1.2 With increased attention to, and expenditure on CEG, there is a concern to evaluate its effectiveness.
Different approaches are possible but each has particular strengths and weaknesses.
Outcome measures are one approach and, within this, evaluation of the economic outcomes of guidance has attracted much attention. The research raises major conceptual and methodological issues. The YCS offers considerable potential for such research since it is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of young people. An important aspect of the research, therefore, has been to assess the quality of the CEG data as well as exploring possible outcome measures. The YCS enables personal and social factors to be taken into account and therefore to distinguish the separate influence of CEG on outcomes from other factors.