ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews prior evaluations of other private codes governing workplace conditions including Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)'s Base Code, Nike's Code of Conduct, and Fair Trade. These have taken the form of focused studies examining only producers that have adopted a specific code, and comparative studies that compare code adopters to non-adopters. The chapter discusses several principles and techniques well known as best practices for evaluation studies in other domains. The ideal research design for evaluations would incorporate the use of randomized trials to create "treatment" and "control" groups. This is the critical methodological principle guiding the best new research evaluating policy programs and interventions associated with development and poverty alleviation. Some producers adopting SA8000 might do so to drive improvements in their operations using the standards as benchmarks to be achieved. The number of organizations becoming certified under SA8000 and similar codes continues to rise, as additional codes governing working conditions continue to emerge.
