Pilots project was to build Type 2 evidence for interventions that support these outcomes, and scope out the feasibility of Type 3 evaluation. Four higher education providers (HEPs) were matched with an independent evaluator to provide evaluation support and build internal evaluation expertise.

Lessons learnt about evaluation methods

Propensity Score Matching (PSM)

Contribution Analysis

Each of the Analysis Reports contains reflections on alternative evaluation methods which could be used to address the emerging issue from the pilots on the inability of the methods to account for selection bias.

Recommendations on evaluation methods for higher education providers: 

The University of Brighton and the University of Exeter worked with independent evaluator SQW. The University of Central Lancashire and the London School of Economics worked with an independent evaluator from the University of Cambridge.

Read the summary report: Piloting methods to develop better evidence on student support.

Download the analysis reports below.

University of Central Lancashire’s Student Wellbeing Ambassadors Programme

London School of Economics’ Disabled Students Career Appointments

University of Exeter’s Access to Internships Scheme

University of Brighton’s Student Mentoring Programmes

Find out more about what works to reduce quality gaps for disabled students.

Find out more about what works to reduce equality gaps in employment and employability.

If you have any questions around the report, or would like the report in another format, you can get in touch with us at info@taso-db.robin.thebureaulondon.com.