PATHS Homepage

Project Description

---

Using our PATHS Equity for Children conceptual framework as a ‘map’, researchers from the Winnipeg RHA’s Research & Evaluation Unit will examine at least two program or policy interventions, from the projects described above, in more detail to describe how they either served to increase or decrease the socioeconomic gap. The choice of interventions for further examination in a case study format will be done after several of the projects have reported quantitative results. This project will attempt to uncover how the selected programs increased or decreased inequity through the complex interaction of various levels of government or departments and the context which may have influenced the program or policy.
 
A realist approach (RE) (1) to evaluating the impact of the programs/policies examined will be used.  This approach aims to “open the black box” between intervention and outcome.  Building upon existing knowledge, RE analyzes why change occurs (or does not occur) and in which condition(s). It aims at providing information that allows decision-makers to judge whether the lessons learnt could be applied elsewhere. RE is a logic of inquiry which uncovers the social layers in order to understand the root causes of the problem the interventions were meant to help and finds the mechanisms which explain the outcomes of the intervention.  RE indicates “what works in which conditions for whom” rather than merely answering the question “does it work?”