Impact of Foreign Aid on Development – Research Design
Abstract
This proposal shows how a study can be conducted to confirm whether aid given directly to governments in poorer countries helps to accelerate development or not. This will be done by comparing aid given directly to governments in poorer countries and those given to civil groups and developmental partners. This proposal shows an argument map of two classes of poor countries can be compared and a conclusion can be drawn on the best approach to give aid for the achievement of the highest level of development through aid.
Introduction
The international community has sent a lot of aid to the Global South over the past 5 decades. This has been meant to promote and help the nations in this geographical zone to develop and achieve humanitarian goals. However, evidence suggests that most of the aid end up in the hands of some powerful individuals in these countries. This is because there are many issues and lapses in poor developing countries that allow the poor countries to come under corrupt leaders.
In summary, many scholars and researchers identify that foreign aid does not really work in developing poorer countries on the globe. However, to confirm this, there is the need to define an argument map that will enable a critical and thorough research to provide empirical information about this situation. This is the best way to draw a conclusion on the matter.
The fundamental research question is “does development aid from developed nations given directly to governments and authorities really help in the development of the least development countries?” This question can be formulated and framed in order to critique and draw conclusions on the subjects to show whether corrupt governments and their agencies stand in the way of utilizing development aid or not.
There are two variables that can be defined to test this research question to draw conclusions:
Value of development aid from developed countries;
Rate of development in least developed countries.
The research question is based on the view that aid that is being pumped into poorer nations are being diverted and misused. This is causing development to proceed at a slower rate. This research will draw the light on issues relating to corruption and alternative methods of helping to accelerate development in poorer developing countries.
Variables of Research
Variables of research are the pointers that come together to be tested, reviewed and critiqued in order to draw conclusions in a given research. They are the main issues that are observed against each other in order to draw conclusion on a given study or research.
There are two main types of variables that can be presented in a given research project:
Dependent variable &
Independent variable.
The dependent variable is the fixed and relatively stable variable that forms the basic measure of the study. The independent variable is the variable that changes with the introduction or intervention of the dependent variable. They both work together and their variations in either application or reaction culminates in trends that are observed in the study.
In this research, foreign aid from the developed world will form the dependent variable. It is a constant of how much the international community presents to these poor developing countries. The output or the level of development in these countries under review will form the basis of the actual research.
Operationalization of the Research
In order to conduct a meaningful research, there must be practical elements and aspects of the research that will show major trends in the population being observed. This can be used as the basis of formulating conclusions.
The research will therefore have to show two separate scenarios and situations where aid was injected into poorer nations. This will help to show and identify the main differences and show which approach and method is better or not. Therefore, there will be two classes of countries that will be studied in order to draw conclusions that can give impetus for a comparative analysis:
Countries in which aid came under the direct control of government and dominant persons in the states;
Countries in which aid went directly to civil groups and other intermediaries tasked with development.
This distinction is going to help the study to examine the rate of development in two main classes and categories of nations in the developing world. It will help to draw conclusions on which approach is better and how the international community can best help in developing poorer countries.
Figure 1: Argument Map of Research Model
Research Approach
The essence of the research is to identify whether development aid given directly to governments of poorer nations are used effectively or not. This is to be contrasted with aid that is given directly to civil groups and other developmental agencies to complete developmental processes.
In order to do this, there must be the formulation of a hypothesis: “Corrupt governments in developing countries do not use developmental aid in ways that accelerates development”.
The alternative hypothesis is that “Civil groups and developmental agencies that are given money from developed countries achieve faster development in poor countries than governments of these poor countries”.
Data Collection
Data must be collected over a period of 5 years. In this case, countries where aid is sent directly to the government will be compared to countries where aid is given to civil society groups. This will lead to the presentation of the currency worth of aid to the two classes of nations.
Dependent Variable: The worth of aid that is presented over five years to these countries must all be money given by richer OECD countries as aid. And they must be presented in totality or the total value. There will be two classes of recipient countries. The first will be countries where the majority of aid (75%) is given directly to the government and the second will be countries where aid goes to civil groups and developmental partners (75%). This will be evaluated in terms of the worth of development aid in US Dollars.
Independent Variable: The rate of development will include two main variables: (1) Gross Domestic Product and (2) UN Human Development Index. These two will be measured over the five year period and how they changed will be documented and assessed in the period under review.
Data Analysis
The analysis will include the comparison of the statistical relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variables. This will be done through the formulation of averages of the rate of aid and the changes in GDP and Human Developmental Index on a year-on-year basis. This will show how aid leads to changes in both classes of countries. And the changes that come from the two classes of aid recipients. This will show the absolute and relativist position of the two classes of aid. This will indicate the extent to which aid helps these two countries. Additionally, the analysis will show how the two classes compare to each other in terms of gaining benefits from the aid.
Findings and Implication for Change
The essence of this study is to examine and review the impact of aid on development and whether corrupt governments in poor countries really stand in the way of optimizing aid. The main end that the research seeks to achieve is to show how well aid is applied by governments and civil groups/developmental partners. The conclusion will help to recommend how aid must be presented to developing countries to achieve the best results. This will show whether the richer countries should donate directly to governments in poorer nations or through civil groups and developmental partners.
Bibliography
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Babbie, E. R. (2012). Research for Social Sciences. Mason, OH: Cengage.
Hilary, J. (2010). Africa: Dead aid and the return of neoliberalism. . Race & Class, 52(2), 79-84.
Kothari, C. R. (2011). Research Methodology. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill 4th Edition.
Riddell, R. (2010). Does Foreign Aid Really Work? . New York: Oxford University Press.
