Compentence centre Insights & Evaluation

Up to now, there has been a lack of comprehensive and thorough evaluation of financial education programmes. As a result, there is little reliable knowledge about which programmes are effective and why.

With the goal to improve this situation, we founded a competence centre for research and evaluation of financial literacy in the year 2023. Our team of five researchers takes an interdisciplinary approach that combines different professional perspectives, areas of application and target group needs. Within the research group, we have comprehensive technical and methodological expertise in the disciplines of education, economics, political science, psychology and mathematics.

Our main research activities concern:

1. Conducting regular evaluations of financial education programmes in Austria and of the national financial literacy strategy, both in terms of implementation and impact,
2. Decoding the "DNA" of effective and efficient financial education measures,
3. Advancing existing methodological tools for the evaluation of financial education measures and applying these tools according to the highest scientific standards,
4. Making a significant contribution to the further development of the research field by developing theoretical approaches to financial literacy and related concepts such as financial well-being.

In our empirical research, we use quantitative methods (e.g. experiments and surveys) as well as qualitative methods (e.g. interviews, focus groups and observations) and, further, combine these in mixed-methods approaches. This allows us to measure impact on a reliable and quantifiable basis. Due to the variety of methods, we can also take into account the complexity of the real-life needs of different target groups.

Furthermore, we are in close dialogue with various stakeholders such as universities, schools, ministries and other interest groups to exchange ideas on our work, as well as to stay updated on new developments in the field of financial literacy.