| The World Bank's research program has four basic objectives: to broaden understanding of development, to assist in developing research capacity in its member countries, to improve the Bank's capacity to advise its members, and to support all aspects of its own operations. The program's success is evaluated across all these objectives. |
| Past evaluation of Bank research has focused primarily on the first two objectives, judging its external influence. Reviews by international experts, surveys of readers of research reports, and bibliometric measures have all been used to assess the contributions of Bank research to knowledge about international, regional, and domestic policy issues and the value of Bank support of local research institutions and initiatives in developing countries. |
| A recent evaluation program investigated the success of World Bank research in fulfilling the other two objectivesmeeting the needs of the Bank's lending operations staff and thus improving the advice and assistance to member countries. The aim was to determine whether operational staff are aware of Bank research in their area of expertise, whether they value it, and whether they use it in their jobs. |
| Using several techniques, the evaluation compiled evidence on operational staff's use of the information generated by research and their views on the value of that information. Through focus group discussions, operational staff first identified the key issues to be covered in the evaluation and considered methods for compiling information on those issues. These discussions resulted in a wide-ranging questionnaire, administered to operational advisers and experts, on the service that research provides to operations. A second questionnaire, distributed to task managers in the regional offices, asked about the value of Bank researchers' assistance in lending and advisory work. A third exercise tracked more than 60 research projects, querying operational staff about their use of the studies' results in analyzing developing countries' policies and needs, in advising clients, in designing lending projects and programs, and in developing operational policies and practices. In addition, interviews of most of the Bank's lead specialists and lead economists elicited suggestions of changes in Bank research that could enhance its value. |
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