Glossary

Services to help participants make informed decisions about their financial resources, such as providing information on budgeting or loans. These services may also be referred to as financial literacy or financial training.

A finding summarizes the effect of a program on an outcome measure related to employment, earnings, public benefit receipt, and education and training. It is the smallest element we review and to which we give a study quality by finding rating. The direction of the finding might be favorable or unfavorable. We also categorize whether it is statistically significant (unlikely to have occurred by chance) and small or moderate-to-large.

• Favorable. An impact on an outcome or an overall outcome domain in a direction that is socially desirable. For example, a favorable impact could be an increase in annual earnings or consecutive months of employment, or a reduction in months of TANF eligibility.
• Unfavorable. An impact on an outcome or an overall outcome domain in a direction that is not socially desirable. For example, an unfavorable impact could be a decrease in annual earnings or consecutive months of employment, or an increase in months of TANF eligibility.
• Moderate-to-large. We describe findings as being moderate-to-large if the program produced a sufficiently large change in the outcome. The change can be in a favorable or unfavorable direction. An impact receives this designation if the standardized effect size is equal to or greater than 0.25 or less than -0.25.
• Small. We describe findings as being small if the program did not produce a large change in the outcome. The change can be in a favorable or unfavorable direction. An impact receives this designation if the standardized effect size is between -0.25 and 0.25.

Costs that do not depend on the number of participants (e.g., a program manager may spend 5% of their time supervising a program regardless of the number of participants).