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Impact assessments gather evidence to determine the effects of changes on a population. They can measure individual or collective benefits and help organizations use resources efficiently. The process involves determining the existing state, implementing changes, and measuring impacts. Unexpected results can occur, and impact assessments are used by many organizations and companies.
An impact assessment consists of gathering and weighing evidence to determine the impact of products, programs or projects on an affected population through a set of actions designed to change the status quo. These assessments can be used to draw evidence-based conclusions about whether introducing a change has a positive or negative effect. An impact assessment can calculate the average impact of the change on individual users or customers or, instead, it can measure the overall benefits conferred on a group of people collectively. Measuring these impacts can help government agencies, businesses or charities use resources more efficiently.
The first step in the process of conducting an impact assessment is to determine the existing state of affairs. This step usually occurs before a change is made in order to more accurately assess the post-change status. After the change has been implemented, the next step is to measure the impact or impacts. Predicted and unexpected impacts are subsequently noted and analysed.
For example, an effort to provide free government-sponsored meals to underprivileged children can be undertaken to improve children’s health. Vouchers for nutritious food can be given to parents of children. When the impact assessment is subsequently evaluated, researchers may find that the health of the target population has not improved as much as anticipated. Further investigation may reveal that the guardians of the children created an exchange system, in which the parents were exchanging food stamps for other essential non-food items, such as clothes or diapers.
As a result of the findings, evaluation of the program revealed that the children’s health benefits were not as significant as the creators of the coupon program had hoped they would be. This is an example of how to measure an impact on a defined set of specific individuals. A study of smoking mortality rates before and after the advertising ban would be an illustration of measuring the collective impact of prohibition on a specific set of people who use tobacco products.
An impact study can also focus on consumer products. Marketing researchers can try to estimate how receptive consumers will be to a new product, based on a company’s introduction of similar products in the past. A researcher can also focus an impact assessment on determining how a product might be used or what type of consumer might be most likely. Sometimes an impact evaluation will yield unexpected results, demonstrating that the actual introduction of new practices or products may differ significantly from expectations. Impact evaluations are used by many organizations and companies and are considered a form of empirical evidence.
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