New Approaches to Cross-Cultural research on Education’s Outcomes amongst the Poor: Reflections on RECOUP’s Methodology

The Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty (RECOUP) is entrusted with the task of conducting research in Ghana, Kenya, India and Pakistan and ascertaining the impact of education on the citizens while also highlighting policy implications of the results derived from research. This paper sheds on the three main analytical approaches applied by RECOUP on human and social outcomes namely Q-squared, mixed methods and nested case studies. The paper highlights the salient features and the challenges of the approaches in combing qualitative and quantitative methods of research and states that benefits of the approach can be realized through careful research design.

The study indicates the complexities of conducting multidisciplinary cross-country research program such as heavy reliance on national statistical data, varying cultural norms and language conventions hinder the ability to generate reliable comparative statistics and these suggest that qualitative methods are not sufficient for an in-depth analysis. The study recognizes that formulating a synthesis across different cultures and methods is a complex and challenging task which requires immense effort on behalf of the team. It concludes that knowledgeable interpretation by social anthropologist and application of disciplinary skills can allow better analysis of results and enable data to be interpreted in wider economic context.