On the Evidence
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A podcast hosted by Mathematica’s J.B. Wogan that examines what we know about today’s most urgent challenges and how we can make progress in addressing them. Reimagining the way the world gathers and uses data, Mathematica uncovers the evidence that offers our partners the confidence and clarity they need to find out what can be done, how to make it happen, and where to go next.
Available episodes
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Jan 18, 2023
86 | The Present & Future of Computational Social Science
Princeton professor Matthew Salganik’s book, Bit by Bit, explores the merging worlds of computer science and social science for timely, policy relevant research in the 21st century. In the book, he shows how traditional research techniques in the social sciences can sometimes be combined with digital tools and big data to generate high-quality evidence on a larger scale, in less time, and at a much lower cost. On the five-year anniversary of his book’s release, Salganik, who is also a member of Mathematica’s Board of Directors, spoke with On the Evidence about the book’s legacy and the evolution of the field of computational social science since he first taught a course on the subject in 2007.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/princetons-matthew-salganik-discusses-the-evolving-intersection-of-data-and-social-science-ethics
Read a free online version of Salganik’s book, Bit by Bit: https://www.bitbybitbook.com/en/1st-ed/preface/
Attend a virtual book talk on February 7, 2023 about Bit by Bit, including a Q&A with the author, hosted by the Washington, D.C. chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dc-aapor-book-club-20-bit-by-bit-social-research-in-the-digital-age-tickets-487575530537
Listen to a previous On the Evidence episode about the Howard-Mathematica SICSS, which features Salganik: https://mathematica.org/blogs/inside-an-initiative-to-diversify-the-field-of-computational-social-science
Learn more about the Howard-Mathematica SICSS: https://mathematica.org/news/howard-university-and-mathematica-to-host-computational-social-science-summer-institute
Watch Salganik give a Tedx talk at Princeton University about the tension between ready-made data (big data) and custom-made data (with which social scientists usually work): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pj95xXHN2g
Learn more about Salganik and his appointment in 2018 as a member of Mathematica’s Board of Directors: https://mathematica.org/news/matthew-salganik-appointed-to-mathematicas-board-of-directors
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Jan 5, 2023
85 | Human Services Agencies Pursue Environmental Justice
On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, guests Michael A. Becketts, Tracy Wareing Evans, Shavana Howard, and Matt Stagner make the case for state and local human services agencies to play a central role in the response to climate change.
Becketts is the director of the Fairfax County Department of Family Services; Wareing Evans is the President and Chief Executive Officer at American Public Human Services Association; Howard is an assistant secretary for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services; and Stagner is a vice president at Mathematica.
They explain how the field of human services is uniquely positioned to support communities that will be disproportionately harmed by climate change and they identify ways that social science research and other forms of evidence can help develop solutions to environmental injustice.
Additional resources mentioned on the episode, plus a full transcript of the conversation, are available here: mathematica.org/blogs/the-role-of-human-services-in-securing-environmental-justice
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Dec 16, 2022
84 | Advancing Equity and Addressing the Climate Crisis in 2022, the Year of Evidence for Action
For the final episode of 2022, we continue our annual tradition of inviting guests to reflect on Mathematica’s work with its partners in advancing equity, addressing the climate crisis, improving public well-being, and the role that evidence played in it. This year’s guests are Nancy Murray, Jill Constantine, and Chris Trenholm, who oversee Mathematica’s International, Human Services, and Health business units, respectively. On the episode, they discuss the following topics:
• Where they see signs of progress in the use of evidence
• The increasingly important role of evidence in understanding and addressing inequities
• Reasons to be optimistic about the growing use of evidence in improving people’s lives in 2023
A full transcript of the episode is available here: mathematica.org/blogs/advancing-equity-and-addressing-the-climate-crisis-in-2022-the-year-of-evidence-for-action
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Dec 8, 2022
83, Pt. 2 | Abigail Aiken on Using Research to Inform Abortion, Reproductive Health Policy
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Abigail Aiken, the 22nd recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize.
In Part 1, as part of her acceptance speech at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management’s fall research conference, Aiken shares details about her personal and professional journey as a researcher in the area of evidence-based reproductive health policy. Listen to Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/ontheevidence/informing-reproductive-health-policies-with-timely-evidence-episode-83-part-1
A full transcript of the episode is available here: mathematica.org/blogs/abigail-aiken-on-using-research-to-inform-abortion-reproductive-health-policy
In Part 2, Aiken talks with On the Evidence host J.B. Wogan about how she ensures that her research informs the policy debate, even on a polarizing topic like abortion.
Read the New Yorker profile of Aiken: www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/w…ortion-look-like
Learn more about the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize: www.appam.org/about-appam/awards…d-n-kershaw-award/
Listen to an interview with Sanya Carley, winner of the 21st David N. Kershaw Award and Prize: mathematica.org/blogs/understandi…-policy-decisions
Listen to an interview with Kirabo Jackson, winner of the 20th David N. Kershaw Award and Prize: mathematica.org/blogs/investing-i…s-in-the-long-run
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Dec 8, 2022
83, Pt. 1 | Abigail Aiken on Using Research to Inform Abortion, Reproductive Health Policy
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Abigail Aiken, the 22nd recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize.
In Part 1, as part of her acceptance speech at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management’s fall research conference, Aiken shares details about her personal and professional journey as a researcher in the area of evidence-based reproductive health policy.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: mathematica.org/blogs/abigail-aiken-on-using-research-to-inform-abortion-reproductive-health-policy
In Part 2, Aiken talks with On the Evidence host J.B. Wogan about how she ensures that her research informs the policy debate, even on a polarizing topic like abortion. Listen to Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/ontheevidence/informing-reproductive-health-policies-with-timely-evidence-episode-83-part-2
Read the New Yorker profile of Aiken: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-does-an-at-home-abortion-look-like
Learn more about the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize: https://www.appam.org/about-appam/awards/david-n-kershaw-award/
Listen to an interview with Sanya Carley, winner of the 21st David N. Kershaw Award and Prize: mathematica.org/blogs/understanding-the-equity-and-justice-dimensions-of-energy-policy-decisions
Listen to an interview with Kirabo Jackson, winner of the 20th David N. Kershaw Award and Prize: mathematica.org/blogs/investing-in-education-for-success-in-the-long-run
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Nov 9, 2022
82 | Confronting the Climate Crisis with Data and Evidence
Climate change represents the single most significant policy challenge in the 21st century. It is a multifaceted and global threat to society that affects a range of concerns, from the environment and food security to health and economic inequality. Recognizing the urgency of the threat, Mathematica recently established a climate change practice to help develop innovative and sustainable solutions that meet ambitious reduction goals for carbon dioxide emissions while helping vulnerable communities become more resilient.
On this episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, Tulika Narayan, the company’s vice president for climate change, talks about how data and evidence can help confront the climate crisis and mitigate its manifold impacts on society.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: mathematica.org/blogs/confronting-the-climate-crisis-with-data-and-evidence
Register for the webinar on measuring climate resilience: https://www.mathematica.org/events/improving-climate-adaptation-is-measurement-a-barrier
Learn more about Mathematica’s interdisciplinary climate change practice: https://mathematica.org/sp/climate-change/climate-action
Learn more about Tulika's appointment as Vice President for Climate Change at Mathematica: mathematica.org/news/mathematica-names-tulika-narayan-new-vice-president-for-climate-change
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Oct 20, 2022
81 | Addressing the Health Risks Posed by Extreme Heat
On this episode of On the Evidence, Don Berwick of the National Academy of Medicine’s Climate Collaborative, Tom DiLiberto of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Aparna Keshaviah of Mathematica explore the risks that climate change and extreme heat pose to human health and how data can help inform solutions.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/addressing-the-harmful-effects-of-climate-change-on-extreme-heat-and-human-health
Learn more about ClimaWATCH, an interactive online tool that can support communities seeking to understand and adapt to the local effects of heat waves on their residents’ health: https://mathematica.org/publications/climawatch-tool
Learn more about Mathematica’s interdisciplinary climate change practice: https://mathematica.org/sp/climate-change/climate-action
Learn more about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s work over the past five years with more than 65 communities to map urban heat islands and use data-driven insights to mitigate the harmful and inequitable effects of extreme heat: https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-and-communities-to-map-heat-inequities-in-14-us-cities-and-counties
Learn more about the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector: https://nam.edu/programs/climate-change-and-human-health/action-collaborative-on-decarbonizing-the-u-s-health-sector/
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Oct 5, 2022
80 | Lessons from Contact Tracing During the Pandemic
This episode of On the Evidence explores lessons from contact tracing for COVID-19 that should inform current and future efforts to rebuild the public health field, particularly its workforce, after the public health emergency ends.
