Pipeline Designs and Equipoise: How Can They Go Together?

I am writing about phase-in / pipeline designs. Again. I’ve already done it here. and more here. but. The premise of a pipeline or phase-in design is that groups will be randomized or otherwise experimentally allocated to receive a given intervention earlier or later. The ‘later’ group can then serve as the comparison for theContinue reading "Pipeline Designs and Equipoise: How Can They Go Together?"

How NOT to Interpret p-values

Pinned to my the bulletin board above my desk 🙂

On Science, from Eula Biss’s On Immunity

A nice reminder from Eula Biss (via On Immunity: An Inoculation) that science is a series of building blocks, with small tests and then bigger ones to see if each brick helps us reach higher and see farther. Science is, as scientists like to say, “self-correcting,” meaning that errors in preliminary studies are, ideally, revealedContinue reading "On Science, from Eula Biss’s On Immunity"

Center and Peripherary in Doing Development Differently

I have spent almost three weeks back in TX, which was supposed to be, in part, a time of immense productivity in front of our fireplace (yes, it is chilly here. Probably not enough to warrant a fire but still. I am sitting in front of the fireplace and paying for carbon credits to mitigateContinue reading "Center and Peripherary in Doing Development Differently"

Buffet of Champions: What Kind Do We Need for Impact Evaluations and Policy?

This post is also cross-posted here and here. I realize that the thesis of "we may need a new kind of champion" sounds like a rather anemic pitch for Guardians of the Galaxy. Moreover, it may lead to inflated hopes that i am going to propose that dance-offs be used more often to decide policyContinue reading "Buffet of Champions: What Kind Do We Need for Impact Evaluations and Policy?"

Hey, you’re sick? Can we know where you live? (simple experiments, complicated designs)

I have been working on a blog for 3ie (*now posted, here!), based on a Delhi seminar talk I gave recently, in turn based on this paper and this blog on using text messages to increase completion of anti-malarial treatment. Not all of the material I initially wrote will appear in the final blog --Continue reading "Hey, you’re sick? Can we know where you live? (simple experiments, complicated designs)"

That may not mean quite what you think it means: John Henry and Americana edition

Occasionally on this site, I try to provide some background on phrases and cliches in social science and global health (such as here and here). It is a small public service to help folks not be Sicilians yelling "inconceivable!" (or from starting land wars in Asia, if at all possible). Today, the John henry Effect.Continue reading "That may not mean quite what you think it means: John Henry and Americana edition"

Learning by asking: a modest proposal to engage those who did the doing

This post was originally published at Innovations for Poverty Action. it represents an effort to follow-through on some themes I have raised before and hope to continue to raise. Most development interventions are carried out and delivered by local research staff and residents. Such implementation is rarely a straightforward ‘technical’ operation but, rather, there isContinue reading "Learning by asking: a modest proposal to engage those who did the doing"

Things I have been told about my writing and presentation style in the recent(-ish) past

Just a small collection of not-really compliments: 1. You talk fast but it seems to work for you  -Steve Folmar 2. You use small words but it seems to work for you  -Derrick Matthews 3. You use run-on sentences but it seems to work for you  -Pop

Planning for qualitative data collection and analysis

This blog reflects conversations and on-going work with both Mike Frick (@mwfrick), Shagun Sabarwal (@shagunsabarwal), and Urmy Shukla (@urmy_shukla) -- they should receive no blame if this blog is wacky and plenty of credit if it is not. A recent post by monkey cage contributors on The Washington Post, then summarized by BITSS, asked/suggested whetherContinue reading "Planning for qualitative data collection and analysis"