Journal Article

Propensity Score Matching

Peikes, Deborah N, Moreno, Lorenzo, Orzol, Sean Michael

2008

Overview

Over the past 25 years, evaluators of social programs have searched for nonexperimental methods that can substitute effectively for experimental ones. Recently, the spotlight has focused on one method, propensity score matching (PSM), as the suggested approach for evaluating employment and education programs. We present a case study of our experience using PSM, under seemingly ideal circumstances, for the evaluation of the State Partnership Initiative employment promotion program. Despite ideal conditions and the passing of statistical tests suggesting that the matching procedure had worked, we find that PSM produced incorrect impact estimates when compared with a randomized design. Based on this experience, we caution practitioners about the risks of implementing PSM-based designs.

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis,American Statistical Association
• Subject: Applications / Case studies / Case study / Collaboration / Combinatorics / Combinatorics. Ordered structures / Design evaluation / Designs and configurations / Educational programs / Employment / Employment agencies / Employment statistics / Estimating techniques / Estimation methods / Evaluation design / Exact sciences and technology / Experimental design / General topics / Insurance, economics, finance / Matching / Mathematics / Nonexperimental methods / Probability and statistics / Propensity / PSM / Randomized design / Research methodology / Sample size / Sciences and techniques of general use / Social programs / Social Security Disability Insurance / Statistical analysis / Statistical Practice / Statistical significance / Statistics / Supplemental Security Income