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Things you Wanted to Know about Bias in Evaluations but Never Dared to Think

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posted on 2024-09-06, 05:11 authored by Laura Camfield, Maren Duvendack, Richard Palmer?Jones
The thrust for evidence?based policymaking has paid little attention to problems of bias. Statistical evidence is more fragile than generally understood, and false positives are all too likely given the incentives of policymakers and academic and professional evaluators. Well?known cognitive biases make bias likely for not dissimilar reasons in qualitative and mixed methods evaluations. What we term delinquent organisational isomorphism promotes purportedly scientific evaluations in inappropriate institutional contexts, intensifying motivated reasoning and avoidance of cognitive dissonance. This leads to states of denial with regard to the validity of much evaluation activity. Independent replications, revisits and restudies, together with codes of ethics that relate to professional integrity, may mitigate these problems.

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© 2014 Institute of Development Studies

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Camfield, L., Duvendack, M. and Palmer?Jones, R. (2014) Things you Wanted to Know about Bias in Evaluations but Never Dared to Think. IDS Bulletin 45(6): 49-64

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IDS Bulletin Vol. 45 Nos. 6

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© 2013 The Author. IDS Bulletin © 2013 Institute of Development Studies

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    Volume 45. Issue 6: Rethinking Impact Evaluation for Development

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