Table 1 Common EA techniques.
Type of analysis | Measure of cost/inputs | Measure of outcomes | Strengths | Weaknesses | Analytical questions | Example/s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cost-feasibility (CFA) | Monetary value of resources | N/A | Permits alternatives that are not feasible to be immediately ruled out before evaluating outcomes | Cannot judge overall worth of a project because it does not incorporate outcome measures | Can a single alternative be carried out within budget? | |
Cost-effectiveness (CEA) | Monetary value of resources used during implementation | Units of effectiveness (e.g. crimes prevented or treatments delivered) | Easy to incorporate standard evaluations of effectiveness Good for comparing the cost of delivery per unit of treatment across interventions Good for alternatives with a small number of objectives | Hard to interpret if there are multiple measures of effectiveness Only useful for comparing two or more alternatives | Which alternative yields a given level of effectiveness for the lowest cost (or highest level of effectiveness for a given cost)? | |
Cost-savings | Monetary value of resources used during implementation | Monetary savings resulting from impact of intervention | Good for assessing the savings generated to stakeholders | Difficult to place monetary values on salient life benefits | What are the estimated savings generated from the intervention? | (Manning et al. 2006) |
Cost–benefit (CBA) | Monetary value of resources used during implementation | Monetary value of benefits | Can judge absolute worth of a project Can compare CB results across a variety of projects | Difficult to place monetary values on salient life benefits | Which alternative yields a given level of benefits for the lowest cost (or the highest level of benefits for a given cost)? Are the net benefits greater than the net costs? | (Yeh 2010) |
Cost-Utility (CUA) | Monetary value of resources used during implementation | Units of utility | Incorporates individual preferences for units of effectiveness Incorporates multiple measures of effectiveness onto a single measure of utility Promotes stakeholder participation in stakeholder decision making | Difficult to derived consistent and accurate measure of individual preferences Cannot accurately judge overall worth of a single alternative Only useful for comparing two or more alternatives | Which alternative yields a given level of utility for the lowest cost (or the highest level of utility for a given cost)? |