This post originally appeared on Andy Feldman's GovInnovator blog.

What are some of the key tools that that policymakers and practitioners can draw on to inform and strengthen decisions? To explore these issues, we’re joined by Margery Turner (@maturner), a Senior Vice President at the Urban Institute. Her recent testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Resources, titled, “Evidence-Based Policymaking Requires a Portfolio of Tools.”

In her testimony, she writes: “Today more than ever, policymakers need evidence to help inform major decisions about program design, implementation, and funding. Whether assessing the likely effectiveness of a new initiative, comparing competing approaches to a given problem, figuring out where to cut, or refining a program’s rules to make it more cost effective, decisions based on rigorous evidence make better use of scarce public dollars and improve outcomes for people.”

The tools she discusses in the interview include diagnostic research, microsimulation models, implementation research, randomized controlled trials and rapid, operationally-focused experimentation.

Photo by Orlin Wagner/AP