Background and Introduction

Most Ph.D. students are conversant with both quantitative and qualitative methods, having taken research methods courses or seminars. These courses are mainly framed within specific disciplinary focus of particular PhD programmes generally provide good grounding of concepts, types of research designs and data analysis methods. There is also a strong focus (especially for social sciences) on qualitative research methods. The main research gap usually arises when employing a mixed-method approach. The research skills students have been oriented to (especially on quantitative methods) are also largely theoretical (introduction to statistical concepts). The students can benefit from a practical orientation.

In this regard, the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) and the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA) have launched a series of “Research Methods Training” for PhD Students to address some of these gaps.

The inaugural proposed session seeks to provide training in the following areas:

·      Impact evaluation empirical methods and analytical techniques

·       How to collect quality primary data for PhD thesis

·         Probability Sampling techniques

·         How to devise a coding system for data analysis?

·         Costs and sensitivity analysis

·         Making comparisons, sampling, and treatment effects through Randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

·         Qualitative evaluation techniques 

·         Approaches to Impact Evaluation for Public Policy

This training is open to PhD students preparing to collect and analyse data. Subsequent sessions will be communicated across NIERA and PASGR’s online platforms in due course. 

The training was facilitated by NIERA's Chairperson Prof. Amos Njuguna and PASGR Executive Director Dr. Anthony Mveyange.