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Session Submission Summary

Raising the Bar for Education Research: Guidance for Increased Rigor in Assessing and Generating Evidence

Sun, March 8, 2:30 to 5:30pm, Washington Hilton, Floor: 2nd, B

Session Submission Type: Workshop

Description of Session

OBJECTIVES, MAIN QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED:
This session offers an opportunity to explore a set of forthcoming Guidance Notes--Assessing the Strength of Evidence (ASE) in the Education Sector and Generating Evidence in the Education Sector--that aim to increase the rigor in the production and use of evidence in education policy and programming. The Guidance Notes have been developed by the Department for International Development (DfID) and the World Bank Group on behalf of Building Evidence in Education (BE2). The workshop will include the presentation of both notes, which will be followed by a moderated discussion, as well as small group sessions led by DfID, the World Bank Group, USAID, other BE2 members and academics.

The critical goal of increased evidence use is to ensure inclusiveness, equity, and quality of education in developing contexts. Strong evidence is of central importance in informing policy and programming decisions across all agencies and organizations working with education systems in developing countries. Assessing the strength of evidence and conducting sound original research are challenging tasks and require analytical skills to judge research against agreed criteria. The Guidance Notes are designed to assist in accomplishing these tasks and provide a thorough introduction to methodology, critical issues, and important questions to raise. This will be useful in generating the evidence donors, policy makers and implementers need to make effective, efficient, and sustainable improvements in education systems in developing countries.

Building Evidence in Education (BE2) is a donor working group, launched in 2012, with the aim to engage bilateral and multilateral organizations and foundations committed to:
• increasing the quality of education research;
• promoting the use of evidence in education programming; and
• strengthening donor research collaboration.

These Guidance Notes will be an important component in the toolset for donors, implementers and researchers. The final reviewed draft documents will be made available for participants to provide comments and reflections.

TARGET AUDIENCE
• Academics, postgraduate researchers, and practitioners and implementers working in the field of education who are seeking to carry out rigorous research, and want to advocate for more critical standards in the sector.

INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS
• Confirm common understanding of what constitutes rigorous research.
• Provide technical feedback including the identification of potential gaps, as well as additional resources that will be beneficial for future Guidance Notes.
• Collect input on how these Guidance Notes can be disseminated to and used by various target audiences to ultimately ensure greater effectiveness of education programming to reach all children, especially those most marginalized, and create a more humanist education system.

PLANNED WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES
Rachel Hinton (DfID) will provide a summary of the Guidance Note on Assessing the Strength of Evidence in the Education Sector, including an introduction to:
• The appraisal of the quality of individual studies, and
• The assessment of the strength of bodies of evidence.
She will outline how this guide applies to research designs and methods used in social science research. The presentation will cover best practices and challenges in assessing quantitative and qualitative research.
Harry Patrinos (The World Bank) will offer a summary of the Generating Evidence in the Education Sector Guidance Note, including a thorough introduction to:
(a) The importance of sound research to inform education policy,
(b) The ways in which to design original research, and
(c) Issues to consider when generating evidence.
This will cover items such as:
• Deciding on the type of research, the type of research question, the definition of treatment, unit of analysis, design of intervention, indicators and data sources;
• Challenges that can occur when commissioning or undertaking rigorous research, e.g., attrition bias or randomization bias;
• Explaining how this tool can be used to avoid or control for these issues.

The discussants will provide technical feedback regarding the content and potential use of the Guidance Notes, both in academic environments and in the field.

Participants will then be able to choose between three activities in break-out groups:
1. Applying the contents of the Generating Evidence Guidance Note in the design of a hypothetical research project.
2. Applying the contents of the ASE Guidance Note on a sample research paper.
3. Identifying potential gaps and additional resources for the Guidance Notes; discussing uses and developing dissemination strategies taking into account different audiences.

Facilitators will participate in the discussions in a round table format.

The workshop will end with feedback from each of the break-out groups.

INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF:
Instruction Leaders:
Rachel Hinton, Senior Education Advisor, Research & Evidence Division, DfID; BE2 Steering Committee Member
Harry Patrinos, Manager, Education, The World Bank Group; BE2 Steering Committee Member
(BE2 was launched in 2012 with the aim to engage bilateral and multilateral organizations committed to: (a) Increasing the quality of education research; (b) Promoting the use of evidence in education programming; and (c) Strengthening donor research collaboration. The group is led by a Steering Committee composed of the Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and The World Bank Group.)

Chair:
Christine Beggs (Senior Education Advisor, Office of Education, USAID, BE2 Steering Committee Member)

Discussants:
Aaron Benavot (Director, Education for All Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO)
Suzanne Grant Lewis (Director, IIEP (International Institute for Educational Planning)
Najeeb Shafiq (Associate Professor of Education, Economics & International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh)

Additional Workshop Facilitators:
Laura Savage (Education Adviser, Education Research Team, DfID)
Maria Brindlmayer (BE2 Secretariat, JBS International, Inc.)


LIST OF EQUIPMENT OR ROOM SET UP REQUIREMENTS - AV:
• Projector and ability to connect a computer
• 4 flip-charts and markers
• Room set-up: round tables (approx. 8 people each)

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