This episode features the following guests:
• Elinor Higgins, a policy associate at the National Academy for State Health Policy
• Shelley Fiscus, a pediatrician and senior policy consultant at the National Academy for State Health Policy
• Rachel Brash, a strategist in the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development who helped oversee the Baltimore Health Corps Initiative
• Shan-Tia Danielle, who worked as a contact tracer and led a team of contact tracers for the Washington State COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Partnership
• Candace Miller, a principal researcher at Mathematica who directed the Washington State COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Partnership
• Shaun Stevenson, an advisory services analyst at Mathematica who supported the Baltimore Health Corps Initiative
Episode transcript: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/charting-a-course-for-public-health-based-on-lessons-from-contact-tracing-during-the-pandemic
Learn more about the Washington State COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Partnership between the Washington State Department of Health, Mathematica, Comagine Health, and Allegis: https://mathematica.org/news/mathematica-partners-with-comagine-health-allegis-and-washington-state-on-contact-tracing
Read Mathematica’s interim (https://mathematica.org/publications/baltimore-health-corps-initiative-a-transitional-jobs-program-to-improve-public-health) and final issue briefs about lessons from Mathematica’s coaching of career navigators who supported more than 300 community health workers under the Baltimore Health Corps Initiative: https://mathematica.org/publications/lessons-learned-from-the-baltimore-health-corps-initiative-a-transitional-jobs-program-to-improve
Read an independent evaluation of the Baltimore Health Corps Initiative, prepared by Abt Associates: https://moed.baltimorecity.gov/news/press-releases/2022-08-19-evaluation-baltimore-health-corps-pilot-economic-and-public-health
Explore a dashboard developed by Mathematica and the Public Health Foundation to present key demographic characteristics of (1) contact tracing trainees who received training through the TRAIN Learning Network and (2) the communities they serve: https://www.mathematica.org/dataviz/building-community-based-contact-tracing
Read a blog explaining the purpose behind the contact-tracing dashboard developed by Mathematica and the Public Health Foundation: https://mathematica.org/blogs/insights-for-building-a-community-based-contact-tracing-workforce
Explore an interactive map and table developed by Mathematica and the National Academy for State Health Policy that tracks state approaches to contact tracing for COVID-19: https://www.nashp.org/state-approaches-to-contact-tracing-covid-19/
Explore a Mathematica data visualization showing the importance of demographics and other community characteristics in informing approaches to contact tracing: https://www.mathematica.org/dataviz/grounding-state-contact-tracing-efforts-in-context
Listen to an episode of On the Evidence about the variation in state approaches to contact tracing: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/understanding-the-variation-in-states-covid-19-contact-tracing-approaches
Listen to an episode of On the Evidence about the importance of building a community-based contact-tracing workforce: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/contact-tracing-workforce-driving-equitable-sustained-risk-mitigation-in-a-post-pandemic-world
Listen to an episode of On the Evidence about the importance of equity in implementing effective contact tracing: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/early-lessons-for-effective-and-equitable-contact-tracing
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Sep 21, 2022
79 | Using Data Transparency to Control Hospital Costs
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Gloria Sachdev of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, Maureen Hensley-Quinn of the National Academy for State Health Policy, and Evelyn Li and Guru Rasukonda of Mathematica discuss the value of new online tools for making sense of large sets of hospital cost and pricing data being made available in response to new federal regulations.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/using-data-transparency-to-control-hospital-costs
Explore Sage Transparency, a free online tool developed by the Employers’ Forum of Indiana and Mathematica. The tool draws on data from the RAND 4.0 Hospital Price Transparency Study, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and other health databases to show the real prices that employers pay for health care across the country: https://employerptp.org/sage-transparency/
Explore the Hospital Cost Tool, a dashboard designed by the National Academy for State Health Policy and Mathematica, which helps bridge the information gaps on costs and pricing: http://d3g6lgu1zfs2l4.cloudfront.net/
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Jun 29, 2022
78 | Addressing the Cash Cliff in Safety Net Programs: Lessons from a National Demonstration
Across many safety net programs, workers with low income and their families face the threat of a sudden and unexpected loss of benefits if their earnings increase too much, sometimes resulting in a net decrease in overall income. Policymakers have long worried that the phenomenon, often described as the cash or benefits cliff, discourages work and reinforces dependence on public assistance. Over the past decade, the Social Security Administration has launched two national demonstrations intended to mitigate this so-called cash cliff effect in the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program.
The latest episode of On the Evidence explores the results of those demonstrations and what they mean for future efforts to address program cliffs in the SSDI program and many other safety net programs. Our guests for this episode are John Jones, David Wittenburg, and Diane Beaver.
Jones is an economist at the Social Security Administration in the Office of Research, Demonstration, and Employment Support who has overseen several large-scale randomized controlled trials testing potential changes to the SSDI program, including two discussed on this episode: the Promoting Opportunity Demonstration (POD) and the Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND).
Wittenburg is a senior fellow at Mathematica whose research on interventions to promote employment for people with disabilities includes evaluations of POD and BOND.
Beaver is an advisory services analyst at Mathematica who spent more than a decade at a community nonprofit counseling people on how work and other entitlements would affect their Social Security benefits. In that role, she played a part in implementing POD and has firsthand knowledge of what beneficiaries experience as they navigate the patchwork of program rules that govern the amount of government aid people can receive for housing, food, child care, health care, and other needs as their work status changes.
Find a full transcript of the episode here: mathematica.org/blogs/why-a-national-demonstration-to-mitigate-the-cash-cliff-in-one-safety-net-program-didnt-increase
Read the final evaluation report on POD: https://www.ssa.gov/disabilityresearch/documents/POD_Final_Evaluation_Report.pdf
Read the final evaluation report on BOND: https://www.ssa.gov/disabilityresearch/documents/BOND%20Deliv%2024e2%20FER%20Vol%201%2020181018.pdf
Find a summary of lessons learned from several decades of demonstrations by the Social Security Administration to test policy ideas in the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs: https://www.ssa.gov/disabilityresearch/demonstrations/lessons.htm
Learn more about the Ultimate Demonstration referenced at the tail end of the episode: https://www.ssa.gov/disabilityresearch/documents/Simplification_Demo_TEP_Final_Report_Final%20Remediated.pdf
Watch a recorded discussion between Pamela Herd and Sebastian Jilke, professors at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, about administrative burden in the Social Security Disability Insurance program: https://www.ssab.gov/announcements/ssab-to-host-experts-on-researching-and-evaluating-equitable-access-to-social-security-programs/
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Jun 8, 2022
77 | Addressing a Primary Care Workforce Crisis
The latest episode of On the Evidence, the Mathematica podcast, explores the primary care workforce crisis, a complex and long-standing problem that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Guests Sue Lin, Luci Leykum, Julie Schilz, and Diane Rittenhouse discuss recent research on the nature of the problem as well as evidence-based solutions for strengthening primary care.
Lin is the deputy office director of the Office of Quality Improvement within the Bureau of Primary Health Care at the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Leykum is a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin who was involved in the creation of a report last year from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that looked ways to rebuild primary care.
Schilz is a senior director on the Clinical and Quality Partners team at the Primary Care Development Corporation, which recently published a data brief on investing…
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May 4, 2022
76 | The Costs of Untreated Maternal Mental Health Conditions
In honor of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, Mathematica’s podcast, On the Evidence, explores recent research on the societal costs of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. These disorders—which can include depression, suicidal thoughts, and panic attacks—affect women and birthing people during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Although these disorders are common, they often go undiagnosed and untreated, which can negatively affect the long-term physical, emotional, and developmental health of the birthing parent and child.
On this episode, Mathematica’s Kara Zivin, The Commonwealth Fund’s Laurie Zephyrin, and Texans Care for Children’s Adriana Kohler discuss the societal costs of maternal mental health conditions and how fresh evidence on those costs informed a policy change to improve the well-being of birthing people and their children in one state.
Find a full transcript of the episode here: mathematica.org/blogs/the-costs-of-untreated-maternal-mental-health-…
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Apr 27, 2022
75 | Human Services Adapted During the Pandemic. What Will Stick?
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted human services agencies to rethink how they engage with clients and how they address persistent stress and trauma experienced by their own staff.
On this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s J.B. Wogan and Diana McCallum discuss how human services agencies have adapted during the pandemic. The episode also includes insights from Kataney Couamin and Andrea Barnum, who work at local agencies providing workforce services, as well as Mathematica’s Jonathan McCay and The Adjacent Possible’s Michelle Derr, who have provided research and evaluation technical assistance to state, tribal, and local agencies that administer the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Find a full transcript of the episode here: mathematica.org/blogs/pandemic-era-adaptations-in-human-services-could-fill-a-need-even-outside-a-public-health-emergency
Read the issue brief about supporting mental wellness for TANF program staff and participants: https://www.acf.hhs…
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Mar 16, 2022
74 | Globalizing Evidence-Based Solutions for an Interdependent World
As the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change demonstrate, in an increasingly interdependent world, communities across the globe face shared challenges and need shared solutions. In the latest episode of On the Evidence, Adam Coyne, Chris Boyd, and Respichius Deogratias Mitti discuss the changing role of data and evidence in supporting decisions to improve well-being in a more interconnected world.
Coyne oversaw international research at Mathematica for most of the past two years and currently serves as the company’s chief growth officer. Boyd is the managing director of EDI Global, a data collection and research organization focused on East Africa that became a subsidiary of Mathematica in 2018. Mitti is a country director for EDI Global who lives and works in Tanzania.
A transcript of the episode is available at mathematica.org/blogs/the-globalization-of-evidence-informed-decision-making-in-a-more-interdependent-world
Learn more about Chris Boyd, the managing director of EDI Globa…
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Mar 2, 2022
73 | Ensuring Equity as Wastewater Testing for COVID-19 Matures in the United States
Sewage has proven to be a valuable source of real-time SARS-CoV-2 data during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving public officials insights into the health of their community without relying on individuals getting tested. But as wastewater monitoring expands, local officials and their research partners are increasingly interested in how wastewater testing might also advance or hinder equity.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Dr. Na’Taki Osborne Jelks, Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben, and Aparna Keshaviah discuss the challenges of and opportunities for ensuring an equitable approach to wastewater monitoring and the importance of representation from historic Black neighborhoods, Indigenous communities, and rural communities. Jelks, Conroy-Ben, and Keshaviah are involved with the Wastewater Action Group, a national initiative founded and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Institute that seeks to transform wastewater data into public health action. The group inclu…
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Feb 16, 2022
72 | Bayesian Methods Could Provide the Key to Answering Which Policies Work Best for Whom
On this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s Mariel Finucane and John Deke join Tim Day of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to discuss the application of evidence-informed Bayesian methods that not only confirm whether a policy or program works, but for whom.
