This article discusses and illustrates methods of computing the statistical power of
hypothesis tests in regression analysis of the impacts of social policies. It first considers
the importance of such calculations, both in interpreting the results of regression analysis
and in designing evaluation research. The succeeding sections present technical details
of the power calculations. Finally, these techniques are illustrated in the context of
analysis of data from the Seattle and Denver income maintenance experiments, which
were sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in order to
examine the various impacts of a negative income tax.
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