Glossary of Terms
Term | Definition |
Activities | Actions taken or work performed through which inputs, such as funds, technical assistance, and other resources, are mobilized to produce specific outputs (OECD-DAC 2009). |
Field-cast concrete | Concrete that is mixed on site or delivered to the site in a concrete truck and poured and consolidated directly into its final-use placement. |
Impact | Positive and negative and primary and secondary long-term effects produced by an intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended. |
Innovation | The implementation of a new or significantly improved product or process, a new marketing method, or a new organizational method in business practices, workplace organizations, or external relations (OECD 2005). |
Input | Labor (the range of skills, expertise, and knowledge of employees), capital assets (including land and buildings, motor vehicles, and computer networks), financial assets, and intangible assets (such as intellectual property) used in delivering outputs (OECD-DAC 2009). |
Measure or metric |
A quantitative or qualitative factor or variable that provides a simple and reliable means to assess achievement, to reflect the changes connected to an intervention, or to help assess the performance of a development actor. In the United States, the term “measure” is used more often than “variable,” and a metric is the unit of measurement for that measure (OECD-DAC 2009). |
Outcomes | Changes or benefits resulting from activities and outputs. Short-term outcomes produce changes in learning, knowledge, attitude, skills, or understanding. Intermediate outcomes generate changes in behavior, practices, or decisions. Long-term outcomes produce changes in conditions. |
Output | The products or results of a process, for example, how many people a project has affected, their ages and ethnic groups, or the number of meetings held and the ways in which the findings of the project are disseminated (Barnes and Health Development Agency 2010). |
Prefabricated bridge elements | Concrete elements that are produced off site in a mold that forms them to the proper shape and are then delivered to the site for placement. |
Program | Any activity, project, function, or policy that has an identifiable purpose or set of objectives (Graybeal 2011). |
Research | Creative work undertaken on a systematic basis to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture, and society (OECD-DAC 2009). |
Research project | A planned and systematic effort to conduct research on a specified topic, with a defined start and end date. |
Return on investment | Measures that compare program benefits with costs, including net present value (benefits minus costs), benefit–cost ratio (benefits divided by costs), and internal rate of return (the interest rate at which benefits and costs are equal). |
Socioeconomic returns and benefits | Measures that capture both market-based monetary impacts and nonmarket impacts, such as environmental and social value, not currently reflected or involved in conventional financial accounts. |
Technology transfer | The process by which a technology under development is transferred from one research performer to another to advance its development and commercialization. |
Ultra-high performance concrete | A cementitious composite material with higher compressive, tensile, and flexural strength and improved durability compared with conventional concrete. |