Tensions in Knowledge Accumulation Using Coordinated Intervention Experiments to Improve Public Policy

This chapter has two main goals. It introduces and explains the value of coordinated randomized experiments for informing public policymaking with a special focus on international development, and then articulates tensions inherent in these coordinated experiments. It explains why coordination can help build the evidence base for policy innovation by helping funders and policymakers test existing theories of change in ways that facilitate the cumulation of knowledge across studies. It then articulates tensions or trade-offs that reasonable decision-makers might face given choices between coordinated and uncoordinated experiments, and provides some rough guides to help decision-makers navigate those tensions. We write from the perspective of encouraging coordinated experiments and offer practical alternatives that might be easier to implement than extant models for policy-oriented decision-makers.