ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the issues of evidence-based policy making (EBPM) within international development, specifically the translation of findings that may have a weak empirical or analytical base into evidence, which plays an increasingly important role in development discourse and practice. It draws on work presented at a European Association of Development Research Institutes and Development Studies Association conference panel (2011) and a University of East Anglia seminar series in 2011-2012. The chapter looks specifically at reanalysis of archived qualitative data, revisits to research sites and replication of influential economic analyses to highlight their potential contribution to increasing the rigor of development research. The quality of development research is an ethical issue, and the increasing emphasis placed on research evidence requires increased reflection on current standards for research and perhaps also ways of holding researchers to account for the quality of their work.