Learn more about Mathematica's work using evidence-based Bayesian methods in applied policy research: https://mathematica.org/features/bayesian-methods
Read a brief about using a Bayesian framework for interpreting findings from impact evaluations prepared by Mariel Finucane and John Deke for the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families: mathematica.org/publications/moving-beyond-statistical-significance-the-basie-bayesian-interpretation-of-estimates-framework
Read a paper co-authored by Mariel Finucane that compares Bayesian methods with the traditional frequentist approach to estimate the effects of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services demonstration…
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Feb 2, 2022
71 | The Role of Evidence in Local Spending of Pandemic Fiscal Relief Funds
Last year’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was the largest one-time federal investment in state, local, and Tribal governments in the past century, and it included $350 billion meant for governments to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. State, local, and Tribal governments have wide latitude in how they can spend the money, including the use of evaluation and data management tools that can improve the efficacy of public health and economic assistance programs.
On the latest episode of On the Evidence, guests Zachary Markovits, Candace Miller, and Christy McFarland discuss the role that data and evidence are playing in state and local spending of ARPA fiscal relief funds.
Markovits is the vice president and local practice lead at Results for America. His organization partnered with Mathematica to create the ARP Data and Evidence Dashboard (https://results4america.org/tools/arp-dashboard/), a free online tool that uses publicly available plans from local governments…
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Jan 19, 2022
70 | Preventing Cardiovascular Disease and Promoting Equity in Higher Ed
On this episode of On the Evidence, Temitope Ojo and Katlyn Lee Milless discuss their experience with the Mathematica Summer Fellowship in 2021. Ojo is a doctoral candidate at the NYU School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on implementation science as well as the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases in a global setting.
Milless is a doctoral candidate in basic and applied social psychology at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Her research takes a psychological approach to understanding how to promote gender and racial equity in education spaces, particularly among college students in STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
On the episode, Ojo and Milless discuss their career paths, why they’re interested in applied research, and what they plan to do after completing their dissertations.
Find a full transcript of the episode here: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/a-conversation…
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Jan 5, 2022
69 | Understanding the Equity and Justice Dimensions of Energy Policy Decisions
In her research, Sanya Carley examines the effects of energy policies, including their equity and justice implications.
In a new episode of On the Evidence, Carley discusses her increased interest in understanding the human element of energy policy decisions: Who makes policy decisions, who benefits from those decisions, and who does not.
Carley is a professor at the Paul O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, where she directs the Master of Public Affairs (MPA) Program and O'Neill Online MPA Program. In the fall of 2021, she was selected to be the 21st recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize, which recognizes professionals younger than 40 who have made distinguished contributions to the field of public policy.
In the episode, Carley discusses the origin story of her interest in energy policy, why she became interested in the equity and justice dimensions of energy policy, and how she ensures that her research influences decision makers…
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Dec 16, 2021
68 | Reflecting on Evidence and Insights in 2021 and the Year Ahead
Between a pandemic, an uneven economic recovery, ongoing concerns about societal inequities, and increasingly troubling signs of climate change’s impacts, decision makers in 2021 faced an acute need for timely and reliable evidence about what works to address a range of health and social challenges. In this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s Adam Coyne, Jill Constantine, and Chris Trenholm reflect on the role that evidence played in responding to pressing challenges in the past year and preview how evidence may help address problems in the year ahead.
Coyne, Constantine, and Trenholm are the general managers of Mathematica’s International, Human Services, and Health business units, respectively. The episode features short interviews with each of them as they discuss some of Mathematica’s most significant work from the past year. Each interview includes a preview of projects, initiatives, and likely themes for 2022.
This episode is being released in conjunction with Mat…
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Dec 1, 2021
67 | Advancing Racial Equity in Fatherhood Programs
The latest episode of On the Evidence focuses on the ways that racism and inequity within human services programs affect fathers and families, and how adopting a more inclusive father engagement strategy can benefit children, fathers, and their families.
Today, federal and state governments, as well as foundations and nonprofits, are emphasizing the importance of understanding the role of racism in American institutions and policies. In partnership with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mathematica has been gathering information on what works in engaging fathers across a wide range of human services programs, with the goal of helping fathers and families thrive.
On this episode, guests Alan-Michael Graves, Leonard Burton, Shaneen Moore, Jerry Tello, and Armando Yañez discuss how human services programs have historically treated fathers, particularly fathers of color, and strategies for improv…
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Nov 23, 2021
66 | Removing Barriers to Child Care for Parents in Education and Training Programs
In the United States, education and training programs are available to help adults with low incomes secure better jobs and earn higher wages. But, of an estimated 21 million parents with low incomes nationwide, only about 1 in 10 participated in such programs. One reason the participation rate isn’t higher? Inadequate supply of affordable and convenient child care options.
The lack of child is a major barrier for parents with low incomes who want to engage in training, acquire new skills, increase their earnings, and advance their careers. In 2016 the U.S. Department of Labor launched a five-year federal grant program called the Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) to remove barriers to child care for parents with low incomes who wanted to participate in education and training programs. SWFI provided 13 grantees in 12 states with up to $4 million each. The grantees were a mix of nonprofits, local workforce development boards, institutions of higher learning, and municipa…
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Nov 4, 2021
65 | Learning from Foundations' Push to Advance Equity through Evidence
Although researchers play an important role in making progress on equitable research, they are one part of a broader ecosystem of people and organizations who make research possible and use research findings to change policies, programs, and practices to improve people’s lives. On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on the role of funders, particularly those in the philanthropic sector, as early proponents and adopters of culturally responsive and equitable research in social programs. Our guests for this episode are Mindelyn Anderson and Kimberlin Butler.
Anderson is a sociologist who has studied social inequality and stratification, race and migration, education and social mobility, and health. She is the founder and principal of Mirror Group, a consulting firm that brings collaborative, participatory, utilization-focused evaluation and capacity building to communities and learning organizations, including foundations.
Butler is the senior director of foundation engagement…
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Oct 27, 2021
64 | Lessons from a National Health Initiative that Helps Address Social Needs
On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on a national initiative aimed at addressing social needs like housing or food insecurity that affect a person's health. Specifically, we discuss a screening tool for health-related social needs. The screening tool stems from the Accountable Health Communities Model, a nationwide initiative funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. Mathematica developed, on CMS’s behalf, a guide to help health care providers administer the screening tool.
Our guests for this episode are Natalia Barolín from CMS; Maureen Kirkwood and Rafael Castañon of Health Net of West Michigan, a bridge organization participating in the Accountable Health Communities Model; Rachel Kogan of Mathematica who helped write the screening tool guide; and Lee-Lee Ellis, a health researcher formerly at Mathematica who facilitated peer learning among organizations that used the screening tool as part of their participation in the Accountabl…
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Oct 13, 2021
63 | Inside an Initiative to Diversify the Field of Computational Social Science
On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on a creative initiative designed to build a more diverse pipeline of researchers who use methods and tools from data science and social science. Earlier this year, Howard University and Mathematica sponsored a free, two-week training for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and beginning faculty in the fields of data science and social science. The training was part of a broader instructional program held at 20 sites across the globe called the Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science (SICSS). The Howard-Mathematica SICSS was unique in that it was the first site to be hosted by a historically Black college or university (Howard) and the first to focus on anti-Black racism and inequity.
This episode will include the following guests:
• Nicole Jenkins, an assistant professor at Howard University in the Department of Sociology and Criminology whose ethnographic research focuses on studying the experiences of Black women in…
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Sep 22, 2021
62 | Improving the College and Career Readiness of High School Students with Disabilities
On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on a demonstration in Vermont evaluated by Mathematica intended to help high school students with disabilities transition to college and the workforce.
In 2016, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Education, awarded grants to state vocational rehabilitation agencies to build on the body of knowledge about what works to help young people transition from high school to adulthood. States had to identify and demonstrate evidence-based practices for providing work-based learning experiences in integrated settings. Mathematica evaluated the resulting demonstration in Vermont called Linking Learning to Careers.
On this episode, guests from Mathematica and Vermont's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation reflect on successes and challenges in implementing the demonstration as well as lessons for other states interested in trying a similar program for transition-age youth with disabilities. Our guests for this…
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Sep 8, 2021
61 | Reflections on a Pioneering Career in Economics and Public Policy Research
Our guest for this episode of On the Evidence is Anita Summers, a former member of Mathematica's Board of Directors and a pioneer in the fields of economics and public policy research. Summer's career includes research posts with the National Bureau of Economic Research, Standard Oil, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. During her time at the Federal Reserve, she developed expertise in urban economic development and education. Summers has held a variety of academic appointments, including as a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she started the first public policy department in a business school. From 1993 through 2019, Summers was also a member of Mathematica’s board of directors, serving as board chair for most of that time.
On the latest episode of On the Evidence, Summers shares what it was like to embark on a career in economics as a woman in the 1940s, the sexism she encountered, how she navigated those challenges, and the role he…
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Aug 17, 2021
60 | Lessons from a Successful Medicare Program Integrity Demonstration
Almost seven years ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched an initiative to test a possible solution to improper use of ambulance rides, long cited as a major source of waste and abuse in the Medicare program. The idea was pretty simple: Require companies that provide patients with repetitive, scheduled, non-emergent ambulance transport (RSNAT) for certain types of health care, such as dialysis or cancer treatments, to get prior authorization from CMS before providing service and submitting a claim for payment.
