Category Archives: Research

the onion theory of communication (doing surveys)

without too much detail, i’ll just note that i spent more time in the hospital in undergrad than i would have preferred. often times, i, being highly unintelligent, would wait until things got really bad and then finally decide one night it was time to visit the ER – uncomfortable but not non-functional or incoherent.ContinueContinue reading “the onion theory of communication (doing surveys)”

Mo money, mo problems? AMF does not make Givewell’s top-three for 2013 #giving season

This blog is a cross-post with Suvojit. Update 21 December: the conversation has also continued here. Recently, Givewell has revised its recommendation on one of its previously top-ranked ‘charities,’ the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF), which focuses on well-tracked distributions of bednets.  Givewell “find[s] outstanding giving opportunities and publish the full details of our analysis toContinueContinue reading “Mo money, mo problems? AMF does not make Givewell’s top-three for 2013 #giving season”

adapted writing guide, a few thoughts on writing and pedagogy

i just spent some time summarizing and adapting someone else’s adaptation of someone else’s guide to writing (specifically for ethics and philosophy but many of the points apply more generally). i have attached it in case it is of use! i am now assisting with this particular ethics course for the first time. it was therefore no longerContinueContinue reading “adapted writing guide, a few thoughts on writing and pedagogy”

back (and forward) from ‘the big push forward’ – thoughts on why evidence is political and what to do about it

i spent the beginning of the week in brighton at the ‘big push forward’ conference, on the politics of evidence (#evpolitics) which mixed the need for venting and catharsis (about the “results agenda” and “results-based management” and “impact evaluation”) with some productive conversation, though no immediate concreteness on how the evidence from the conference would itself beContinueContinue reading “back (and forward) from ‘the big push forward’ – thoughts on why evidence is political and what to do about it”

here’s an idea — if they are trying to tell you something, make it easy for them to do so.

there’s been a good deal of press around the unfortunately insignificant results of a major HIV prevention trial with products for women in south africa, uganda and zimbabwe. the results had little to do with efficacy of the products (a pill and a gel) but rather with the fact that most of the participating women did notContinueContinue reading “here’s an idea — if they are trying to tell you something, make it easy for them to do so.”

question: why do well-educated people from sub-Saharan Africa often seem not to have taken any courses in African history?

i admit that i am working from an n of 2, purposively selected from Ghana and Nigeria. nevertheless, it seems worth asking, how is national history *not* part of the standard middle or high school curriculum, insofar as knowing history is an important part of educating citizens?

causes, explanations, & getting stuff done

@edwardcarr, i also have a confession, which is that i have a small crush on you right now for the post in which you make a confession about causality and try to disentangle causes, mechanisms, and information that can be used to understand, revamp, and scale programs. i’d like to try to tweak the argument, especially in lightContinueContinue reading “causes, explanations, & getting stuff done”

‘where the streets have no name’

that’s the title of a short article in the jan/feb 2013 atlantic– and i couldn’t think of a better one. i have written previously about the joys of getting and giving directions in lower-income countries – specifically for research and household follow-up, although the general taxi/auto/tuk-tuk stories of trying to reach any specific location purposefully are equally funContinueContinue reading “‘where the streets have no name’”

diwali and drugs – lessons from drug sales in india

as, you know, possibly from watching The Colbert Report, it’s dwali. as stephan and wikipedia note, diwali is the festival of lights or lamps.  being in india – or at least chennai – however, one might be hard-pressed to think that it was not the festival of sound (also, sweet pongal).  firecrackers – or ‘crackers’ – playContinueContinue reading “diwali and drugs – lessons from drug sales in india”