Outline India is a data firm. We focus on research and development driven consultancy.
We provide strategic advisory services and policy support to our clients: International aid & donor bodies, CSRs, Think tanks, NGOs, Governments
We aim at strengthening program & intervention designs by conducting needs assessments, formative research, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) studies
We develop methodologies while bearing in mind partner constraint
We develop and pilot survey questionnaires
Operationalise large scale evaluations and data collection
We collect, clean & analyze high quality data from the grassroots level to ensure the relevance and reliability of the conclusions
Our team at Outline India is focused towards creating social impact through data.
We strive to improve the social outcomes of partner programs, enable setting up monitoring mechanisms, and help track impact.
At Outline India, our researchers take a step back and focus on improving the quality of data by making it representative of the targeted beneficiaries, reliable, and accurate.
We jump in from day zero, bringing robust data from the ground, informed by field insights. We believe that our field missions are about uncovering stories behind the numbers- qualitative with quantitative.
We create statistically rigorous study designs that can be used to calculate the effect size, test for significance, detect prevalence levels, prove causality, and confirm the correlation. At the same time, we understand the limits of adopting only quantitative or qualitative data methods. We are big believers of a mixed-methods approach to gain an in-depth understanding of project context, track changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and understand the program's strengths, simultaneously.
We ensure our designs can suit partner expectations in terms of timelines, budget constraints, and strategy without compromising on power and quality.
Our approach puts the respondent at the center of research. We are adept at using different research tools to understand ground-level needs and inform a new or an ongoing program. Among others, these include
Psychometric tools
Including color cards
Activity-based games
To triangulate responses
Human-centered design approach & content testing
Showcards, images
Game theory to assess risk-taking
Behavioral change campaigns
Limericks, text, audio/visual content with better recall, word-association
The Result: Study Designs are Efficient and Comprehensive
We believe good data is at the epicenter of good research and hence leads to better social programs.
Our processes include
Extensive literature reviewing and studying of other surveys and datasets
Iterating on surveys with partner
translations that are contextual and not literal
Piloting surveys and cognitive testing
Coding on data collection platform and our own Track Your Metrics
Preparation of field training material
Discussion around study objectives, sampling and how it will impact the community; therefore how their role is crucial
Question by question guides
Visual guides (where applicable) - what is acceptable as a clean toilet for instance
Ethics, consent, emergency handling
Field hierarchies- team subgroups and reporting structures
Our researchers are integral to field training and are part of all field missions. The point of contact (researcher) is always part of the field mission for direct communication, conflict resolution, and ensuring better communication.
The Result: Robust and relevant data
Collecting large volumes of data from challenging locations can be an expensive and cumbersome process. Hence, we tailor our solutions, based on what is executable.
Digital
Our team is adept at
Coding extensive tools on third-party software including in local language
Our preference is for our internal product Track Your Metrics since it does away with coding needs and we have complete control over the server details and in the purging of data and identifiers
We ensure there are audio audit features embedded together with specifying the minimum time needed to complete certain sections
Telephonic
Telephonic interviews are best suited for conversations where observing body language is not important. Also, such surveys must be kept short and should allow for quick movement between sections, based on the respondent's ease.
The Covid19 pandemic led us back to some of these methods.
We use software that allows us to audio audit and track which calls were taken, missed, dropped, etc
Online
For urban, peri-urban populations, quick responses via online surveys can be obtained. For rural populations, surveys may be shared via Track Your Metrics app or directly through a Whatsapp link. However, stakeholders may not have good internet access and it has the inherent bias of excluding women, children, and men from lower socio-economic categories.
Works best to gather quick opinion from large populations
Result: Reliable and representative data
Impact is defined differently by each partner.
Some target reach and quantifiable metrics on the scale and yet other programs are more drilled down, towards determining scalability, applicability, and wired around experimentation toward better social outcomes.
We have worked on multi-country programs in the past
We have been the India lead for variants of the same program running in different countries or have worked alongside our partners to adapt with them
Working on studies through their lifecycle, base, mid and end-line assessments
We have worked on
Needs and formative assessments
RCTs, LQAS, quasi-experimental studies
Due diligence when baseline datasets were absent
Dipsticks for actionable insights
Ethnographies
Qualitative assessments
Video documentation
Process documentation
Summative evaluations
Result: Figuring stakeholder needs from their point of view and within the ambit of their existing structures
It can be hard to assess the impact of an intervention, to understand its utility, track, or monitor it.
Our evaluations don’t just measure, they seek to improve.
As specialists in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), we are skilled at -
Identifying indicators that enhance accountability and efficacy and enable course correction. Our monitoring and evaluation frameworks are designed with your target beneficiaries in mind.
