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Anthropology and impact evaluation: a critical commentary

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 20:31 authored by Elizabeth HarrisonElizabeth Harrison
Quantitative and quasi-experimental methods have become popular in the evaluation of development impact. In response, several commentators have argued for more effective use of ‘mixed methods’. This paper engages with, and builds upon, this current criticism of more quantitatively based impact evaluation from the disciplinary perspective of anthropology. Focusing on one specific evaluation, of an irrigation project in Malawi, it asks what was missed and what was misunderstood in the quantitative focus that was adopted. The paper then reflects on the wider question that is raised of how particular methods and perspectives can take centre stage and produce apparent ‘truths’ even in the face of evidence pointing in opposite directions. The overall argument is that this is a matter of the politics of knowledge production and of how particular disciplinary perspectives may come to dominate.

Funding

Innovations to Promote Growth among Small-scale Irrigators in Africa: An Ethnographic and Knowledge-Exchange Approach; G0983; ESRC-ECONOMIC & SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL; ES/J009415/1

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Development Effectiveness

ISSN

1943-9342

Publisher

Routledge

Issue

2

Volume

7

Page range

146-159

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-04-09

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-08-30

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-08-30

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