Implementation research in action: the nuts and bolts of feedback loops

Group Submission Type: Workshop

Description of Session

Ever wondered how the people who talk about using implementation research to scale what works in foundational learning actually do it? How do they decide on a question to answer? How do they set up to answer it? And once they have data how do they interpret the answer and its implications for action that will continue with a new loop of learning? This workshop will dig into these important and often opaque steps in conducting implementation research and using the evidence that it produces to inform and improve action.

Hands-on activities will offer participants first-hand experience in exploring assumptions underlying foundational learning interventions (deciding the question), designing implementation research (setting up to answer it) and interpreting the findings and their implications for next steps (using the data to set up the next feedback loop).

The workshop’s 18 presenters come from institutions large and small that are using implementation research to hone evidence-based foundational learning efforts. Their number will offer a diverse range of experiences and ensure that everyone learns directly from an expert and makes personal connections to take the work of implementation research forward.

Presenters will share concrete examples of their own implementation research in action and invite participants to try out each of these three steps in the process. Participants will hear examples of how organizations worked to find the right question and the right and wrong turns that they took in getting there. Then, participants will engage with a real-world example and try their own hand at devising a question and an answer to that question that can inform action. Next, participants will learn about a range of design options for answering questions about implementation and work together to design a way to answer an example question. Finally, they will hear about efforts to interpret the evidence and plan for its use – challenges and lessons and pitfalls to avoid. Then participants will try a recent example themselves using real world data and ultimately learn what direction the organization chose and why. Along the way they will work in small groups - each guided by one of the IR practitioners - to learn together about the nuts and bolts of IR. They will connect with experienced colleagues and join a growing network of evidence users focused on how to make foundational learning for all a reality.

Through these activities, participants will learn from and experiment with the support of implementation research practitioners. At the very least they will gain an understanding of these steps that we often don’t see and at most they will gain the confidence to try it themselves and be a potential workshop presenter at a future CIES!

The workshop is designed for a maximum of 75 participants (in addition to the 18 presenters/facilitators named below) and will last 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Sub Unit

• Book Launches and Workshops / Workshop

Chair

• Amy Jo Dowd, Brink Foundation

Workshop Organizer

• Amy Jo Dowd, Brink Foundation

Presenters

• Marla Spivack, The World Bank Group

• Silvia Diazgranados, International Rescue Committee

• Anustup Nayak, Central Square Foundation

• Sharnic Djaker

• Thomas Dreesen, UNICEF

• Lea Simpson, Brink

• Whitney Warren, Building Tomorrow

• Sharon Schroen, VVOB - education for development

• Angelica Towne Amporo, Meerkat Learning

• Ee-Reh Owo, Justice Rising International

• Elizabeth Adelman, FHI 360

• Noah B Yarrow, The World Bank