Rewiring Evaluation: Approaches at the intersection of data science and evaluation

The presentation will begin by reviewing some of the major challenges facing current evaluation approaches. These include the limited capacity of most evaluation methods: collect the amount and variety of data required to evaluate large and complex programs operating a rapidly changing world; to evaluate complex programs; and to rapidly analyze vast quantities of diverse data. It will then discuss the ability of big data to address these kinds of problems, and will review some of the kinds of big data that can address these challenges, including: geospatial analysis, social media, phone call data records, mobile phones, electronic financial transaction records (ATM etc), the Internet of Things and the huge volumes of underutilized administrative data. Case studies will illustrate some real-world applications of these techniques.

The first part of this session will explore how the Indian context presents unique challenges and solutions to the adoption of data science for evaluation studies in the development sector. Taking into account data collection ethics that the post-COVID-19 era will necessitate, it will further emphasize how innovation and technology can pave the way for greater use of data science for evaluations in India. In the second part, we will explore the availability of new types of data and new techniques for analyzing existing and new data which are generating novel opportunities in the field of evaluation, specifically asking how this trend is influencing the practice of independent evaluation in multilateral (development banks, United Nations) and bilateral agencies in the field of international development.