Daniel Litwok is an associate at Abt Associates, a global research organization based in Rockville, Maryland. He has expertise in applied econometrics, program evaluation, and experimental and quasi-experimental methods.

Litwok has assessed the impact of various public policy programs. His work has focused primarily on evaluation methods; job training and career pathways; juvenile crime and justice; and prison populations and former inmates. At Abt, Litwok serves as director of analysis for an experimental evaluation of more than 40 career pathways programs operating in the healthcare sector and for a quasi-experimental evaluation of a unit that provides employment and education services to offenders under supervision. He has coauthored reports sponsored by the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Litwok’s work on applying and extending the techniques of experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation methods have made an impact through awards, journal articles, and presentations. In 2018, he was awarded an Early Career Research Grant from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. He has been an invited speaker at various professional meetings, universities, and conferences.

Litwok’s scholarly work has been published in the American Journal of Evaluation, Criminology, and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. His work has also been covered by Governing magazine.

Understanding the gold standard of research

At AU, Litwok co-teaches “Producing strong evidence of policy and program impact: Implementing and evaluating randomized controlled trials.” The course covers pivotal topics for conducting randomized evaluations and offers students the opportunity to engage with real-world challenges faced by evaluators.

“While it may seem simple, designing, implementing, and executing a large-scale randomized evaluation to answer pressing policy questions always involves countless challenges, both quantitative and qualitative,” says Litwok. “Students will learn about designing a randomized evaluation in theory and then grapple with these challenges by experiencing them interactively. They will leave the class with an understanding of the key issues and a wealth of resources for exploring these and related topics in more detail.”