Mathematica evaluated impacts of the initiative, which was implemented in the District of Columbia and eight states. Because non-emergency ambulance service use is rare in the Medicare program, the study focused on Medicare beneficiaries who are most likely to use RSNAT services—those with end-stage renal disease and/or severe pressure ulcers. Those two groups account for about 85 percent of Medicare RSNAT claims, so any change in use and spending wou…
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Aug 11, 2021
59 | Lessons from Southwest Detroit's Efforts to Support Informal Child Care
Five years ago, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, in partnership with the Kresge Foundation, launched Hope Starts Here, a community-focused, citywide initiative aimed at ensuring that all children in Detroit are prepared for kindergarten by increasing access to high quality early care and education.
As part of the citywide initiative, Mathematica, with financial support from the Kellogg Foundation, worked to implement promising strategies to enhance the quality of informal child care, which is defined as unlicensed care provided by family, friends, and neighbors. Outside of care provided by a parent, informal child care is the most common form of care for infants and toddlers in the United States. The project focused on providing resources and support informal providers in southwest Detroit, one of 10 neighborhoods in the city where the number of children who need early care and education vastly exceeds the number of available, licensed slots. Even when a licensed slot is available, famili…
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Jun 23, 2021
58 | Learning from an Early Childhood Nonprofit that Serves Fathers
All over the country, federally funded Head Start programs promote the school readiness of young children ages birth through five from families with low incomes. These programs provide early education and a range of comprehensive services at no cost to the family. Although Head Start programs have historically empowered parents to be involved in their children’s learning and development, it’s been more common for mothers to be the focus of those efforts. Realizing the important role that fathers play in their children’s development and the family’s well-being, Head Start is increasingly working to engage fathers in program services.
This episode of On the Evidence focuses on Bright Beginnings, a nonprofit in Washington, DC, that provides both center-based and home-based Head Start programming for children and families. It is notable for its robust set of services and supports that are designed to help families by helping fathers.
The guests for this episode are Danielle DeLis…
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May 12, 2021
57| Your Contact Tracing Workforce Can Drive Equity and Mitigate Infectious Disease Risks
Contact tracing is an important public health tool for containing the spread of disease, including COVID-19. But contact tracers are effective only if they can persuade people to answer questions about recent whereabouts and who else might have been exposed. Contact tracers are more likely to be successful in their outreach if they and the people they are contacting have similar backgrounds. Currently, no one collects and reports information on the composition of the COVID-19 workforce in communities across the country, making it difficult to know whether the workforce could be more effective with focused recruitment strategies. However, a partnership between Mathematica and the Public Health Foundation sheds some light on who is engaged in contact tracing during the pandemic and how their backgrounds compare with the backgrounds of people in their local communities.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Ilya Plotkin and Jia Pu discuss an interactive dashboard that uses a large a…
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Apr 28, 2021
How Fatherhood Programs Supported Dads During the Pandemic | Episode 56
In partnership with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mathematica has been gathering information on what works in engaging fathers across a wide range of human services programs, with the goal of helping fathers and families thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many of the typical ways organizations support fathers and their families, but it has also provided motivation to be creative, to adapt, and to experiment with digital services that have certain advantages in helping fathers meet their goals over traditional in-person services.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests John Ward, Sean Wilson, Richard Barr, Kirk Berry, and Rebekah Selekman discuss COVID-19’s implications for delivering fatherhood engagement services during and after the pandemic.
• Ward is a father who shares experience working with a local nonprofit, Father to Father, in Charleston, SC.
• Wilson is an inte…
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Apr 21, 2021
A Conversation about Diversity, Equity, and Justice | Episode 55
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Patricia A. King, LaVerne H. Council, and Akira Bell discuss diversity in evidence-based public policy and how it relates to issues of inclusion and justice. They are all members of Mathematica's Board of Directors who recently helped develop the company's aspirational vision that by 2035, "Mathematica is shaping an equitable and just world in which evidence drives decisions for global impact." They bring unique perspectives as Black women who are leaders in the fields of law, medicine, and technology.
Patricia is a professor emerita at Georgetown Law. LaVerne is a founder and the chief executive officer of Emerald One, which works with mission-driven leaders and organizations to create and execute business and technology strategies that enact positive change. Akira is a senior vice president and the chief information officer at Mathematica.
Find a full transcript of the episode here: https://bit.ly/3dXAZmc
Find LaVerne's podcast, Brilliant…
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Mar 31, 2021
The Value and Feasibility of COVID-19 Testing in K-12 Schools | Episode 54
In late March, the Biden administration announced that it was investing $10 billion to ramp up COVID-19 screening testing to help schools reopen. The expansion of screening tests in schools follows a February report from Mathematica that drew lessons from the experiences of six pilot sites that implemented COVID-19 testing in schools. These pilot programs—in Central Falls, Rhode Island; Los Angeles, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma; New Orleans, Louisiana; Louisville, Kentucky; and Washington, DC—were conducted with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, and Johns Hopkins University. The report provided insights about the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of adding a testing program to schools’ existing COVID-19 related plans.
For this episode of On the Evidence, guests Jennifer Harper, Sarah Hanck, and Divya Vohra discuss findings from the Mathematica report, impacts of the report so far, more recent lessons based on Tulsa’…
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Mar 10, 2021
Using Evidence to Guide Employment Assistance Strategies during and after the Pandemic | Episode 53
March 2021 marks the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization officially declaring the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The disease we’ve come to know as COVID-19 has now infected more than 28 million Americans and led to at least half a million deaths in the United States. COVID-19 has also incurred serious damage to the nation’s economy. In February, the number of unemployed persons was 10 million, up from 5.7 million a year earlier.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests George Putnam, Dana Rotz, and Naihobe Gonzalez discuss the current distressed economy and evidence-based ideas about how to help workers who have been negatively affected by the pandemic.
• Putnam, the labor market information director at the Illinois Department of Employment Security, helps the Midwest Collaborative, a consortium of nine states that share current administrative data across sectors and state lines to develop insights to support reemployment and economic recovery efforts.
•…
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Feb 24, 2021
Supporting Economic Mobility Through Coaching and Navigation | Episode 52
Nearly a year after COVID-19 took root in the United States, Americans are still dealing with the pandemic’s economic fallout. In January 2021, more than 10 million Americans were unemployed, up from roughly 5.8 million a year earlier. On this episode of On the Evidence, four guests discuss an increasingly popular approach for helping people find jobs and achieve other, related goals that provide economic security, such as getting a GED, buying a car, and improving a credit score. The approach combines two related services called coaching and navigation.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with Mathematica to better understand what coaching and navigation look like in practice, how the approaches are helping people through remote services during the pandemic, how they can be used to address racial and social inequities, and what evidence currently exists about their efficacy. In addition to hosting a virtual convening and producing a series of issue briefs on the topic, Ma…
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Jan 27, 2021
Modeling the Spread of COVID-19 on College Campuses | Episode 51
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Ravi Goyal and Natasha Martin share lessons from using an agent-based model to predict the spread of COVID-19 in a university setting. Goyal is a senior statistician at Mathematica who has an expertise in epidemic modeling. Martin is an infectious disease economic modeler and an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego. They recently collaborated on a project that estimated the potential impact of masking, social distancing, and regular testing on the spread of COVID-19 at UC San Diego.
Learn more about the COVID-19 agent-based modeling partnership between UC San Diego and Mathematica here: https://bit.ly/3sLL4bp
Explore the web tool Goyal and Martin discuss on the podcast here: https://bit.ly/39UMXtz
Read more about the agent-based model and results in a recent article published in the journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases here: https://bit.ly/3r9TqYX
Lea…
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Jan 13, 2021
Reflecting on 2020, Previewing 2021 | Episode 50
Between a pandemic, an economic recession, and heightened awareness about social injustice, 2020 presented no shortage of urgent health and social challenges that required immediate responses based on emerging data and research. In this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s Adam Coyne, Jill Constantine, and Chris Trenholm reflect on how Mathematica and its partners rose to meet those challenges.
Coyne, Constantine, and Trenholm are the general managers of Mathematica’s international, human services, and health business units, respectively. The episode features short interviews with each of them as they share some of Mathematica’s most memorable work from the past year. Each interview includes a preview of projects, initiatives, and likely themes in 2021.
We have a full list of resources mentioned on the episode on the Mathematica blog: https://bit.ly/3oIJxQV
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Dec 9, 2020
A One-Stop Shop for Information about State Approaches to COVID-19 Contact Tracing | Episode 49
In early spring, states were scrambling to learn from one another how to scale up contact tracing for COVID-19. Staff at Mathematica and the National Academy of State Health Policy (NASHP) recognized that states needed a single place to find accurate, up-to-date publicly available information about the decisions that other states were making in response to the pandemic.
To help states as they develop and refine their approaches to contact tracing, NASHP and Mathematica partnered to create and maintain a central repository that reflects publicly available information about how states approach this work. NASHP hosts an interactive map and table with detailed information about states’ approaches to COVID-19 contact tracing. It is the single most comprehensive resource for documenting the variation in states’ approaches to contact tracing for COVID-19 and updated on a regular basis. Mathematica hosts a supplementary web tool that provides contextual information about each state’s po…
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Nov 25, 2020
Maternal Health Care in India during and after the Pandemic | Episode 48
For more than two decades, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supported evidence-based programs in India that promote reproductive health and rights. As the foundation phased out its grantmaking related to population and reproductive health, it partnered with Mathematica to conduct a cumulative review of its efforts to improve maternal health in India.
The foundation’s maternal health quality of care strategy in India sought to improve the trajectory of health for women, children, and their families. Although the country had already made considerable progress in expanding access to maternal health services and, in the process, driving down the national maternal mortality ratio, the foundation and its grantees sought to improve the quality of these services, which is seen as a contributing factor in the pregnancy-related deaths that still occur today.
