A 6-part, EW2 Special Edition Learning Event Series, introducing the first edition of the Experimentation Course for the Government of Canada. This page houses the content material for module 2: Initiating an Experiment.
Experimentation Works (EW) working group's second cohort is a Government-of-Canada initiative to build public servants’ capacity in experimentation skills and practice through a learning-by-doing model that supports and showcases small-scale experiments in the open. Additional information about this initiative can be found here.
Thursday, October 15, 2020, 11am-12noon EST
The sessions will offer an opportunity to present module 2 (Initiating an Experiment) to the EW2 cohort, as its main target audience. It is hoped that this material will serve as a primer for the EW2 cohort as it will contain both elements familiar with its members so far (i.e. having lived through them already in the EW2 journey, such as landing on a hypothesis), as well as elements part of the near future experience. The EW2 cohort will be provided with the course module at least 1 week in advance. Part of the 1 hour will be dedicated to asking questions geared towards improving the course material as it makes its way for publication with the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS).
The sessions will be hosted on MS Teams and will be recorded, with the links to the videos made available over the dedicated EW2 Slack channel and Trello boards (until end of October 2020). Discussions will be anchored in a number of questions which will be used for the session (e.g. clarity of language, relevance from a practical/public service point of view, relevant examples/cases, etc.). Each session will be followed by a short survey, to capture additional thoughts.
Module 1: Introduction to Experimentation
Module 2: Initiating an Experiment
Module 3: Designing an Experiment
Module 4: Implementing an Experiment
Module 5: Analysing an Experiment
Module 6: Informing Decision with Experiments
This book is developed as part of a chapter for Government of Canada's experimentation course. This course provides an introduction to experimentation and how it can be used as a powerful tool to address complex issues. It is not meant to turn beginners into experts, but will inform public servants who would like to take part in or set up an experiment.
The overall objectives is to make public servants informed consumers of evidence, and knowledgeable partners in experimental projects. More specifically, it will provide a degree of clarity on what experiments are, and how experiments should be planned and designed.
This module is specifically designed to cover topics on Initiating an Experiment.
The themes explored in this module are: (i) identifying opportunities to experiment in government activities - be it policy, program, regulatory, service, or internal services, (ii) designing experiments as part of existing programs/services.