How to know what works in alleviating poverty: Learning from experimental approaches in qualitative research

Experimental studies of poverty alleviation have stimulated an interdisciplinary discussion on what constitutes robust evidence to inform policy and benefit the poor. These studies emphasize research transparency and reporting standards, pre-registration, data sharing, replication and aggregated evidence. Though imperfect, such practices help to identify what works under what conditions. We argue that researchers should also explore how similar practices could be tailored for qualitative research on the politics of poverty alleviation. We outline a research framework motivated by the experiment focused Metaketa initiative that incorporates the strengths of qualitative inquiry. We present the eleven pillars of a qualitative Metaketa.