| Principal Investigator: | Christopher T. King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation |
| Project Duration: | December 2019 – December 2021 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center will evaluate the variation in program characteristics – including program components, implementation features, local context, and participant traits – to explore which characteristics are associated with Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program participant’s healthcare profession career pathway outcomes. This research will address the following questions:
Similar to the previous research on the impact of HPOG program characteristics on educational achievement (Peck et al., 2018 and Walton et al., 2019), this research expects to identify supports such as childcare and transportation assistance, tuition, and other financial assistance, as well as employment supports and emergency assistance associated with CNA participant achievements along a career pathway. Practitioners, policymakers, funders, and researchers may be interested in which combination of program components, implementation strategies, participant characteristics, and local context may impact a CNA participant to pursue the next step along a healthcare profession career pathway. Insights from this research can inform future program design and implementation within the broader field of entry level healthcare provider workforce development. |
| Reports Available: |
RMC researchers co-author chapter in newly published Upjohn Institute for Employment Research book
RMC researchers Daniel Schroeder and Ashweeta Patnaik are co-authors of a chapter entitled “SNAP and UI as Components of a Joint Safety Net in Texas” in the book, Strengths of the Social Safety Net in the Great Recession : Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Unemployment Insurance, published in August 2019 by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
The book is the culmination of the multi-state Administrative Data Research and Evaluation (ADARE) Alliance’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Study, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA ERS). The book is the first to use administrative data to look at how the SNAP and Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs worked together during a period of crisis in the economy and the labor market. The contributors in this book use administrative data from around the time of the Great Recession in six states – Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, and Texas. In chapter 10, authors Daniel Schroeder and Ashweeta Patnaik examine SNAP and UI interactions in Texas during the years of the Great Recession, as well as the Great Recession–era experience of SNAP beneficiaries who are able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). The book contributors also recommend ways that the program policies could be altered to better serve those suffering hardship as a result of future economic downturns. An open access copy of the book is available for download from Upjohn Press.
Heath Prince presents work on youth unemployment in the MENA region at WORK2019
RMC’s Director and Research Scientist Dr. Heath Prince presented his work on youth unemployment in the MENA region at WORK2019: Real World in the Virtual World, the 4th International Interdisciplinary Conference on Research on Work and Working Life, in Helsinki, Finland from August 14-16, 2019. The WORK2019 Conference is organized by Turku Centre for Labour Studies (TCLS) together with the Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku, the SWiPE – Research consortium, and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. His presentation included findings from synthetic control method models examining the effect that the Arab Spring had on youth unemployment in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. You can view a photo gallery of the conference here (courtesy of Eija Vuorio, WORK2019 organising committee).
Heath Prince co-authors “Economic Growth, Youth Unemployment, and Political and Social Instability”
Dr. Heath Prince and colleagues complete working paper on changes in youth employment policy and their impacts in the post-Arab Spring MENA region for the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). In addition to Dr. Prince, authors include Amna Khan, Deputy Project Director for the Center for Advanced Studies in Energy (a USAID-funded project in Islamabad, Pakistan), and Yara Halasa, Research Associate at the Schneider Institute for Health Policy at Brandeis University and lecturer in the International Healthcare Policy and Management Master’s program at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. You can view the paper here.
Dr. Prince and team participate in initiative supporting RMC’s behavioral economics intervention in Northern Jordan
On February 20th and 21st of this year, Dr. Heath Prince led his research team’s participation in the official launch workshop for the initiative supporting the Ray Marshall Center’s behavioral economics intervention in Northern Jordan with support from Jordan University for Science and Technology (JUST). The project is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and is one of several similar experiments in a larger initiative supported by Share-Net Jordan and Share-Net International to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The aim of the workshop was to facilitate acquaintance, networking, and linking, both among the projects as well as between the projects, Share-Net Jordan, and Share-Net International. The workshop also encouraged further exchange, learning, and cooperation among parties. The focus was on academic issues and research uptake. The academic issues consisted of sharing experiences and challenges concerning theoretical and methodological approaches; dealing with sensitivities around SRHR and the security situation (risk assessment); and reviewing how to measure progress towards expected output/outcomes. Research uptake centered around using results in policy and practice; analyzing essential elements that ensure research uptake; detailing the Impact Pathway; determining (strategies for) stakeholder engagement; and communication and measuring progress towards expected output/outcomes. The workshop facilitated the connecting of people and helped to identify common themes and challenges for further actions (workshops, joint publications, joint seminar, etc.), as well as for learning from each other. The workshop also yielded insights for ‘projects’ on how to improve their communication/research uptake plans and provided ideas on how Share-Net can further assist the projects in reaching out to the wider (policy & practice) community. The RMC/JUST experiment runs through December of 2018, with final reports due in August of 2019.