We work closely with you to understand what ‘success’ means to you and HELP define success matrices log frames and in building out your theory of change
The Result: Enabling course correction, bottleneck identification and fixing
To certain partners, this could be defined as increased uptake of government farm subsidies, a fall in birth rates, reduction in the incidence of TB, or better access to markets to sell local artwork or cotton.
However, to many others, this could mean
More time spent with children for families
Greater say in financial matters for women
Preference for environmentally safer agricultural practices
We observe, study, track, measure, quantify, and qualify your work from a third-party point of view bearing in mind your macro and micro-level goals.
The Result: A few steps towards changing the world for the better
We provide a digital solution to store all data in one platform for remote access and easy analysis in the form of configurable, customizable dashboards. These dashboards are created using our tech platform, Track Your Metrics.
TYM dashboards come with several user-friendly design elements to visually track and display metrics and data points to monitor the status of a project in real time.
A user can view the most important findings from baseline, midline and endline exercises to evaluate progress being made on specific project activities. Thus, as an information management tool, TYM dashboards can aid in ensuring transparency, accountability, evidence-based reporting and data driven decision making within your organization.
A user while viewing data related to a specific project vertical can use filtering and drill down functions to view only the information that they need. TYM allows a user to filter data by location, gender, date and time, among others. This feature will then update the visualisations on the dashboard to display only information that meets the filter characteristics chosen.
TYM dashboards can be accessed via both our web platform and the TYM mobile application.
As a social enterprise, we are committed to making an impact. Here's how:
There can be a big difference between what works in theory and what works on the ground.
Based on our developmental sector experience in India and other Southeast Asian countries, we understand the ground-level realities and can guide you to figure out the externalities of your research design - positive and negative.
Our goal is to help our partners
Devise solutions, pilot them, tweak or change them entirely, before the social intervention is set up or scaled
Set up measures in place for periodic check-ins,
Deriving and promoting a rubric for Data Quality. Documenting learning from the field through our “Cautionary Tales.” (weblink)
Empowering our partners to put measures in place for quality control measures
The development sector prides itself on evidence-driven decision making, but the idea for what makes for robust evidence is questionable and evolving.
We are champions of good data collection in India, working to educate and build demand for stronger evidence in the sector.
Our clients work hard. Our goal is to ensure that hard work counts.
OI provides strong, reliable and accurate data coupled with an astute analysis that captures our clients' impact and sheds light on the context of their work.
We believe it is essential to share successes and failures towards improved outcomes.
See some of our publications here
The countless hours invested by our field workers in remote, sometimes hostile areas to gather the best possible data, are foundational to our research. We believe in building their skills further and giving them opportunities. Get to know some of our hardworking field team here.
Here’s what we are doing:
Building strong and diverse teams of field workers with contextual, regional, linguistic as well as research familiarity by teaching them the basics of research.
Giving research opportunities to locals who are well embedded within the community and hence bring know-how and significant value in terms of ideas and networks
Systemizing the inclusion of enumerator perceptions in the research findings.
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Our field training include
Classroom sessions 1-7 days long or longer depending on the exercise at hand
Mock sessions - in the classroom and on the field
Discussion around technology and field plans
Formation of buddy groups to complement skills and improve outcomes
Ethical and responsible research obligates us to constantly work on upgradation of our data collection process and to consider new and experimental forms of research.
We work to empower respondents by making data collection meaningful for them.
Asking the right questions by creating surveys and tools that are informed by the respondent’s context through comprehensive pre-tests.
Advocating for the dissemination of research to respondents.
Avoiding the replication of data collection efforts and advocating for responsible data collection
Our NEW tech platform and application - Track Your Metrics, seeks to automate social assessments, by empowering small, grassroots, NGOs to access ready to use survey tools and big organisations to track multiple programs for low cost (weblink) - TYM.
Researchers who are on calls or in meetings with you will go on the field mission!
Our senior research staff is part of nearly all field training assignments.
We take pride in our on-ground reach. Our love for conversations ensures that our insights are grounded and real.
We are happy to include our partners in-field training and invite them on during the field exercise
We work closely post data collection, to ensure the final report is representative of macro and micro-level findings.
We are part of numerous forums on data quality and ensure our staff attends and assimilates new and evolving practices
We participate as discussants, and in writing, to contribute towards the larger body of M&E and impact assessment work
Maintaining a culture of Reflexivity, Transparency, and Introspection by conducting regular Impact Meetings
Client:
Hitotsubashi University and Kobe University
Geography
Delhi-NCR
Sectors
Economy
Client:
WASH United
Geography
Nashik, Maharashtra
Sectors
WASH
Client:
Institute of Social Studies Trust
Geography
India
Sectors
Health
Client:
The Hunger Project
Geography
Odisha
Sectors
Livelihood
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