IA Step 3

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c. IA Step 3

d. IA Step 4

e. IA Step 5

f. IA Step 6

III. Resources

microLINKS Enterprise Development Pages

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Prepare a Research Plan.

The research plan should include the causal model of the impact assessment and a practical plan for carrying out the study. The causal model is used to generate a set of hypotheses about outcomes and impacts that will be tested in the study. Typically, impacts of several different types will be anticipated at three levels:

In the value chains and markets involved, including product markets and sometimes also supporting markets for inputs, business services, and/or finance
Among participating MSEs
In the households associated with participating MSEs

Once testable hypotheses have been identified, the next step is to define measurable indicators that can be used to determine whether impact has been achieved. After that, sources of information for measuring the indicators must be identified. In the quasi-experimental approach (see definitions below), a longitudinal survey serves as an important source of information for determining whether there is impact at the MSE and household levels. This involves selecting a sample of project participants (explicitly defined in a manner consistent with the project’s structure and approach) and matching it with a sample of non-participants who are as similar as possible to the project participants in all relevant characteristics (the control group). This must be done carefully to minimize the effect of selection bias—the tendency for people who would have done better anyway to become project participants—which leads to overstatement of the project’s impact. In a quasi-experimental impact assessment, the two groups of survey respondents form a panel that will be interviewed at least twice, with a minimum interval of two years between survey rounds. To allow for attrition in the sample between rounds, over-sampling is required in the baseline round. In an experimental assessment, the two groups are selected at random and then interviewed just once at the conclusion of the study.

The survey is the quantitative part of the impact assessment. It can be combined with qualitative research to get a richer view of impact at the MSE and household levels, as well as to obtain some idea of what the project’s impact is at the value chain and market levels. At these higher levels, finding a satisfactory control group is likely to be difficult if not impossible, so impact cannot be proven so definitely as at the MSE and household levels. The qualitative research consists of a project of structured interviews, focus group discussions, and other qualitative methods with persons who participate in various ways in the relevant value chains and markets. Their views and insights are then triangulated in an attempt to get a coherent picture of the structure of the markets concerned and changes over time that may be attributable to project activities.

The research plan should also include detailed specifications for the questions to be asked on the survey questionnaire and guidelines for the interviews and focus group discussions.

The PSDIAI team has produced the following examples of research plans:

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