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Displaying all posts under the topic of Research Methodology
September 6, 2012
“We’re actually pretty good at rocket science.”
The Curiosity rover’s Mars landing is only the most recent instance of the awe-inspiring advances made by the physical sciences. Our wonder at such achievements has even become codified in our language. “It’s not rocket science!” is the standard invocation to suggest a problem just requires common sense instead of the complex physics of, say, landing rovers on far-away planets. The phrase has been directed at everything from Social Security to healthcare, and yes, to poverty alleviation programs.
December 13, 2011
Making RCTs Better
This is the third (and I hope final for a while) post in a series on the standard critiques of randomized control trials (RCTs). The first post examined the External Validity Critique; the second took on the Transcendental Significance Critique.
September 29, 2011
Transcendental Significance Critique
This is the second of three posts addressing the standard critiques of RCTs. In the last post I addressed the External Validity Critique. In this post I’ll take up the Transcendental Significance Critique—or put a different way, the “It doesn’t matter anyway” critique.
September 20, 2011
Revisiting Objections to Randomized Control Trials
Within development and philanthropy circles, there seems to be a cycle of critique of randomized control trials in operation. Every few months a variety of posts and articles pop up discussing the limitations of RCTs attempting to make the point that RCTs are overhyped or at least substantially less useful than proponents assert.
August 17, 2011
Disproving and Confusing
I’m just beginning a year of much-awaited research time in Tokyo.
David Roodman is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he also blogs.
March 17, 2011
People Keep Asking: Does Microfinance Alleviate Poverty?
We've been reading a new summary of the literature on microcredit impacts. The paper reviews technical issues using technical language, so it's not the paper I'd read first as an introduction unless you're doing a PhD in Economics or something similar.
January 6, 2011
Is Microfinance Research as Bad as Medical Research?
This post was originally published on the CGAP blog.
Growing up in a small village in Ghana, Yaw Nyarko’s future as a Professor of Economics at New York University was hardly the obvious outcome.
For those of you who couldn’t attend Wednesday’s event, “Microfinance's Social Impact: Cutting through the Hype,” sponsored by the Microfinance Club of New York and hosted by FAI, here’s a recap.
The panel featured FAI’s Jonathan Morduch, David Roodman, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, Chris Dunford, President of Freedom from Hunger, and Jody Rasch from Moody’s Investors Service.