IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v127y2020ics0305750x19304681.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bridging the academic-practitioner gap in RCTs

Author

Listed:
  • Parker, A. Rani
  • Coleman, Eric
  • Manyindo, Jacob
  • Mukuru, Emmanuel
  • Schultz, Bill

Abstract

The use of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) to evaluate development programs presents important challenges and opportunities for collaboration between academics and practitioners. Our team of experts measured the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder forums in 107 villages in Uganda over three years using an RCT approach. The focused technical demands of an RCT and the broad reality of practitioner worlds forced the team to tackle questions of: (a) how to manage the tensions of qualitative and quantitative data given the demand for evaluation procedures like power analysis estimation and hypothesis testing; (b) how to define measurable impact so it represents program realities and is amenable to the standardization required by an RCT; and (c) what compromises are required to maintain the spirit and practice of collaboration. We conclude that meaningful collaboration requires immense effort and compromise to leverage the significant benefits possible under this research paradigm.

Suggested Citation

  • Parker, A. Rani & Coleman, Eric & Manyindo, Jacob & Mukuru, Emmanuel & Schultz, Bill, 2020. "Bridging the academic-practitioner gap in RCTs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:127:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x19304681
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104819
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19304681
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104819?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Betsy Sinclair & Margaret McConnell & Donald P. Green, 2012. "Detecting Spillover Effects: Design and Analysis of Multilevel Experiments," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1055-1069, October.
    2. James D. Fearon & Macartan Humphreys & Jeremy M. Weinstein, 2009. "Can Development Aid Contribute to Social Cohesion after Civil War? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Post-conflict Liberia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 287-291, May.
    3. Christine Trampusch & Bruno Palier, 2016. "Between X and Y: how process tracing contributes to opening the black box of causality," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 437-454, September.
    4. Habyarimana, James & Humphreys, Macartan & Posner, Daniel N. & Weinstein, Jeremy M., 2007. "Why Does Ethnic Diversity Undermine Public Goods Provision?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 101(4), pages 709-725, November.
    5. Guy Grossman & Delia Baldassarri, 2012. "The Impact of Elections on Cooperation: Evidence from a Lab‐in‐the‐Field Experiment in Uganda," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 964-985, October.
    6. Latynskiy, Evgeny & Berger, Thomas, 2016. "Networks of Rural Producer Organizations in Uganda: What Can be Done to Make Them Work Better?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 572-586.
    7. Sophie Webber & Carolyn Prouse, 2018. "The New Gold Standard: The Rise of Randomized Control Trials and Experimental Development," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 94(2), pages 166-187, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roelen, Keetie & Saha, Amrita, 2021. "Pathways to stronger futures? The role of social protection in reducing psychological risk factors for child development in Haiti," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Desai, Raj M. & Olofsgård, Anders, 2019. "Can the poor organize? Public goods and self-help groups in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 33-52.
    2. Sanjit Dhami & Emma Manifold & Ali al‐Nowaihi, 2021. "Identity and Redistribution: Theory and Evidence," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(350), pages 499-531, April.
    3. Bratton, Michael, 2013. "Measuring Government Performance in Public Opinion Surveys in Africa: Towards Experiments?," WIDER Working Paper Series 023, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Berman, Eli & Callen, Michael & Gibson, Clark C. & Long, James D. & Rezaee, Arman, 2019. "Election fairness and government legitimacy in Afghanistan," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 292-317.
    5. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Khemani, Stuti & Walton, Michael, 2011. "Civil Society, Public Action and Accountability in Africa," Working Paper Series rwp11-036, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    6. Michael Bratton, 2013. "Measuring Government Performance in Public Opinion Surveys in Africa: Towards Experiments?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-023, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Clayton,Amanda & Noveck,Jennifer Lynn & Levi,Margaret, 2015. "When elites meet : decentralization, power-sharing, and public goods provision in post-conflict Sierra Leone," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7335, The World Bank.
    8. Cilliers, Jacobus & Dube, Oeindrila & Siddiqi, Bilal, 2015. "The white-man effect: How foreigner presence affects behavior in experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 397-414.
    9. Malte Lierl, 2016. "Social sanctions and informal accountability: Evidence from a laboratory experiment," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 28(1), pages 74-104, January.
    10. Anthony Edo & Nicolas Jacquemet & Constantine Yannelis, 2019. "Language skills and homophilous hiring discrimination: Evidence from gender and racially differentiated applications," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 349-376, March.
    11. Klaus Desmet & Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín & Romain Wacziarg, 2009. "The political economy of ethnolinguistic cleavages," Working Papers 2009-17, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    12. Hanne Fjelde & Desirée Nilsson, 2018. "The rise of rebel contenders," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 55(5), pages 551-565, September.
    13. Ciccone, Antonio, 2018. "International Commodity Prices and Civil War Outbreak: New Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa and Beyond," CEPR Discussion Papers 12625, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Gerring, John & Thacker, Strom C. & Lu, Yuan & Huang, Wei, 2015. "Does Diversity Impair Human Development? A Multi-Level Test of the Diversity Debit Hypothesis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 166-188.
    15. Tiziano Arduini & Eleonora Patacchini & Edoardo Rainone, 2014. "Identification and Estimation of Outcome Response with Heterogeneous Treatment Externalities," EIEF Working Papers Series 1407, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Sep 2014.
    16. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Medhin, Haileselassie, 2020. "Leader turnover and forest management outcomes: Micro-level evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    17. Letrouit,Lucie Michele Maya & Selod,Harris, 2020. "Trust or Property Rights ? Can Trusted Relationships Substitute for Costly Land Registration in West African Cities ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9310, The World Bank.
    18. Anke Hoeffler & Patricia Justino, 2024. "Aid and fragile states," Chapters, in: Raj M. Desai & Shantayanan Devarajan & Jennifer L. Tobin (ed.), Handbook of Aid and Development, chapter 14, pages 225-246, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Alberto Chong & Gianmarco León‐Ciliotta & Vivian Roza & Martín Valdivia & Gabriela Vega, 2019. "Urbanization Patterns, Information Diffusion, and Female Voting in Rural Paraguay," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(2), pages 323-341, April.
    20. Schultz, Bill, 2020. "Resource management and joint-planning in fragmented societies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:127:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x19304681. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.