Reflections on Research Partnerships in Mixed Methods Impact Evaluations

• In Event: The politics of knowledge production in international partnerships: Ethical dilemmas in North-South research

Abstract

“Rigorous impact evaluation” of education programs has become commonplace in the field of comparative and international education. International funding agencies, including multilateral, bilateral, and philanthropic foundations, now require impact evaluations of their programs. In this presentation, we will discuss the impact evaluation of the alternative secondary education program Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial, a program that operates in several countries in Latin America that was created by FUNDAEC, an NGO based in Cali, Colombia. One of the guiding principles of the SAT program is that “the power that can ultimately raise humanity from its present condition is the power of knowledge.” What is the potential of impact evaluation to advance knowledge? Here, we examine the experience of our collaboration and the tensions that emerged during our work on the impact evaluation of SAT (Erin Murphy-Graham was the Principal Investigator, Bita Correa is a staff member at FUNDAEC). This case study raises important questions regarding the transformative potential of research collaborations and impact evaluations.

Authors

• Erin Murphy-Graham, University of California-Berkeley

• Bita Correa, Fundacion para la Enseñanza de las Ciencias (FUNDAEC)