i am road-testing a few ideas from the conclusion of my thesis, in which i try to bring out two themes recurring throughout the analyses on adoption and implementation of the phase I pilot of the amfm in ghana, between 2010 and 2012. these themes are ownership and risk-taking. i have already written a bitContinue reading “tentative thoughts on ownership: work-in-progress”
Tag Archives: Research
nice paragraph on local leadership
though i have read several of david booth‘s papers on country ownership, i appreciate craig valters pointing me (conversation here) to booth’s joint work with sue unsworth on doing development in ways that are politically smart and locally led. the whole paper is worth a read. this paragraph stood out: the question of local leadershipContinue reading “nice paragraph on local leadership”
Brief Thought on Commitment-To-Analysis Plans
First, I am starting a small campaign to push towards calling ‘pre-analysis plans’ something else before the train gets too far from the station. Something like ‘commitment to analysis plans’ or ‘commitment to analysis and reporting plans.’ I have two reasons for this. PAP just isn’t a super acronym; it’s kind of already taken. IContinue reading “Brief Thought on Commitment-To-Analysis Plans”
Thinking More About Using Personas/Personae In Developing Theories of Change
I have previously advocated, here (and here), for taking a ‘persona’ or character-based approach to fleshing out a theory of change. This is a way of involving a variety of stakeholders (especially those closer to the ground, such as intended beneficiaries and street-level implementer’s) in discussions about program and theory of change development — evenContinue reading “Thinking More About Using Personas/Personae In Developing Theories of Change”
Back to Basics — Trusting Whether and How The Data are Collected and Coded
This is a tangential response to the lacour and #lacourgate hubbub (with hats off to the summaries and views given here and here). While he is not implicated in all of the comments, below, I am mostly certainly indebted to Mike Frick for planting the seed of some of the ideas presented below, particularly onContinue reading “Back to Basics — Trusting Whether and How The Data are Collected and Coded”
Thinking About Building Evaluation Ownership, Theories of Change — Back From Canadian Evaluation Society
This week I had the pleasure of attending the Canadian Evaluation Society (#EvalC2015) meeting in Montreal, which brought together a genuinely nice group of people thinking not just hard a-boot evaluation strategies and methodologies but also how evaluation can contribute to better and more transparent governance, improving our experience as global and national citizens —Continue reading “Thinking About Building Evaluation Ownership, Theories of Change — Back From Canadian Evaluation Society”
Oops, Got Long-Winded About ‘Median Impact Narratives’
*A revised version of this post is also available here. I finally got around to reading a post that had been flagged to me awhile ago, written by Bruce Wydick. While I don’t think the general idea of taking sampling and representatives seriously is a new one, the spin of a ‘median narrative’ may beContinue reading “Oops, Got Long-Winded About ‘Median Impact Narratives’”
Something to Ponder: Cataloging The Evaluations Undertaken in a Country
Working my way through “Demand for and supply of evaluations in selected Sub-Saharan African countries,” which is a good read. there are several great points to note and consider but just one that i want to highlight here: In no country was there a comprehensive library of evaluations that had been undertaken [there]. This seemsContinue reading “Something to Ponder: Cataloging The Evaluations Undertaken in a Country”
What Does It Mean To Do Policy Relevant Evaluation?
A different version of this post appears here. For several months, I have intended to write a post about what it actually means to do research that is ‘policy relevant,’ as it seems to be a term that researchers can self-ascribe* to their work without stating clearly what this entails or if it is anContinue reading “What Does It Mean To Do Policy Relevant Evaluation?”
“Politically Robust” Experimental Design in Democracies and a Plea For More Experience Sharing
Sometimes I re-read a paper and remember how nice a sentence or paragraph was (especially when thinking that a benevolent or benign dictator might make research so much easier, as though easy was the main goal of research). So it is with the paper by Gary King and colleagues (2007) on “a ‘politically robust’ experimentalContinue reading ““Politically Robust” Experimental Design in Democracies and a Plea For More Experience Sharing”
Heather E. Lanthorn 