Focus on quality, Uganda's researchers told
Nov 28, 2023
Dercon appealed for researchers to be supported to undertake quality research.

Prof. Stefan Dercon (right) addressing the economic development workshop at Makerere University. Looking on are Prof. Ibrahim Mike Okumu (centre) and Dr Eria Hisali. (Photo by John Odyek)

John Odyek
Journalist @New Vision
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University researchers and other researchers have been asked to focus on the quality of their evidence and data. The quality of evidence and data gathered has an impact on the policy recommendations and solutions they provide.
Similarly, the quality of the research has an impact on the quality of knowledge and information generated.
Prof. Stefan Dercon, director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford made the remarks on Monday, November 27, during the opening of the economic development workshop at Makerere University.
He appealed for researchers to be supported to undertake quality research.
Dercon added that after the research is done there should be other people that include the media to communicate the findings of the research. About this, policy makers including politicians and technocrats should read the research reports and pick out solutions proposed.
“The credibility of recommendations depends on the quality of the research, researchers need good quality data, and methodology used so that they can be taken seriously. The research being done in Africa is good and can be improved, get better,” Dercon explained.
He indicated that there were donor and government-funded research consultancies that sometimes have poor data, short term, and therefore offer poor recommendations and solutions.
Makerere University School of Economics is hosting the Economic Development in Africa Workshop 2023. They are collaborating with the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford. The conference runs from November 27-30 at Makerere University, Kampala.
The conference has sessions on structural transformation and gender analysis. Discussions and feedback sessions on research design and development are being held in smaller groups led by the visiting faculty.
Dr Eria Hisali, principal of the College of Business and Management Sciences, Makerere University, called upon researchers to focus on research that produces correct solutions to identified problems.
Hisali cited challenges such as unemployment, poverty, and external debt which he said are implications or consequences of other problems. Therefore researchers have to find the cause of these challenges and the correct solutions.
“We do research in Uganda but there is a gap in communicating them to policymakers. In some countries that gap has been closed. We need to bridge the gap between academicians and policymakers by constantly engaging with them,” he said.
“Policymakers have to give their view of what problems they see. The researchers will understand and undertake rigorous research to generate evidence and solutions. The conceptualisation can be done together. It does not mean policymakers have to keep away,” Hisali added.
Prof. Ibrahim Mike Okumu from the Makerere University School of Economics said this was the second time the conference was being held in Africa after Ghana.
“We want to improve the quality of research papers developed by researchers on the continent,” Okumu said.
Oluwabunmi Adejumo, senior lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, said that researchers in Africa can chart the course of development.
“Africa can find the models that work for Africa and not copy everything from the West,” Adejumo explained.
The research papers presented are being scrutinised by experts from the University of Oxford. The papers will then be presented at another conference at Oxford in March 2024.