Michelle Wood

MIchelle Wood has more than 30 years of experience managing large-scale national program evaluations and applied social science research. She has managed several national random assignment studies.

Wood is the project director for the Social Security Administration’s Benefit Offset National Demonstration Project. She manages a large team, including subcontractors and consultants, to implement and evaluate a $1-for-$2 benefit offset for the Social Security Disability Insurance program. The project scope of work includes designing and executing large-scale participant outreach and recruitment, implementing secure data systems, managing complex data collection, designing a communications strategy, operating a call center, providing training and technical assistance to local agencies, and documenting the results in process, participation, net impact and cost-benefit analyses. 
 
Wood also is project director for the Family Options Study, which is examining the effects of various combinations of housing and services for homeless families on five aspects of family well-being: housing stability, self-sufficiency, adult well-being, child well-being, and family preservation. The study randomly assigned nearly 2,300 families who sought assistance from emergency shelters in 12 communities to one of four intervention groups. The team collected baseline data, conducting periodic tracking interviews, and undertook follow-up survey data collection 18 months after random assignment. The team will also conduct a 36-month follow-up survey to measure longer-term outcomes for participating families.

Selected Publication

• Gubits, D., Shinn, M., Wood, M., Brown, S.R., Dastrup, S.R., Bell, S.H. (2018). “What Interventions Work Best for Families Who Experience Homelessness? Impact Estimates from the Family Options Study.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.