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Researching Peace, Conflict, and Power in the Field pp 259–280Cite as

The Benefits and Challenges of Randomized Control Trials in Conflict Environments: Reflections From a Scholar-Practitioner

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Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS))

Abstract

A greater proportion of international aid spending is targeted towards conflict-affected and fragile environments. Concurrently, donors have higher standards for evidence of what programs are effective. The combination of these two trends provides social psychologists with ample opportunity to understand whether and under what conditions some core theories, such as the contact hypothesis and social identity theory, apply in the field. However, rigorously evaluating the effectiveness of development programs in conflict environments, particularly peacebuilding programs, through Randomized Control Trials (RCTs), comes with numerous challenges. These include (1) insecurity and consistent access to populations; (2) ethics of randomization especially, during a humanitarian crisis; and (3) how to maintain the integrity of a program and research design within a changing context. As a result, implementers are often resistant to conducting RCTs. Based on my experience as a scholar-practitioner, I describe the benefits of RCTs that implementers may be unaware of, such as how RCTs help disentangle the impacts of the program from the changing context, as well as how to address the most common concerns of implementers. The hope is that by better understanding and addressing implementers’ concerns, researchers will have more opportunities to rigorously test programs and theories, simultaneously improving theory and peacebuilding and development interventions globally.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    When I use “we” in this chapter, I’m referring to my colleagues at Mercy Corps and/or other research collaborators.

  2. 2.

    The herders we worked with migrated regularly.

  3. 3.

    There are also donor considerations that often affect this decision, which I describe below.

  4. 4.

    A potential downside of this approach for some people may be the seemingly lack of independence between the implementers and researchers. This is a risk, however, given how much data is often collected by implementers that is not used effectively, and with a bit more investment people could learn so much more, it feels worth investing in these studies in under less than ideal conditions.

  5. 5.

    I believe some form of payment, whether in cash or in kind, should be standard for all implementers when collecting data. People’s time is valuable. It may also help implementers be more intentional about how they use the data they collect given the added cost.

  6. 6.

    The early stages of the conflict in the Central Africa Republic were a rare example of when peacebuilding and humanitarian programs were being implemented simultaneously.

  7. 7.

    RCTs on unconditional cash transfers have largely been studied in more stable contexts, not in the midst of conflict (Blattman et al. 2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Rebecca Wolfe

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  1. Rebecca Wolfe
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Correspondence to Rebecca Wolfe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

    Yasemin Gülsüm Acar

  2. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Sigrun Marie Moss

  3. Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA

    Özden Melis Uluğ

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Wolfe, R. (2020). The Benefits and Challenges of Randomized Control Trials in Conflict Environments: Reflections From a Scholar-Practitioner. In: Acar, Y.G., Moss, S.M., Uluğ, Ö.M. (eds) Researching Peace, Conflict, and Power in the Field. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44113-5_14

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