A.I.D. Program Design and Evaluation Methodology Report No. 13

Experience with data collection and analysis for development projects and programs suggests that many widely used, rigorous data collection methods, particularly large sample surveys, censuses, and detailed ethnographic descriptions, are not always the most appropriate for generating information for project and program planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Such methods require considerable investments of time and resources and tend to generate data that are often to elaborate for their intended purposes. As a result, there has been growing interest in the use of less rigorous methods that can provide timely information in a cost-effective fashion. The Center for Development Information and Evaluation has identified five such methods--community/group interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, informal surveys, and rapid direct observation, and has been preparing a series off guidelines, papers, and case studies on each of them. We have already published two monographs on this subject. The first, entitled Rapid, Low-Cost Data Collection Methods for A.I.D., discusses the nature, uses, advantages, and limitations of these methods and provides general guidance for preparing the scopes o f work for them. The second, Conducting Group Interviews in Developing Countries, gives extensive practical guidance for conducting community/group interviews and focus group discussions. The present publication, the third in the series, focuses on key information interviews