To read more about RMC’s collaboration with NWO and JUST, please visit the project page.
Daniel Schroeder invited to child support policy roundtable
RMC Research Scientist Daniel Schroeder was invited to attend the Roundtable for Building the Next Generation of Child Support Policy Research held on October 17-18, 2017 at the Holiday Inn Capitol in Washington, DC. The invitation-only event was hosted by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the US Department of Health and Human Services and MEF Associates and explored key child support policy research questions. Given Daniel’s experience and expertise, he was identified as an important contributor to the goals of the roundtable. 
Nuru Nigeria Evaluation Plan
| Principal Investigator(s): | Heath J. Prince, PhD and Ashweeta Patnaik, MPH (Co-Principal Investigator) |
| Sponsor(s): | Nuru International |
| Project Duration: | September 2017 – December 2017 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center (RMC) has partnered with Nuru International to write a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan for Nuru’s anticipated programming in Nigeria. The plan will include an exhaustive literature review, a review of Nuru’s past approaches to evaluation, a review of poverty measures, a review of Nuru’s Leadership Sustainability Index (LSI), suggested methods, and suggested survey tools. The planning process will include expert consultation, interviews with Nuru staff, document review, literature review, and overall close coordination with personnel on the Nuru International team. |
| Reports Available: | Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Plan for Nuru Nigeria Author: Ray Marshall Center Date: November 2018 Publication Type: Report, 33pp. This report is commissioned by Nuru International. |
Ashweeta Patnaik pens blog post about RMC’s evaluation of Nuru International initiative
RMC Social Science Research Associate Ashweeta Patnaik wrote a blog post about lessons learned from RMC’s evaluation of Nuru International‘s integrated and holistic international development model for the American Evaluation Association‘s AEA365 blog. You can view the post here. You can also learn more about RMC’s Multidimensional Poverty Assignment partnership with Nuru here.
Examining Reproductive Health Services of Women, Female Youth, and Female Refugees in Northern Jordan with a Behavioral Economics Lens
| Principal Investigator: | Heath J. Prince, PhD |
| Sponsor(s): | Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research |
| Project Duration: | August 2017 – July 2019 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center (RMC) will partner with the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to design, implement, and evaluate interventions that adhere to the Cairo consensus of ensuring women’s reproductive health and sexual rights (RHSR) and the rights of the vulnerable youth and refugee populations in the north while reducing population growth in accordance with the SDGs and Jordan’s needs. We propose to do this by using a combination of culturally sensitive anthropological practices and behavioral economic approaches.
A critical objective of this effort is to identify interventions that produce the desired outcomes cost-effectively, in order that these interventions may be institutionalized within Jordanian ministries and CSOs/NGOs and, therefore, more likely to be replicated throughout the country and sustained over time. |
| Reports Available: | Behavioral economics-inspired counselling helped to reduce pregnancies in Jordan (external site) Text: Joris Tielens Date: June 7, 2021 Publication Type: Project summary Examining Reproductive Health Services of Women, Female Youth, and Female Refugees in Northern Jordan with a Behavioral Economics Lens |
TDHCA Resident Survey
| Principal Investigator: | Greg Cumpton, PhD |
| Sponsor(s): | Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs |
| Project Duration: | May 2017 – September 2017 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center has partnered with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) to perform research activities related to TDHCA’s residents. The purpose of this research will be to obtain input from TDHCA residents about aspects of their living situations as they pertain to statewide regulations set forth in the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) and Uniform Multifamily Rules. Specifically, this research will investigate residents’ opinions about their neighborhoods, development features, and tenant services. Overall, this project will provide a representative portrait of residents’ lived experiences and nuanced opinions about their homes, with the goal of identifying what residents most value in their living situations. The research will be conducted in two phases – a series of four focus groups and one quantitative survey. |
| Reports Available: |
