Indicators and policy decisions: The important role of experimental studies

Many strong arguments can be made to support the collection of good indicators of children’s well-being and for using such indicators to informpolicy and practice. Indeed, indicators such as rates of teen pregnancy, high school graduation, or dropping out can support, contradict, or generally inform public and political opinion about the circumstances of young people today and that is why great effort and resources are expended in collecting and refining child indicator data.1 Indicators, however, are just one of several important tools for policymakers to rely upon when faced with making difficult policy decisions. Indicator data alone cannot provide information or specific guidance about a policy response to a social problem. Experimental studies are a key type of social science research—the “gold standard” method for untangling cause from effect—that can fulfill this role for policymakers and serve as a necessary complement to indicator data to best inform policy decisions. Here we make the case for the role of experimental studies as the link between indicator data (identifying a social policy concern) and policy decisions.We describe how the results from experimental studies can inform policy decisions as well as the choice of which indicators to study.