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Measuring What Matters: Principles for a Balanced Data Suite That Prioritizes Problem-Solving and Learning

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dc.contributor.authorBridges, Kate
dc.contributor.authorWoolcock, Michael
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-18T16:46:37Z
dc.date.available2022-05-18T16:46:37Z
dc.date.issued2022-05
dc.description.abstractResponding effectively and with professional integrity to the many challenges of public administration requires recognizing that access to more and better quantitative data is necessary but insufficient. Overreliance on quantitative data comes with its own risks, of which public sector managers should be keenly aware. This paper focuses on four such risks. The first is that attaining easy-to-measure targets becomes a false standard of broader success. The second is that measurement becomes conflated with what management is and does. The third is that measurement inhibits a deeper understanding of the key policy problems and their constituent parts. The fourth is that political pressure to manipulate key indicators can lead, if undetected, to falsification and unwarranted claims or, if exposed, to jeopardizing the perceived integrity of many related (and otherwise worthy) measurement efforts. Left unattended, the cumulative concern is that these risks will inhibit rather than promote the core problem-solving and implementation capabilities of public sector organizations, an issue of high importance everywhere but especially in developing countries. The paper offers four cross-cutting principles for building an approach to the use of quantitative data—a “balanced data suite”—that strengthens problem-solving and learning in public administration: (1) identify and manage the organizational capacity and power relations that shape data management; (2) focus quantitative measures of success on those aspects which are close to the problem; (3) embrace a role for qualitative data, especially for those aspects that require in-depth, context-specific knowledge; and (4) protect space for judgment, discretion, and deliberation in those (many) decision-making domains that inherently cannot be quantified.en
dc.identifierhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099726505172234979/IDU001f1e0160432e04a9308b43090ad984a77ba
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-10051
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/37450
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherWorld Bank, Washington, DC
dc.relation.ispartofseriesPolicy Research Working Papers;10051
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subjectPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
dc.subjectPUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
dc.subjectPUBLIC SECTOR
dc.subjectQUANTITIVE DATA ANALYSIS
dc.subjectBALANCED DATA SUITE
dc.subjectMIXED METHODS
dc.subjectPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
dc.subjectDATA CURATION
dc.subjectORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
dc.subjectPROBLEM SOLVING
dc.titleMeasuring What Mattersen
dc.title.subtitlePrinciples for a Balanced Data Suite That Prioritizes Problem-Solving and Learningen
dc.typeWorking Paperen
dc.typeDocument de travailfr
dc.typeDocumento de trabajoes
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.date.disclosure2022-05-17
okr.date.lastmodified2022-05-17T00:00:00Zen
okr.doctypePolicy Research Working Paper
okr.doctypePublications & Research
okr.docurlhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099726505172234979/IDU001f1e0160432e04a9308b43090ad984a77ba
okr.guid099726505172234979
okr.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-10051
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum33820488
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum33820488
okr.identifier.reportWPS10051
okr.importedtrueen
okr.language.supporteden
okr.pdfurlhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099726505172234979/pdf/IDU001f1e0160432e04a9308b43090ad984a77ba.pdfen
okr.topicFinance and Financial Sector Development::Public & Municipal Finance
okr.topicPublic Sector Development::Decentralization
okr.topicCommunities and Human Settlements::Land Administration
okr.topicGovernance::Political Systems and Analysis
okr.topicMacroeconomics and Economic Growth::Political Economy
okr.unitDECRG: Poverty & Inequality (DECPI)
relation.isAuthorOfPublication308bc33f-78ef-5a29-aa2c-92ee4e71a953
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery308bc33f-78ef-5a29-aa2c-92ee4e71a953
relation.isSeriesOfPublication26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
relation.isSeriesOfPublication.latestForDiscovery26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
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