Methods Note:
Cost-feasibility analysis. When facing budget constraints, decision-makers may need a cost analysis to take a further step to assess whether they can afford to procure the new resources or can reallocate existing resources needed for the program.

The analyst must compare the resources needed to implement the program to resources that are already available or need to be procured. This requires an inventory of relevant existing ingredients and an assessment of which of these are underutilized or can be fully or partially reallocated without undesirable consequences for other activities. This assessment may require data collection on current personnel time use, a review of school schedules and room availability, and inquiries regarding current use of materials and equipment that could potentially be shared with new activities.

Once the gap between available and necessary resources is determined, the decision-maker needs to assess whether the missing resources can be purchased or otherwise acquired.

Alternatively, they could consider whether the implementation could be modified to fit within available resources without likely loss of effectiveness (Pratt-Williams, Harris, Saucedo, & Mislevy, 2021). For example, it might be possible to partner with other schools or districts to share trainer fees.

Methods Note:
Cost of Facilities Calculator and Amortization. If you used CAP Project’s Cost of Facilities Calculator to estimate costs of a classroom or other educational space, it will have already amortized the costs of the facilities over its useful lifetime. Be sure you do not amortize again if you enter a price from the Cost of Facilities Calculator into CAPCAT!

Methods Note:
Sensitivity analysis involves varying one or more assumptions used in your analysis to assess whether and how overall results change and might lead to different conclusions. Practically, you can execute these analyses by making a copy of your cost analysis worksheet and making changes to the copy so you can compare the results with the original or “base case” analysis. If you use E$timator, you can similarly duplicate a project and use the copy for the sensitivity analysis.

Focus your sensitivity analyses on variables about which you had to make assumptions and about which you are most uncertain, especially those that are likely to produce substantial changes in costs. Possible items to vary include:

1) The discount rate, especially for programs implemented over a long period of time

2) The useful lifetimes of key durable assets such as a purpose-built facility for the program

3) The amount of time spent on the program by personnel from whom you have not been able to collect time use data

4) Prices of personnel ingredients in instances where the personnel experience level may vary and salaries increase substantially with additional years of experience. For example, you could explore the impact on your cost results of using salaries for teachers with 25+ years of experience vs. using the much lower salaries for teachers with only 5 years of experience.

Methods Note:
Treatment-on-the-Treated (TOT) vs. Intent-to-Treat (ITT) Cost Estimates In a cost-effectiveness analysis, costs should only be included for the sample for which effects are being reported. For a TOT analysis, you will need to eliminate costs that are incurred at sites that attrited. To help you with this, the CAPCATs include a column that is labeled “Costs Included” which, if you change the default from “Yes” to “No,” allows you to drop a cost from the results without having to delete all the data. You’ll also need to remember to distribute centralized costs only across the remaining sites. Duplicating your worksheet once your analysis is complete allows you to use one copy for the TOT analysis, and one for the ITT analysis.