Because the Mathematica report was published in late February, it summarizes the state of maternal health in India up…
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Nov 11, 2020
Investing in Education for Success in the Long Run | Episode 47
In his research, Kirabo Jackson, an economist at Northwestern University, has explored the causal relationship between school spending and student outcomes. His work has also shed light on the role that teachers and schools play in helping students acquire skills and succeed in the long run.
Jackson is the 20th winner of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize, established to recognize young professionals under the age of 40 who have made distinguished contributions to the field of public policy. David Kershaw, for whom the award is named, was a founder and the first president of Mathematica. In the spring of 1979, he helped guide the establishment of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and Mathematica’s principal role within it, before his death from cancer later that year at the age of 37. The award in his memory was created in 1983 and has since been jointly administered by Mathematica and APPAM. The award is presented every other year at the APPAM Fall…
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Oct 28, 2020
On the Need to Build and Diversify the Teacher Pipeline | Episode 46
For about a decade, the national supply of teachers has steadily declined, a trend that is expected to continue even as the demand for new teachers is projected to increase. Not only do schools and school districts need enough teachers, but they want to recruit and retain effective teachers. Because evidence suggests that students of color benefit academically from having a teacher who shares their racial or ethnic identity, increasing the number of effective teachers likely means, among other things, that schools will need to increase the number Black, Latinx, and other teachers of color.
For this episode of On the Evidence, guests Sharif El-Mekki and Jill Constantine talk about the current challenges with recruiting and retaining teachers, especially Black male teachers, and what evidence-based practices may help.
El-Mekki is a former teacher and principal in Philadelphia and currently the chief executive officer of the Center for Black Educator Development, a nonprofit focused on…
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Oct 14, 2020
How to Reopen Schools Safely and With Minimal Disruptions | Episode 45
In mid-September, researchers from Mathematica partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to run 400,000 simulations intended to inform school operating and closure strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The simulations predict the level of spread of COVID-19 infection in schools, taking into account a range of factors. These factors include school type and size, the community infection rate, school mask policies and other precautions, in-person opening strategies, and potential school responses to detected infections.
For this episode of On the Evidence, guests Adam Schott and Brian Gill discuss the results and implications of these simulations. Schott is the special assistant to the secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Gill is a senior fellow at Mathematica and one of the researchers who coauthored the report about the simulations.
Find a short summary of the top-line findings here: https://bit.ly/318rVEh
Read the full report discussed in this epis…
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Oct 7, 2020
Lessons from COVID-19 Impacts on Connecticut's Long-Term Care Facilities | Episode 44
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected people in long-term care settings, who only make up about 1 percent of the U.S. population but represented more than 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States in September. In Connecticut, that disproportionate impact was even more severe: as of July 30, about 72 percent of the state’s COVID-19-related deaths were among long-term care residents.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Patricia Rowan and Debra Lipson of Mathematica discuss their independent assessment of COVID-19’s impacts on nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Connecticut. Their final report, which published on Sept. 30, includes findings on why the pandemic was so devastating in the state’s long-term care facilities earlier in the year. It also recommends steps that the state and the long-term care industry can take to prepare for a potential second wave of COVID-19 infections and for future infectious disease outbreaks. Although…
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Sep 16, 2020
Blending Performance Measurement and Program Evaluation in Government | Episode 43
Although performance measurement and program evaluation are both ostensibly about assessing the effectiveness of government, they have historically meant different things in terms of what gets assessed and who does the assessing. Performance measurement is more commonly associated with ongoing monitoring and reporting of program accomplishments and is typically conducted by program or agency staff. Program evaluation, on the other hand, is more commonly associated with periodic or ad hoc studies conducted by experts outside of an agency or program.
But are those distinctions still relevant today? That’s one of the questions journalists Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene discuss in their new book, The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance-Informed Management.
In this episode of On the Evidence, Barrett and Greene talk about how state and local governments use performance measurement and program evaluation to inform management decisions, providing contemporary case studies along wit…
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Sep 2, 2020
Early Lessons for Effective and Equitable Contact Tracing | Episode 42
As states and counties grapple with containing the spread of COVID-19, they have learned that the virus places novel demands on contact tracing efforts. Early experiences from states with contact tracing programs suggest that a successful contact tracing program needs to account for the economic circumstances of people infected, as well as their families; it needs to account for the emotional and psychological ramifications of learning you and your loved ones are at risk of infection; it also needs to account for contextual and community factors, such as trust in government, household members' immigration status, language, and culture, that could be barriers to reaching the very populations most at-risk of contracting the disease.
On this episode of On the Evidence, four guests discuss emerging lessons from states and localities on conducting effective and equitable contact tracing for COVID-19. This episode is an abridged and edited version of a webinar hosted by Mathematica on Aug.…
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Aug 19, 2020
Examining Racial Disparities in School Discipline and Mental Health Care | Episode 41
Sarah Lieff wants to know if the Medicaid expansion, which made mental health services more affordable to low-income Americans in many states, resulted in greater access and improved quality of mental health treatment for those who need it. Rachel Perera is interested in the effects of investigations for civil rights violations related to racial discrimination in school discipline.
Both Lieff and Perera are continuing their doctoral research as Mathematica summer fellows. For this episode of On the Evidence, Lieff and Perera discuss the questions they’re pursuing for the fellowship, what they find appealing about applied research, and how the field they’re entering can help reduce racial disparities in both mental health care and education.
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Jul 29, 2020
Two Lifelong Friends Explore Their Shared Past and Racial Differences | Episode 40
In early June, as communities across the country organized protests against racism in all its forms, Mathematica released a statement denouncing social injustice and affirming that black lives matter. This episode provides insight behind why Mathematica's CEO wanted to make that statement. It's also about how the events in late May and early June prompted two lifelong friends to talk about race in ways they hadn’t before.
The guests for this episode are Paul Decker and Chris Williams. Decker is the president and CEO of Mathematica. Williams is the founder of OnPacePlus and the chief of ophthalmology at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Paul is white. Chris is Black. They grew up together in Jacksonville, Illinois. For this episode, Decker and Williams are interviewing each other.
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Jul 15, 2020
A Better Pathway for Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities | Episode 39
This episode focuses on young people between the ages of 14 and 24 who have disabilities and must navigate a complex bureaucracy to access benefits and support services. Our guests are Dave Wittenburg and Kim Kaiser. Wittenburg, who is the disability area director at Mathematica, has an expertise in interventions to promote employment for people with disabilities, particularly interventions that serve youth as they transition into adulthood. Kaiser is an autism advocate, a certified peer support specialist, and the parent of a teenage son on the spectrum. She is also a parent advisor for the nonprofit, Families Together in New York State, and a program director for the Color of Autism, a foundation committed to serving African Americans who are affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders.
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Jul 1, 2020
Health Policy Research, Racism, and a Pandemic | Episode 38
Before March 2020, a search for the keyword “coronavirus” would have turned up zero results on Mathematica’s website. Now the word and its sibling, COVID-19, appear in more than two dozen pages about contact tracing, wastewater testing, disease modeling, workforce planning, and more.
Owing to the wide-ranging effects of the novel coronavirus, Mathematica’s experts have sprung into action to understand its implications for primary care, child protective services, behavioral health, remote learning in K-12 education, surging unemployment among workers with disabilities, and food insecurity among children who no longer have access to daily school meals. Although the pandemic is touching almost every conceivable area of public wellbeing, it started as a public health threat and has galvanized Mathematica’s nearly 600 health care and policy experts, researchers, technologists, data scientists, clinicians, survey experts, and program design and management experts to apply their sk…
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Jun 19, 2020
Addressing Structural Racism in Policy Research | Episode 37
In early 2019, the Urban Institute published a brief about addressing structural racism through research and policy analysis. The paper summarizes lessons, promising practices, and recommendations previously discussed in a roundtable with 23 research groups. At the time of publication, the paper’s authors did not know that communities across the country would soon be organizing protests against structural racism in the wake of a recent string of high-profile incidents in which people of color were killed by law enforcement, occurring during a pandemic that disproportionately harms Black and Latinx Americans.
Nevertheless, the brief might find new readers in the policy research field who—amid heightened awareness brought about by recent acts of social injustice—have committed to addressing structural racism and are looking for concrete steps they can take. The paper discusses the relationship between institutional choices made by organizations that conduct public policy research…
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Jun 11, 2020
Telehealth Transformation Under COVID-19 and the Implications for Equitable Care | Episode 36
In March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations in the United States to adopt virtual and remote work wherever possible. This was especially true in health care, with hospitals and physician practices needing to clear their waiting rooms and minimize the risk of infections for patients and providers. As a result, Congress and the federal government removed many of the regulatory barriers—at least temporarily—that prevented patients from receiving care through video chats and phone calls.
The latest episode of On the Evidence features a discussion about the rise of telehealth as an alternative to in-person care during the pandemic. Our guests for this episode are Mathematica’s Llew Brown and Diane Rittenhouse as well as Mei Wa Kwong of the Center for Connected Health Policy.
In this episode, we discuss the rapid regulatory, policy, and implementation changes taking place in telehealth, what research has found about the effects of using telehealth, and what the rise of teleh…
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May 13, 2020
Oakland’s Life Coaching Strategy to Address Youth Violence | Episode 35
On this episode of On the Evidence, we discuss life coaching, a violence reduction strategy being used by the city of Oakland, California, to help young people who have been involved with the juvenile justice system. Mathematica studied youth life coaching as part of a larger evaluation of Oakland Unite, a city initiative that supports community-based violence prevention programs.
