FIELD & METHOD NOTES
Three principles
that shape our work.
These notes reflect choices that repeatedly shape research quality. Each one is written to be useful to programme teams, evaluators, commissioners and field partners - not only research specialists.
FIELD QUALITY
The fieldwork plan is part of the research design.
Sampling and questionnaire logic matter, but so do interviewer allocation, respondent access, supervision, escalation and the rules for resolving field issues.
Open note ↓
A technically sound instrument can still produce weak evidence if field delivery is treated as a logistics exercise. Good planning defines who is responsible for each stage, how quality is observed while data are being collected, what triggers a query or back-check, and how deviations are documented. This becomes especially important in multi-country work, where local adaptation is necessary but uncontrolled variation can undermine comparability.
BASELINE & ENDLINE
Comparability starts before the first interview.
Baseline and endline studies only work together when definitions, sampling logic, tools and implementation conditions are documented consistently.
Open note ↓
The endline should not have to reconstruct what the baseline meant. Indicator definitions, eligibility rules, sample frames, translations, skip logic and field protocols should be documented from the beginning. Where the design changes, the change should be explicit so analysts can distinguish real movement from methodological differences between waves.
MULTI-COUNTRY RESEARCH
Local adaptation should not become methodological drift.
Country teams need room to work with language, access and social context. They also need a common methodological spine.
Open note ↓
The practical challenge is to define what is fixed and what can flex. Core questions, indicator definitions, sample logic, ethics requirements and quality thresholds may remain standard, while recruitment routes, local examples, field schedules and respondent-engagement protocols adapt to context. That distinction should be agreed before launch, not improvised market by market.