EDI's Research Arm concentrates on micro-economic development issues. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods it aims to understand poverty in all its dimensions and assist in formulating policies to fight it.

Although the primary focus of all research remains economic, EDI strives to have inputs from other disciplines, ranging from epidemiology to anthropology.

The research department is built from the premise that academic rigor and policy relevance are compatible. EDI's research, while motivated from policy significance, is of sufficient quality to be published in top peer-reviewed development economics journals. EDI collaborates with acknowledged researchers to achieve this excellence. Recent journals in which work from EDI has been published include: Journal of Development Economics, World Development, Economic Development and Cultural Change and American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

The right hand-side navigation bar shows the different types of research activities undertaken at EDI. Research is at EDI is typically based on household surveys, whereby we are strongly involved in both the fieldwork and the subsequent analysis. Our surveys can be split up into those that intend to give a correct statistical picture of an area (see CWIQ) or a survey method (see Survey of Household Welfare and Labour) on the one hand. And on the other hand those that intend to analyse a specific question or process (see KHDS, Research on Social Networks, Impact Evaluation). For the latter we strive to combine our survey work with qualitative work (see Qualitative Research). As we undertake large scale surveys we have a natural interest in studying survey methodology (see Survey Methodology).