We interviewed the following guests:
Peter Kim, manager of Oakland Unite
Naihobe Gonzalez, senior researcher at Mathematica
Kentrell Killens, a former life coach with Oakland Unite
Anayeli Vega Gonzalez, a participant in the life coaching program
Another life coach participant who preferred not to share his name
Learn more about Mathematica's evaluation of Oakland Unite here: http://ow.ly/vfdn50zFmQ7
Read a blog based on this episode here: http://ow.ly/6nm150zEW9b
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Apr 29, 2020
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Era of COVID-19 | Episode 34
It’s increasingly clear that although the novel 2019 coronavirus does not discriminate in who it infects, it does harm some groups of people more than others. The emerging evidence suggests that people who are Black, are 65 and older, or have certain conditions, such as diabetes or hypertension, are more likely to become severely ill from COVID-19. But income and occupation also play a role. The current pandemic has exposed inequities in society where, for example, segments of the workforce do not have health insurance, paid sick leave, the ability to work from home, or the ability to apply for unemployment benefits. For some, sheltering in place means a stressful, long-term inconvenience; for others, it means putting yourself at greater risk of domestic violence, or maybe choosing between losing paychecks or showing up in-person for jobs that put you and our loved ones at greater risk of being infected.
The guest for this episode of On the Evidence is Ralanda Nelson, who leads dive…
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Apr 8, 2020
Culturally Responsive Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic | Episode 33
As schools close in order to contain the spread of COVID-19, some students are in a better position to continue learning from home than others. Even when students aren’t grappling with the fallout of a pandemic, they face disparities in their educational experiences and opportunities due to their differences in family income, differences in racial, ethnic, or other important demographic characteristics, and differences in access to technology. Some state and local education leaders are proactively adopting culturally responsive practices to dismantle social and institutional barriers that inhibit student success.
For this episode of On the Evidence, a principal and an education researcher share insights from research and the field on implementing culturally responsive practices. Our guests are:
• George Guy, Jr., who has spent more than 20 years in education and currently serves as the principal of Rosa International Middle School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Guy has also helped l…
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Mar 25, 2020
Can Algorithms Be Fair, Transparent, and Protect Children? | Episode 32
As technology improves organizations’ ability to collect, manage, and analyze data, it’s becoming easier to inform public policy decisions today in a range of areas, from health care to criminal justice, based on estimated risks in the future. On this episode of On the Evidence, I talk with three researchers who work with child welfare agencies in the United States to use algorithms—or, what they call predictive risk models—to inform decisions by case managers and their supervisors.
My guests are Rhema Vaithianathan, Emily Putnam-Hornstein, and Beth Weigensberg.
Vaithianathan is a professor of economics and director of the Centre for Social Data Analytics in the School of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, and a professor of social data and analytics at the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Putnam-Hornstein is an associate professor of social work at the University of Southern C…
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Mar 11, 2020
Building the Pipeline of Black Women in Economics | Episode 31
On this episode of On the Evidence, we check in with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore a year after the group they co-founded, the Sadie Collective, held its inaugural conference about, for, and by black women in economics and related fields.
Find more information about the Sadie Collective here: https://www.sadiecollective.org/
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Feb 26, 2020
Customized Employment for Workers with Disabilities | Episode 30
Since the early 2000s, federal policy has encouraged customized employment strategies to help people with significant disabilities secure paid jobs. Through customized employment, the relationship between the job seeker and employer is personalized so that the needs of both are met through negotiation of the worker’s job duties and flexible work arrangements. About eight years ago, the nonprofit SourceAmerica launched a new program called Pathways to Careers that combined several types of customized employment strategies, such as an assessment of program participants’ strengths (called Discovery), paid internships and work experiences, and post-employment career support. Pathways started with a pilot site in Clearfield, Utah, and expanded to four other sites in Massachusetts; Michigan; Virginia; and Ogden, Utah.
Mathematica is conducting an evaluation of Pathways, which will be the focus of a webinar that Mathematica is hosting on March 11. On this episode of On the Evidence, Sha…
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Feb 12, 2020
Communicating About Your Policy Research | Episode 29
Today’s episode is about sharing and explaining policy research. After putting in the hours to collect the data, analyze the findings, and report on your results, how do you ensure that people outside of academia learn what you’ve found and understand why it matters?
My guests for this episode are economists Jennifer Doleac and Kosali Simon, who recently participated on a panel about interpreting and translating the relevance of policy research at a research conference hosted by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
Jennifer is an associate professor of economics at Texas A&M University, the director of the Justice Tech Lab, and the host of the Probable Causation podcast (https://www.probablecausation.com/). She is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jenniferdoleac.
Kosali is a professor at the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington as well as the associate vice provost for health sciences at Indiana Univer…
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Jan 29, 2020
What the Next Generation of Policy Researchers Is Studying | Episode 28
Every summer, Mathematica welcomes a handful of doctoral students to spend 12 weeks at one of our nine office locations, working on an independent research project that intersects with one or more of Mathematica's focus areas. On this episode of On the Evidence, we feature six short interviews with the 2019 summer fellows about the research questions they pursued and what they have learned so far. In most cases, the fellows are joined by a mentor from Mathematica.
Find more information about Mathematica's summer fellowship program here: https://www.mathematica.org/career-opportunities/summer-fellowships
What factors influence individuals' long-term care decisions?
Guests: Selena Caldera, a doctoral student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and Julia Baller, a senior researcher at Mathematica (1:45 - 11:32)
If Medicaid is more generous in reimbursing for home and community based services, does it encourage more beneficiaries with disabilities t…
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Jan 8, 2020
Child Food Insecurity and Home Delivered Food Boxes | Episode 27
The federal government funds a variety of national nutrition programs to combat hunger among children and families, and yet roughly 37 million Americans were food insecure in 2018, and 6 million of them were children, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In some parts of the country, food insecurity is made worse by a lack of accessible and affordable options. That is, if you live in a rural area with limited public transportation and no major supermarkets nearby, you may rely on smaller retailers with limited produce, higher prices, and lower quality food compared with a larger store that is farther away.
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about a demonstration supported by a federal grant that used home-delivered boxes packed with fruit, vegetables, and other shelf-stable foods selected by registered dieticians to address food insecurity among children in Chickasaw Nation territory in rural Oklahoma.
Our guest is Phil Gleason, a senior fellow at Mathema…
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Dec 20, 2019
What If the U.S. Mandated Paid Family Leave? | Episode 26
One of the ways that the United States is an outlier among high-income industrialized nations is that it does not have a national paid family leave program. Some U.S. states and cities, however, have enacted paid family leave, and more are on track to do so in the next few years.
For this episode of On the Evidence, we speak with Jeff Hayes, the program director of job quality and income security at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and a scholar in residence at American University. Jeff recently presented findings about what would happen if the U.S. implemented a paid family leave law based on some recent policy proposals.
This episode is part of a series we recorded in Denver during the fall research conference hosted by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, better known by the acronym, APPAM.
Find more information on the paper Jeff presented at the conference, as well as other papers discussed in the same panel session, here: https://appam.confex.co…
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Dec 18, 2019
Soda Taxes in U.S. Cities | Episode 25
Since 2015, a handful of U.S. cities have begun taxing soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, economists from Mathematica, the University of Iowa, and Cornell University studied the impacts of those taxes on purchases, consumption, prices, and product availability. The project was the first to publish results on changes in children's consumption in U.S. cities with a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. It was also the first to publish results on impacts from Oakland's beverage tax.
For this episode of On the Evidence, we spoke with Dave Jones, an associate director in the health unit at Mathematica, and Dave Frisvold, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Iowa, about the project's findings on sweetened beverage taxes in Philadelphia, Oakland, Seattle, and San Francisco.
More information about their study is available here: https://www.mathematica.org/news/effects-of-sweetened-beverage-taxes-in…
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Dec 11, 2019
Low Cost Experiments in Local Government | Episode 24
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about using behavioral nudges and low-cost experiments in local government. Our guests are Brendan Babb, the chief innovation officer and innovation team director for the municipality of Anchorage, Alaska, and Emily Cardon, head of research for the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) in North America.
To learn more about the case studies referenced in this episode, check out BIT's publications page (https://www.bi.team/our-work/publications/) and blog (https://www.bi.team/our-work/blog/). Cardon also mentions a forthcoming paper on reducing burnout among 911 dispatchers, which has since published. Find it here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336830004_Belonging_Affirmation_Reduces_Employee_Burnout_and_Resignations_in_Front_Line_Workers
This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in support of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and its fall research conference. More episodes affiliated with AP…
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Nov 25, 2019
Indigenous Communities and Policy Research | Episode 23
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about policy research by, about, and for indigenous communities. Our guests are Cheryl Ellenwood, a PhD candidate in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, and Laura Evans, an associate professor at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. We discuss efforts to build a community of policy researchers focused on issues important to indigenous communities, the need for more and better data on indigenous populations (collected in respectful ways), and the application of decolonization methodologies in policy research.
This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in support of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and its fall research conference.
Summaries of the indigenous policy scholarship discussed at the conference are available here: https://appam.confex.com/appam/2019/webprogram/Session13239.html
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Nov 21, 2019
Nudging Students to Enroll in College | Episode 22
A growing body of research have found that small-scale behavioral nudge campaigns can get students to complete complex tasks, such as refiling for federal financial aid to attend college. But researchers don't yet know enough about why certain nudges have worked in the past or whether they would still work on a larger scale.
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk with Jenna Kramer, an associate policy researcher at RAND Corporation, and Kelly Ochs Rosinger, an assistant professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, about efforts to use large-scale nudges to increase college and financial aid applications, increase college enrollment, and bolster college students' persistence in completing college.
This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in support of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and its fall research conference.
