Reading between the lines: Measuring the efficacy of interventions by Nesta

Using their free toolkit for running randomised controlled trials, they provided the following insights on how businesses can best prepare to run and measure D&I pilots and innovation programmes in a way that can deliver measurable results and insights.

The Innovation Growth Lab (IGL), hosted by Nesta UK, works with policymakers to design and test approaches to innovation. Inequality is a wicked problem that has persisted despite decades of policies and programmes aimed at addressing this systemic challenge. By testing new ideas, gathering information on what works, and looking closely at the impact of interventions, an experimental approach helps us to build robust evidence on how to improve equality, diversity and inclusion.

IGL’s Experimentation Toolkit is a helpful guide for anyone looking to apply a rigorous, evidence-based approach to their work. A key concern when evaluating the overall impact of a policy or intervention aimed at improving equality, diversity and inclusion is how to remove bias, because it is easy to cherry-pick information based on our existing beliefs. That's why IGL values randomised controlled trials the most. These experiments remove selection bias, so we don’t confuse the impact of our programme with pre-existing differences between those who choose to take part and those who do not.