All across the social sciences, from development economics to political science departments, researchers are going into the field to collect data and learn about the world. While much has been gained from the successes of randomized controlled trials, stories of failed projects often do not get told. This book delves into the common causes of failure in field research, so that researchers might avoid similar pitfalls in future work. Drawing on the experiences of top social scientists working in developing countries, the book investigates failed projects and helps guide practitioners as they em ... More

All across the social sciences, from development economics to political science departments, researchers are going into the field to collect data and learn about the world. While much has been gained from the successes of randomized controlled trials, stories of failed projects often do not get told. This book delves into the common causes of failure in field research, so that researchers might avoid similar pitfalls in future work. Drawing on the experiences of top social scientists working in developing countries, the book investigates failed projects and helps guide practitioners as they embark on their research. From experimental design and implementation to analysis and partnership agreements, the book shows that there are important lessons to be learned from failures at every stage. The book describes five common categories of failures, reviews six case studies in detail, and concludes with some reflections on best (and worst) practices for designing and running field projects, with an emphasis on randomized controlled trials. There is much to be gained from investigating what has previously not worked, from misunderstandings by staff to errors in data collection. Cracking open the taboo subject of the stumbles that can take place in the implementation of research studies, this is a valuable ‘how-not-to’ handbook for conducting fieldwork and running randomized controlled trials in development settings.