Overview
Demonstration Projects
These field experiments form the core of the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation’s research. In most cases, they use a random assignment evaluation design, generally accepted as the most reliable way of measuring the impacts produced by a program. These demonstrations also incorporate implementation research to study the process by which new programs are introduced and to extract "good practice" lessons, and they provide a means for conducting a careful benefit-cost analysis. SRDC’s demonstration projects include the following:
The Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP), a project evaluating the effects of community-based employment in the social economy in Cape Breton on the employability of EI and income assistance recipients and on the five participating communities themselves
learn$ave, a national demonstration of matched savings accounts for poor families to encourage learning activities and micro-enterprise development
Future to Discover in New Brunswick and Manitoba and the evaluation of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) in British Columbia to assess the extent to which participation in post-secondary education can be increased by better information, an alternative form of financial support, and an innovative academic preparation program
The Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP), a test of temporary earnings supplements as a "make work pay" strategy to support the transition of lone parents from welfare to work
The Earnings Supplement Project (ESP), a recent type of a financial incentive in the form of temporary "earnings insurance" as a way of hastening the re-employment of Employment Insurance (EI) beneficiaries
Economic Experiments
This approach uses controlled "laboratory" settings to study people’s economic behaviour. In economic experiments, participants are placed in identical settings and make decisions involving real money. The results can be used to infer relative preferences or behavioural propensities. Examples of SRDC’s work in this field include the following:
Savings for Education Among the Working Poor, which examined people’s willingness to delay consumption in order to invest in education for themselves or their children
Fostering Adult Education, which examined the relative attractiveness of alternative forms of financial assistance to encourage investment in education
Exploratory Studies of Promising Programs
This research can help identify program models that merit further testing or can serve as a feasibility study to assess whether a program can be implemented. Examples include the following:
A process research study in six communities across Canada that are part of Understanding the Early Years (UEY), an initiative designed to explore the feasibility of using research evidence to support community-driven change.
Transitions, a review of 24 programs in six British Columbia schools designed to help disadvantaged youth complete high school.
A feasibility study of a new way for people with disabilities to access supports they need for employment.
A case study of two promising work-based training programs for street youth in Vancouver.
A formative evaluation of the Jobs Partnership Pilot, a British Columbia welfare-to-work pilot project using third-party labour market intermediary organizations to facilitate the employment of income assistance recipients.
Analytical Studies
Examples of SRDC analyses include research on workers’ compensation within a system of social programs for the BC Royal Commission on Workers’ Compensation, on the effectiveness of youth programs for the HRDC Ministerial Task Force on Youth, on frequent use of Employment Insurance for the Government of Quebec, and on the composition of government-assisted refugees for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Technical Assistance
As a source of independent advice to policy-makers and practitioners, SRDC can assist where internal resources are insufficient, or bring a broader perspective to bear on a particular issue. This assistance takes many forms including help in evaluation design, in the identification of options for new program development, in interpreting research findings, as well as organizing and facilitating workshops on particular policy issues or research topics.