When are experiments corrupt - final 2018.pdf (292.65 kB)
When are experiments corrupt?
Between 2010 and 2011, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) funded a large-scale experiment on Kenyan schools. The policy experiment tested the effects of cutting teachers’ salaries and hiring them on short-term contracts, but the intervention failed after sustained opposition from teacher unions and parent associations. This article critically revisits the narrative of how this experiment was designed, implemented and interpreted, finding evidence that the experiment violated empirical logic. It examines whether the theory of neopatrimonialism can explain the ways in which vested interests may have undermined the empirical logic of the experiment. By doing so, the analysis tests the explanatory utility of neopatrimonialism, and casts light on the conditions under which policy experiments in Africa may be anti-empirical.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Journal of Contemporary African StudiesISSN
0258-9001Publisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Issue
4Volume
36Page range
532-552Department affiliated with
- Education Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2019-09-03First Open Access (FOA) Date
2020-08-17First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2019-09-02Usage metrics
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