Links between research and development are continuously evolving. They are becoming more important in agriculture, agroforestry and rural development as demand intensifies for large-scale transformation of livelihoods through development initiatives that are built on sound evidence. Recent research indicates that the performance of technical and social options intended to effect transformation depend on the context in which they are applied, and that those contexts vary at fine scale. This means that we rarely find simple solutions that can be scaled up to large areas and numbers of people without adaptation to local circumstances. At the same time, it is not feasible with the resources available to conduct research 'everywhere' and with ‘everyone’. This puts us on the horns of a fundamental dilemma in which we need research results at scale but have conventional research approaches that are not able to provide them. We show here that this dilemma can be partially resolved by embedding research in development activity. An important method for achieving this is through use of ‘planned comparisons’. Conventional monitoring and evaluation of development projects uses a retrospective approach to try to learn from what has happened in the past. We propose a more efficient prospective approach, in which comparisons of options and contexts are planned as part of development activity. Research results are generated through minor modifications to development activities rather than from distinct research work streams. This facilitates co-learning amongst researchers, development professionals and beneficiaries. Here, principles for design of planned comparisons are presented along with a generic process for implementing them.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5716/WP17354.PDFAltmetric score:
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Publication year
2017
Authors
Hughes, K.A.; Sola, P.; Sinclair, F.; Coe, R.
Language
English
