Quantifying Potential Cost Avoidance Implications of Outcomes Reported in Behavioral and Social Science Research

Abstract

This report documents research and analysis conducted as part of two projects entitled Quantifying the Value of Behavioral and Social Science Research and Quantifying the Value of Behavioral and Social Science Research Follow-On, both sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. The purpose of the first project was to develop utility functions that translate the incremental effects of outcome criteria often used in behavioral and social science research results into estimates of the value of those changes, such as cost avoidance or other benefits. The purpose of the second project was to continue and expand on the work of the first project.This research was conducted within RAND Arroyo Center's Personnel, Training, and Health Program. RAND Arroyo Center, part of the RAND Corporation, is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) sponsored by the United States Army.RAND operates under a "Federal-Wide Assurance" (FWA00003425) and complies with the Code of Federal Regulations for the Protection of Human Subjects Under United States Law (45 CFR 46), also known as "the Common Rule," as well as with the implementation guidance set forth in DoD Instruction 3216.02. As applicable, this compliance includes reviews and approvals by RAND's Institutional Review Board (the Human Subjects Protection Committee) and by the U.S. Army. The views of sources utilized in this study are solely their own and do not represent the official policy or position of DoD or the U.S. Government. AcknowledgmentsWe appreciate the guidance that we received throughout the two projects from our project monitors, Tonia Heffner, Gerald (Jay) Goodwin, and Len White, of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. We are grateful to COL Robert Montz at the Office of the Surgeon General for data he supplied for our analysis. We want to acknowledge the important contributions of our current and former RAND colleagues, Christopher Maerzluft, Andrew Naber, Joachin Rubalcaba, Cameron Wright, and Blake Cignarella, who provided earlier drafts of many of the study write-ups and made methodological contributions. We also wish to thank