ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on criteria for and techniques of impact evaluation. Government resistance can seriously undermine project evaluation and implementation. Government authorities protested the use of control groups, reasoning that if vitamin A were advantageous, not to administer it all over the country would be unethical. When the donor agreed to administer vitamin A all over the country, however, the government thwarted the effort again, maintaining that the advantages of vitamin A were unproven, so there was no scientific basis for the project. Subbarao explained that a qualitative approach to understanding a program area was vital to any evaluation, as it provided insight into how to frame questions. Time factors play a crucial role in evaluation. James Heckman concluded the session by saying that what could be deduced about evaluation was that any of the questions and answers brought forth were fundamentally model contingent.
