As researchers in international development, we often hear colleagues
describe 100- to 200-question surveys that take hours to administer. We
have heard many stories in which a boss or donor says, “While we have
the farmers in the room, why not ask a few more questions? We might use
that data in the future.” We’ve also seen plenty of rigorous studies
produce results that sit on the proverbial shelf and we’ve heard
communities ask, “Why do you keep asking us the same questions every
year, and what have you done with the data?”
These stories and others led us to begin reimagining the research
process. What if research participants enjoyed the experience and found
it valuable? What if we asked questions that were relevant to
participants? What if the data were actually used to make decisions? And
what if we reduced the burden and waste in the research process?
Lean research, led by
MIT D-Lab, the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and
Root Capital,
is creating a space for researchers to address these questions and
conduct research that is not only rigorous, but also respectful,
relevant and right-sized. Lean research is a framework to guide field
research in the contexts of international development and humanitarian
work. Drawing from human-centered design, participatory research and
lean production, it emphasizes the following principles, what we call
“the four Rs”:
- Rigor: Follow good research practices for your discipline or field of practice
- Respect: Maximize the value of the experience and
outputs for research subjects and stakeholders, including creating an
opportunity for them to enjoy the experience, reject participation in
the study and review and refute findings
- Relevance: Address priority issues for
stakeholders, including research subjects, and produce results that are
understandable, accessible and actionable
- Right-sizing: Use only the protocols, “human subjects” and resources necessary to collect data that informs decisions
When used as a guiding framework, these four principles have the
potential to improve the quality and accuracy of the data gathered by
social enterprises and other organizations, increase the usefulness of
the data and enable the research process to generate benefits for
communities, including improved relationships with local stakeholders
and greater access to data for decision-making.
A shift in thinking and a movement underfoot
The case for lean research is supported by evidence from both the literature and practitioner experiences. The
Lean Research Working Paper and the Root Capital working paper
“A ‘Client-Centric’ Approach: Impact Evaluation that Creates Value for Participants”
provide examples and a strong case for why this approach is necessary.
There has also been a shift in the international development field to
emphasize lean or right-fit monitoring, evaluation and research through
Acumen’s Lean Data Initiative and
Innovations for Poverty Action’s Goldilocks Project.
Indeed, a lean research community of practice has been developing over
the past two years. It includes over 120 researchers, practitioners,
donors, monitoring and evaluation specialists, and policymakers, who are
eager to collaborate and flesh out the details of the lean approach.
They have seen or participated in too many three-hour-long interviews
with farmers during harvest time, which produced results that were never
used. They want to change the way research is conducted.
What about this is “lean”?
Although lean research is loosely related to other branches of lean, such as
lean experimentation
and lean start-up methodology, the practice of lean production is where
we find our inspiration. Lean production, as pioneered by Toyota Motor
Corp. in the 1950s and 1960s, organizes the production process around
the knowledge and needs of the workers who are most directly involved in
the process “on the floor.” Working in flexible teams with rotating and
equally valued roles, workers are empowered to make decisions that
improve their ability to do their work. Those closest to the issues
resolve problems, while those at higher levels play a supporting role.
This orientation enables insights from those in the production process
to drive continual improvement—eliminating the unnecessary, reducing
errors, and creating the “leanest” path towards production of a
high-quality result.
Applied toward the research process, a “lean”
approach involves placing the people most directly involved in the
production of new insights—the research participants, the enumerators,
the field workers—at the center of the research design and
decision-making. This approach values the contributions of stakeholders
and creates a process that is flexible enough to respond to their
insights on how the experience can be improved.
Isn’t this just good participatory research?
The concepts at the heart of lean research have been driving
improvements in manufacturing, design, research and entrepreneurship for
several decades. In development research, methods such as Participatory
Rural Appraisal, which engage communities as co-producers of knowledge
rather than research “subjects,” have been used since the 1970s. Social
science also has a rich tradition of participatory action research,
which emphasizes producing research outputs that are relevant to and
used by communities. However, most mainstream development research
continues to view research subjects as sources of data rather than true
collaborators. Lean research draws on participatory research,
human-centered design and lean production, which have operated in
relative isolation, and brings them together into a simple and coherent
framework that provides practical guidance on how to improve field
research.
Are there examples of Lean Research in practice?
A growing number of our peers have been experimenting with applying
these principles to their research. For example, Root Capital, a
nonprofit social investor that lends to farmer cooperatives, includes
research questions from their clients in the impact evaluations that
staff members conduct. In this way, evaluations designed to generate
performance data for staff also provide useful data to client businesses
to help them to improve their operations. At MIT D-Lab, researchers
examining the adoption of improved cookstoves are using sensors to track
stove usage and indoor air pollution, which reduces survey length and
frequency, thereby decreasing the burden on the research subjects. In
another study, D-Lab researchers are incorporating activities such as a
dinner or dancing and using market techniques like projective methods
(projecting subconscious needs onto an image) to make the research
experience more fun and engaging. These are just some of the examples we
are gathering from the community of practice.
Are there examples of Lean Research in practice?
A growing number of our peers have been experimenting with applying
these principles to their research. For example, Root Capital, a
nonprofit social investor that lends to farmer cooperatives, includes
research questions from their clients in the impact evaluations that
staff members conduct. In this way, evaluations designed to generate
performance data for staff also provide useful data to client businesses
to help them to improve their operations. At MIT D-Lab, researchers
examining the adoption of improved cookstoves are using sensors to track
stove usage and indoor air pollution, which reduces survey length and
frequency, thereby decreasing the burden on the research subjects. In
another study, D-Lab researchers are incorporating activities such as a
dinner or dancing and using market techniques like projective methods
(projecting subconscious needs onto an image) to make the research
experience more fun and engaging. These are just some of the examples we
are gathering from the community of practice.
How can I participate?
There is still much work to be done to develop the lean research
approach. To provide initial guidance, MIT and Tufts have created a
Lean Research Framework and
working paper. We are also collaborating with Root Capital, the
Committee on Sustainability Assessment and the
Sustainable Food Lab to create a practitioner’s field guide, which will include many examples of lean research in practice.
We invite you to contribute to this growing body of evidence in
several ways. If you have examples that exemplify “lean” or “un-lean”
research, share them with us in the comments section following this
blog. If you haven’t started to apply lean research to your work but
want to try, please take a look at the
Guiding Questions in the
Lean Research framework,
pick one or two changes you want to make, try them out and share your
experience with us. You can engage in the community of practice by emailing us at kofestotech@gmail.com
