field stories
Knock knock? Who’s there? No one!
by Outline India
We were conducting an endline study in Rajasthan in the month of November, but just couldn’t find the baseline respondents we had surveyed earlier. We quickly learned that respondents don’t just stay at the field site—they move around over time. In rural areas, especially, members of the household often migrate to nearby cities or urban areas in search of work.
THE LEGACY OF AN RCT
by Outline India
She had been following us for hours. Survey after survey, a steady shadow that dogged our steps despite the midday heat at the height of the Delhi summer. “Didi, why are you here?” we finally asked. “Survey me as well,” she answered.
She wasn’t one of our randomly selected respondents. The survey was long, almost two hours, and we normally had to beg respondents to take it, not fend them off. “Didi, why do you want to be surveyed?” we asked. Her answer was garbled with passion but with some help from her neighbours, we finally got the story.
Read more cautionary tales from the field