Dissertation Grant: Social Science's Use of Controlled Field Experiments

论文资助：社会科学对受控现场实验的使用

基本信息

批准号：
1556343
负责人：
Steven Epstein
金额：
$ 1.25万
依托单位：
Northwestern University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2016-03-15 至 2018-02-28
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1556343&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Dissertation Grant Social Science Use

项目摘要

The project will examine how the adoption of randomized controlled field experiments became the "gold standard" of evidence and policy. It will address how they came to shift power relations among the donors, development economists, local ministries, and intended beneficiaries-turned-research participants. This project will study how field experiments came to be used to assess international economic development interventions. The project?s findings will help policy-makers to understand the kinds of technologies of evaluation that they fund and how these measure the outcomes of international economic development policy. This project will extend existing scholarship on the practices and politics of scientific knowledge by studying the middle ground between the laboratory and field sciences where randomized controlled field experiments impact evaluation to produce evidence for "what works" in foreign aid. Through archival, interview-based and ethnographic research, this project traces the history of the controlled field experiments to analyze when and why social scientists and development practitioners use them, how they construct viable experimental spaces and subjects, and the implications for foreign aid and its intended beneficiaries. This research will consider how foreign technical assistance acts on scientific knowledge; and the political and logistical struggle of creating credibility for their continued use. The project will contribute to increased public scientific literacy and engagement with social science, understanding between academia and policy makers, and improved training of graduate students.

该项目将研究如何采用随机对照现场实验成为证据和政策的“黄金标准”。它将解决他们如何转移捐助者，发展经济学家，当地部和预期受益人转变的研究参与者之间的权力关系。该项目将研究如何使用现场实验来评估国际经济发展干预措施。该项目的发现将帮助决策者了解他们资助的评估技术的种类，以及如何衡量国际经济发展政策的结果。该项目将通过研究实验室和现场科学之间的中间立场来扩展有关科学知识的实践和政治的现有奖学金，在该基础上，随机对照实地实验会影响评估，以为外国援助中的“有效”提供证据。通过档案，基于访谈的和人种学研究，该项目追踪了受控现场实验的历史，以分析社会科学家和发展从业人员何时以及为什么使用它们，如何构建可行的实验空间和主题以及对外国援助及其预期受益人的影响。这项研究将考虑外国技术援助如何对科学知识采取行动；以及为他们的继续使用创造信誉的政治和后勤斗争。该项目将有助于提高公共科学素养和与社会科学，学术界和政策制定者之间的理解以及改善研究生培训。