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| Rapid Evidence Assessment× | Ex-Ante Policy Appraisal× | |
|---|---|---|
| Field | Public Policy | Public Policy |
| Family | Process / pipeline | Process / pipeline |
| Year of origin≠ | 2013 | 2022 |
| Originator≠ | UK Government Social Research Service with the EPPI-Centre | Public-finance appraisal tradition; codified by HM Treasury (Green Book) |
| Type≠ | Time-constrained systematic evidence synthesis | Structured ex-ante appraisal of policy options |
| Seminal source≠ | Government Social Research Service (2013). Rapid Evidence Assessment Toolkit. London: Civil Service / GSR, developed with the EPPI-Centre. link ↗ | HM Treasury (2022). The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on Appraisal and Evaluation. London: HM Treasury. link ↗ |
| Aliases | REA, Rapid Evidence Review, Rapid Evidence Synthesis | Policy Appraisal, Options Appraisal, Green Book Appraisal |
| Related≠ | 2 | 4 |
| Summary≠ | A rapid evidence assessment (REA) is a way of getting on top of the available research evidence on a policy question as comprehensively as possible within the constraints of a short timetable. It uses the systematic and transparent methods of a full systematic review — explicit search strategies, inclusion criteria and quality appraisal — but deliberately limits the breadth of one or more stages to fit the time and resources available. Promoted in the UK by the Government Social Research Service and the EPPI-Centre, the REA was designed to give policymakers rigorous, accountable evidence syntheses on timescales that conventional systematic reviews cannot meet. | Ex-ante policy appraisal is the structured assessment of the costs, benefits, risks and trade-offs of alternative options for achieving a policy objective, carried out before a decision is taken. Codified in guidance such as the UK Treasury's Green Book, it provides a disciplined framework for deciding whether to intervene and, if so, how — by establishing the rationale and objectives, generating and narrowing a range of options, appraising each against a counterfactual, and recommending the option that offers best value for public money. Appraisal is the forward-looking complement to ex-post evaluation, which judges interventions after they have run. |
| ScholarGateDataset ↗ |
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