Economics serving society

DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS IN THE FIELD - Surveys, Measurement, and Experiments

June 24 to June 28, 2024

PNG - 12.4 Mb

What are the pitfalls in designing a household survey? How to construct an experiment – and how lab-in-the-field methods can be used? What are practical challenges to field research, and how about research ethics? This program goes beyond traditional courses in development economics to help participants conduct high quality field research.

Ambitions:

The program aims at providing an overview of the challenges that researchers face when they do field work in the Global South. These challenges range from methodological questions about research design to ethical considerations. While these issues are central to the research carried out by development economists, they are rarely covered in traditional courses. Our program builds on the wide-ranging experience of PSE researchers doing field work. We will present practical and methodological tools that researchers can use to overcome those challenges.

Prerequisites:

Graduates in economics with strong empirical skills.

Main concepts/theories/software… learned during the program:

The Summer School covers the main questions raised by conducting field work in developing countries, from survey and experiment design, to tackling measurement and ethical challenges, as well as troubleshooting in the field.

  • Survey questionnaire design (Sylvie Lambert, 4.5 hours)
  • Designing and implementing experiments (Karen Macours, 4.5 hours)
  • Designing and implementing lab in the field experiments (Suanna Oh, 4.5 hours)
  • Measurement issues (Karen Macours and Denis Cogneau, 4.5 hours)
  • Collecting and using administrative data (Oliver Vanden Eynde, 3 hours)
  • Ethics (Sylvie Lambert, 3 hours)
  • Conducting evaluation in a development bank (Pierre Bachas, World Bank, 1.5 hours)

Skills acquired thanks to the program:

Participants will learn to effectively design a field project in a way that is appropriate to their research question.

How will MA and PhD students benefit from this program:

This program with give students the tool to collect their own data for their research projects.

How will professionals benefit from this program:

The program will improve the capacity of professionals in the aid and development sector to design field projects.

Two modes of participation are offered for the 2024 Edition:

  • In person, taking into account the highest health measures to protect the participants and professors. On site, our parisian campus offers teaching and logistics space: classrooms, teaching theater, garden, coffee and lunch breaks facilities...
  • Online, proposing interactive lectures in real time and, beyond, online office hours with professors to facilitate interactions. PSE offers technologies and process that will ensure high quality communication for online participants, both with professors and with other participants.
  • For all the participants, full sets of lecture notes and presentations will be made available, as well as the recordings of the courses.
  • This program is equivalent to 3 ECTS credits, which PSE validates.

Contents - Development economics in the field