Designing for Impact or Impact Evaluation?

​Applied behavioral science has gone hand in hand with experimental research methods. Running randomized controlled trials has allowed our field to prove its promise and to quickly build an evidence base of what works to change behavior. While this marriage has been beneficial in many respects, it also comes at a cost. It constrains the kinds of solutions we can design, increases the cost and complexity of behavioral interventions, and makes us less nimble to tackle complex challenges. 

​Many of us have faced the challenge: our intervention would be more powerful if we added a social feature to make it go viral or if we could change structural features (such as rules or regulations), but the sample size won't hold up for an RCT if we go down that route.

​So what to do?

​Join us for this thoughtful panel on the benefits and tradeoffs between rigorous research to learn what works on the one hand, and intervention impact and flexibility on the other.