Kramer and Rosinger participated in an APPAM panel about scaling n…
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Nov 19, 2019
Policy Labs: Research for State and Local Government | Episode 21
State and local governments often lack the capacity to clean, manage, and analyze administrative data that could be useful for achieving political and policy objectives. Some places have established policy labs to leverage researchers' skills to identify trends in the data, evaluate programs, and provide insights for improving public policies.
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about the policy lab model with Kristin Klopfenstein, director of the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab, and Melissa Wavelet, a senior fellow at MDRC and the former director of the Office of Performance and Strategic Outcomes at the Colorado Department of Human Services.
This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in support of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and its fall research conference. Klopfenstein and Wavelett participated in an APPAM panel about policy labs.
More information about the lab is available at: https://coloradolab.org/
More informat…
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Nov 9, 2019
Opioid Use by Disability Insurance Applicants | Episode 20
Since 2007, the Social Security Administration has collected data on medication use among applicants for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). The administration can then use the medication data to identify opioid use among SSDI applicants. But the data set is so large and the data themselves are unstructured, with the majority of applicants reporting drug names in open-ended text fields, so the agency couldn't use the information to inform policy and programs.
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk with April Yanyuan Wu, a researcher at Mathematica, who used supervised machine learning to uncover new insights based on those data, including an estimate on the prevalence of opioid use among SSDI applicants.
This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in support of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and its fall research conference.
More information about April's research on opioids and SSDI applicants is available here: https://…
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Nov 8, 2019
Paid Leave and Labor Force Detachment | Episode 19
Paid leave can help mothers return to work in the year that a child is born, but what about the next few years? On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about the effects of paid leave on maternal labor force detachment up to four years after a child is born with Kelly Jones, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at American University and a senior research economist at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in support of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and its fall research conference.
Find more about Jones' research, as well as other paid leave research presented at the 2019 APPAM conference, here: https://appam.confex.com/appam/2019/webprogram/Session13294.html
In the interview, Jones also mentions a second paper she was presenting at the conference on how abortion access affects educational outcomes. A summary of that paper is available here: https://appam.confex.c…
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Nov 6, 2019
Engaging Diverse Perspectives in Policy Research | Episode 18
For this episode of On the Evidence, my guests are Maria Cancian, the president-elect of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and the dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, and Matt Stagner, the current president of APPAM and a vice president at Mathematica. We talk about the theme of APPAM's fall research conference in Denver, which is “Rising to the Challenge: Engaging Diverse Perspectives on Issues and Evidence.”
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Oct 30, 2019
Embracing the Emotional Aspects of Policy Research | Episode 17
As social scientists set out to investigate public policy questions, it is vital that they take into account the history of issues and the way people’s emotions will shape interpretations and responses to research findings. That’s the message that Mathematica’s Matt Stagner hopes to convey in his presidential address at a fall research conference hosted by the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) in Denver.
On the Evidence interviewed Stagner about his upcoming address, his work on child welfare, and his reflections on the field of public policy research. This interview is part of a series of episodes produced by Mathematica in support of the APPAM conference in November.
A Q&A blog featuring highlights from the conversation is also available on the Mathematica website: https://.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/embracing-the-emotional-aspects-of-public-policy-research
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Oct 4, 2019
A Progress Report on States' Use of Data and Evidence | Episode 16
The nonprofit Results for America publishes an annual progress report documenting best and promising practices in how state governments use data and evidences in budget, policy, and management decisions to achieve better outcomes for their residents.
On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we talk with Jed Herrmann, vice president of state and federal policy implementation at Results for America, about the latest Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence, released on Friday, Oct. 4.
Find the 2019 State Standard of Excellence here: 2019state.results4america.org
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Sep 25, 2019
The Relationship Between Changing Work Schedules, Child Care, and Child Well-Being | Episode 15
Our economy has always had jobs that fit outside the conventional 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, schedule, but with the rise of telework, on-demand scheduling apps, "irregular work," and the Gig Economy, more workers not only find themselves earning their paychecks in the early morning, at night or on weekends; but their hours may change on a frequent basis.
Finding safe and high quality child care that accommodates non-standard or changing work schedules is a familiar challenge for many workers, but a relatively new area of public policy research.
On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we talk about a report that looks at the complicated relationships between changing work schedules, the availability of child care for those schedules, and child well-being.
My guests are the co-authors of that report, Angela Rachidi and Rus Sykes, who conducted research on behalf of Mathematica and the American Public Human Services Association, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.…
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Sep 11, 2019
How Can We Help Workers with Medical Conditions Stay Employed? | Episode 14
Each year, more than two million workers leave the labor force, at least temporarily, because of an injury or illness that prevents them from working. Their absence from work takes a toll on the workers and their families, their employers, and the government programs they often rely on for income and other supports.
Some research suggests that if government programs could identify and assist workers early, the employees would be more likely to stay at work or return to work after a short absence.
On this week’s episode of On the Evidence, we take a deep dive into the topic of interventions for workers who have begun to miss work because of an injury or illness and are at risk of prolonged or even permanent exit from the labor force. Specifically, we discuss the need for providing assistance early—within the first several weeks of missing work—before the employee’s absence from work has become normalized. Our guests include:
• Annette Bourbonniere, a research associate at t…
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Aug 14, 2019
What Doctors Need to Fulfill the Promise of Electronic Health Records | Episode 13
A decade ago, the federal government pushed for the widespread adoption of electronic medical records. Now those records are here and they're ubiquitous, but the transition hasn't been smooth. On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we talk with two of Mathematica's in-house experts on electronic health records, Genna Cohen and Llew Brown. We discuss what the research says about challenges in adopting electronic health records, as well as what to do about them.
Find an edited Q&A blog featuring highlights from the conversation here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/what-doctors-need-to-fulfill-the-promise-of-electronic-health-records
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Jul 31, 2019
"Forever Chemicals" in Drinking Water and Their Potential Effects on Health | Episode 12
Forever chemicals, a nickname for polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known for their durability, are a class of chemicals that sometimes appear in tap water but aren’t widely understood or subject to much federal regulation. What we do know is that these substances appear in items we encounter on a daily basis, such as Scotchgard and dental floss, and have been linked to a number of health problems. Recent research also suggests that these chemicals are becoming more common in tap water.
On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we speak with Cindy Hu, a data scientist at Mathematica, who studies how humans are exposed to and affected by this class of emerging contaminants in drinking water. We discuss the prevalence of these chemicals in our drinking water, as well as their health implications and ways to address them through public policy.
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Jul 17, 2019
Siloed, Incomplete and Neglected: The Trouble with State Administrative Data | Episode 11
At a time when private companies can mine online user data for new, sophisticated insights about their customers, public-sector agencies — particularly those charged with serving clients with low incomes and some of the most urgent needs — are struggling to keep up with their own data practices. Although public agencies collect reams of valuable information that could be used to improve residents’ health and well-being, they rarely have the ability to study, interpret, and use the data the same way many companies can.
About six years ago, the federal government funded a study to understand what is holding back state agencies in health and human services when it comes to collecting reliable data and using them to both improve the performance of agencies and the welfare of residents.
On this week's episode of On the Evidence, our guest is Beth Weigensberg, a senior researcher at Mathematica who helped conduct the research for that federal study and co-authored an article based on…
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Jun 19, 2019
Federal Efforts to Overhaul the Way We Pay for Primary Care, Explained | Episode 10
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would invite medical practices to voluntarily participate in new payment models for primary care in the Medicare program. The initiative is called Primary Cares, and its goals are to reduce Medicare spending and improve both the quality of and access to primary care for Medicare beneficiaries—especially for those with complex, chronic conditions and serious illness. CMS officials believe that the new payment models could affect as many as 11 million Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and an estimated one in four primary care practitioners.
In light of that announcement, I invited three primary care experts from Mathematica to explain the latest push by CMS to change primary care through new payment models. My guests are Jeffrey Ballou, Eugene Rich, and Julie Schilz, who have the combined experience and expertise of a health economist, a general internist, a medical practice leader, a register…
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Jun 5, 2019
It Shouldn’t Read Like a Crime Novel: Trying to Summarize Police Research | Episode 9
For researchers to influence policy, their work must ultimately reach people making or implementing policy, and yet a gap often exists between the two communities. Rebecca Neusteter witnessed this gap when she was the director of research, policy, and planning at the New York Police Department (NYPD). Peer-reviewed journals often published articles about policing—and even policing in New York City—but her office did not have subscriptions to those journals and lacked easy, affordable access to the articles. What was available—typically abstracts written for fellow researchers—too often wasn’t useful to people in the department. It seemed to Neusteter like a missed opportunity for relevant research to inform practitioners. Ultimately, that led her to publish a brief, nontechnical digest of recent police-related research that conveyed important takeaways to readers who were hungry for information to help them do their jobs better, but who lacked the time to find and read the fu…
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May 22, 2019
To Help Philadelphia’s Workforce, This Nonprofit Had to Take a Look at Itself First | Episode 8
A few years ago, staff at Philadelphia Works, the city’s Workforce Development Board, decided that they wanted an outsider’s perspective to assess their workforce system and to assist them with more effectively helping residents. They partnered with Mathematica to study and address issues keeping them from providing the most effective services in the most efficient way possible.
In this episode of On the Evidence, we take a look at early efforts to redesign and streamline the daily operations of the city’s workforce system, starting with a cash assistance program for work-ready adults called the Employment, Advancement and Retention Network (EARN). Our guests include two of the nonprofit’s staff members, Patricia Blumenauer, director of workforce operations, and Eric Morton, a program representative, as well as Annalisa Mastri, a senior researcher at Mathematica.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/to…
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May 8, 2019
Boston Invites Community to Set a 'Civic' Research Agenda | Episode 7
The Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, a research and development lab for city hall, develops new and creative ways to provide better services for the city’s residents. About a year ago, the office published the first volume of its Civic Research Agenda. In some respects, the document follows the trend of federal agencies publishing learning or evidence-building agendas. But Boston’s Civic Research Agenda doesn’t look like a formal government document: it’s colorful, with large font, photos, and cartoon-like illustrations. The authors also use personal pronouns to make it clear that Boston’s “new urban mechanics” want to have a conversation with you, the reader. The language is strategic: they want to welcome you in as a participant in deciding what local public policy issues to address, what questions to ask about them, and how to answer them.
In this episode of On the Evidence, we discuss the Civic Research Agenda’s one year anniversary with three member…
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Apr 24, 2019
What Do We Know About Patients with High Costs and High Needs? | Episode 6
In this week’s episode of On the Evidence, we discuss a major question surrounding health care reform: What do we do about the small share of patients who represent a much larger share of overall health care use and costs? For this conversation, I brought in three guests from Mathematica’s deep bench of health care experts—Purvi Sevak, Ann O’Malley, and Dana Jean-Baptiste, who have each studied high-need, high-use patients and efforts to improve their care.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/podcast-on-patients-with-high-costs-and-high-needs
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Apr 9, 2019
The Case for Increasing the Number of Black Women in Economics | Episode 5
Black women are underrepresented in the field of economics, and for those who enter the profession, being one of a few can be lonely. On this episode of On the Evidence, host J.B. Wogan talks with Anna Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore about the Sadie Collective, a group they helped form, which seeks to increase the number of black women in economics and is named after the first African American to earn a PhD in economics.
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Mar 27, 2019
Do Suspensions Affect Student Outcomes? | Episode 4
Almost seven years ago, the School District of Philadelphia revised its student discipline policy, instructing schools not to suspend students for certain types of nonviolent behavior, such as failing to follow classroom rules or making obscene gestures. To examine what happened after the school district made the change, Mathematica’s Johanna Lacoe teamed up with Matthew Steinberg, an education researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. What they found provides the strongest evidence to date that when students are suspended, their academic performance declines after the suspension. On this episode of On the Evidence, Lacoe discusses her school suspension research in Philadelphia and what it might mean for the future of school discipline.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/do-suspensions-affect-student-outcomes
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Mar 12, 2019
A How-to Guide on Using Evidence in City Policymaking | Episode 3
A growing number of cities are interested in using data and research in decision making. Kat Klosek, director of applied research at the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, talks about a free step-by-step guide she wrote for policymakers who want to incorporate data and evidence in their work.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/how-to-guide-on-using-evidence-in-city-policymaking
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Feb 26, 2019
How a County Engaged More Clients in Employment Assistance | Episode 2
Across Colorado, county agencies struggle to get residents on public assistance to attend work orientation sessions that are required for receiving benefits. Adams County staff studied the problem, piloted a solution and assessed the results. Jon McCay, part of Mathematica’s evidence-based technical assistance team, explains the process Adams County staff used to improve client engagement.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/how-a-county-agency-engaged-more-clients-in-its-employment-assistance-program
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Feb 11, 2019
What If More Local Governments Invested in Outcomes? | Episode 1
On this episode of On the Evidence, Andrew Kleine, the former budget director of Baltimore City, talks about his new book, “City on the Line,” his account of what happened when Baltimore adopted an evidence-based approach to its budget process. Mathematica’s J.B. Wogan and Matt Stagner interviewed Kleine for the episode. Topics discussed on the episode: Outcome Budgeting, Logic Model Budgeting, Pay-for-Success Financing, and Collective Impact.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/what-if-more-local-governments-invested-in-outcomes
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Feb 6, 2019
Mathematica Launches New Podcast: On the Evidence
The show will investigate and promote the use of data and evidence to address social challenges through conversations with pioneers in their fields.
Find condensed Q&As based on each episode here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/on-the-evidence-podcast
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Aug 28, 2018
White Paper Discussion of the Week
White Paper Discussion of the Week by MATHEMATICA
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Mar 26, 2018
A Meta-Analysis of 15 Within-Study-Comparisons | JPAM Featured Article
Chaplin et al. (2017) tests the efficacy of regression discontinuity (RD) by comparing RD causal estimates at the treatment cutoff to those from Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) that are also estimated at this same cutoff. The study identifies 15 previously completed within-study-comparisons (WSCs) that explicitly examined this issue by assuming the RCT results are unbiased and then comparing them to RD results.
The differences between these results can be thought of as estimates of bias due to use of the RD method. The authors address the internal validity of RD by using the average estimated bias across all 15 WSCs. The study also addresses concerns about external validity by using meta-analystic methods to examine variation in estimated bias across studies. Existing theory predicts no difference between RD and RCT estimates on average, but difficulties with the implementation and analysis of RD in particular can lead to the possibility of deviations from theoretical expectations.
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Mar 7, 2018
Program Evaluation <3's Technology
Mark Lafferty and Dan Friend describe Mathematica's work evaluating social programs across the country, and discuss the tools we use to perform these high-quality evaluations at scale including Mathematica's RAPTER© system.
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Jan 30, 2018
Mel Podcast
Mel Podcast by MATHEMATICA
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Dec 4, 2017
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for International Development Programs
Experts from Mathematica, USAID, and the Rockefeller Foundation discuss how data and evidence can be used to drive decision making.
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Nov 30, 2017
The Negative Income Tax Experiments
The Negative Income Tax Experiments Presented by Chuck Metcalf, Retired Mathematica President and Chief Executive Officer
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May 25, 2017
Tools for Evidence Podcast Takes a Closer Look at RCT-YES and the RCE Coach
In the podcast, Associate Director Alex Resch and Senior Fellow Peter Schochet discuss and explain some key differences between RCT-YES and the RCE Coach . They discuss which tool is best matched to educators with varying levels of experience conducting evaluations, who might use these tools and how.
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Mar 7, 2017
How Does the Doctor-Patient Relationship Affect Decision Making?
In a new article for the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, experts from Mathematica Policy Research reveal why some patients might reject physician recommendations even if they are grounded in good evidence. Listen to Mathematica researchers Cara Stepanczuk and Nyna Williams discuss this issue in this episode of the “Policy in Perspective” podcast.
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Feb 21, 2017
Innovations in care coordination and supports for people with disabilities
In this episode of Mathematica’s “Policy in Perspective” podcast, listen to Mathematica Senior Fellows, James Verdier and Carol Irvin, discuss policy challenges and innovations in providing coordinated care and community supports to people with disabilities and frail older adults. This work supports the contributions of Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy to the evidence on today’s most critical issues in disability policy.
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Nov 28, 2016
How Behavioral Insights Can Help Policymakers Improve Programs
Mathematica researcher, Irma Perez-Johnson, shares her experience using behavioral insights to improve public programs.
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Nov 13, 2016
Divorce and Women’s Retirement
Mathematica Senior Researcher Dana Rotz discusses a new study of how changes in marriage and divorce in the United States have affected employment and retirement for women.
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Nov 2, 2016
Who Has More Effective Teachers?
Mathematica senior researchers Eric Isenberg and Jeffrey Max discuss their findings from a new study that addresses a key question in education policy: do low-income students have equal access to effective teachers?
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Sep 26, 2016
America’s Investment in Health IT
In recognition of National Health IT Week, Mathematica Senior Fellow Emerita Marsha Gold and Senior Researcher Yael Harris explore the rollout and implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, a major federal initiative to support the development and use of electronic health information technology to help reform care delivery and, ultimately, improve health outcomes.
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Apr 12, 2016
Reporting on Pathways to Health Coverage
More Americans now have access to publicly subsidized health coverage through expansions in Medicaid, the federal insurance marketplace, and state health insurance exchanges. But how much do we know about who is enrolling, how they are enrolling, and when? This podcast describes California’s experience reporting on the ways in which people obtain health insurance, offering lessons for other states that are launching comparable reporting efforts.
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Mar 26, 2016
The Changing Role of Public Health in a Post-ACA Era
In conjunction with National Public Health Week, Mathematica Senior Vice President and Director of Health Research Christopher Trenholm and Senior Fellow Judy Bigby discuss the changing role of public health programs in an era of health care reform.
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Mar 9, 2016
Delivering Good Data in Developing Countries
Mathematica Senior Researcher Kristen Velyvis and Senior Fellow Sarah Hughes discuss the challenges of collecting high quality data from resource-poor environments. They describe specific examples of potential data collection barriers and suggest approaches that can help mitigate these challenges at each stage of the survey process.
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Feb 21, 2016
Helping Accountable Care Organizations Learn from One Another
Researchers Sonya Streeter and Craig Schneider discuss Mathematica’s key role in a major effort in U.S. health care reform—the development of accountable care organizations, which are networks of providers designed to deliver more efficient, higher quality care for Medicare beneficiaries.
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Feb 3, 2016
Improving Health Care for Children: Lessons from the States
Mathematica Senior Fellow Henry Ireys and senior researchers Grace Anglin and Joe Zickafoose describe the CHIPRA Quality Demonstration Grant Program—the largest federal effort in the past decade to improve health care for children—and the lessons it offers for states and others that have a stake in providing quality care for children.
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Oct 3, 2015
Does the PARCC Test Succeed in Predicting College Outcomes?
A Mathematica report shows that students’ scores on the existing high school assessment in Massachusetts predict college performance as well as scores on a new test that was recently developed by a consortium of states to align with Common Core standards. Mathematic education policy experts Brian Gill and Ira Nichols-Barrer discuss the national implications of these findings.
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Sep 23, 2015
The Future of Family Caregiving
Mathematica Senior Fellow Debra Lipson examines the political and economic forces that have shaped policymaking on family caregiving over the past two decades and identifies key areas for potential progress.
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