Technical Note: Formative Research to Inform Social and Behavior Change Programming Design

"Designing and implementing high-quality SBC programming in any sector is a systematic process."

This technical note offers guidance on developing and designing a technically sound, actionable formative research protocol or statement of work (SOW) to inform social and behaviour change (SBC) programme design. The note is intended to support partners working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)-funded Resilience and Food Security Activities (RFSAs) in the planning of formative research for SBC programming, specifically for nutrition interventions in the USAID Advancing Nutrition project.  

The technical note is particularly designed to be used within the "Refinement period", which is a term used by the BHA to describe a post-award co-creation process known as "Refine and Implement" (R&I). The refinement period happens before the full implementation of an award and takes place mainly in the first year of a five-year award. During the refinement period, implementing partners (IPs) refine the activity design based on evidence and stakeholder input, invest in staff development, and tailor implementation strategies to the local norms and context. SBC strategy development and the accompanying need for formative research is a key activity specified within the refinement period of RFSAs.

As explained in the technical note, formative research is designed to generate practical and timely findings to fill information gaps and guide the design of SBC programming. "Formative research typically uses qualitative or mixed methods research approaches to gather in-depth information on 'how' and 'why' key behaviors may or may not be practiced in a local context. Qualitative research methods are used to obtain a detailed understanding of people's lives, choices, and behaviors and to identify practical new ideas that the researchers may not be expecting. Qualitative research collects data that aims to capture people's perspectives and experiences in their own words. Qualitative research can answer research questions related to understanding people's perceptions, experiences, and context in their own words by answering the 'why?' and 'how?' questions surrounding human behavior, such as local perspectives and solutions to a challenge."

The technical note highlights the following 10 components to be considered when developing a research protocol or SOW for formative research or assessments:

1. Articulate a problem statement - A strong problem statement for a formative research protocol can be used for SBC needs to: (i) summarise information gaps related to priority behaviours, (ii) identify change pathways in the theory of change (TOC), and (iii) link expected learning from each information gap to activity design plans.
2. Prepare a research justification - A clear research justification describes why research is needed by explaining why the information gap(s) must be answered before activity design but cannot be answered through other ways.
3. Determine key research objectives - Research-focused objectives, which are clearly linked to priority behaviours and the TOC change pathways, are meant to lead to actionable findings.
4. Develop research questions - An actionable set of research questions based on the key research objectives guides the overall study to generate evidence that can be applied to design SBC within the proposed time frame.
5. Select research methods - This section in an SOW outlines the selection of formative research methods, a sampling plan that considers who and how many people to include in the research study to answer the research question or questions and what data collection tools will be used based on the selected methods and sample.
6. Describe data management and analysis methods - This step involves the development of a data management plan (how data will be handled and stored to mitigate risks) and a description of how data will be coded and analysed. An SOW should also include a preliminary results validation plan, which looks at when and how the data will be validated with communities to interpret together before preparing deliverables. (BHA promotes that results from research and learning activities are validated with participants.)
7. Present a preliminary results application plan - This information in the SOW should (i) outline how the programme will use the findings to complete or refine the design of SBC programming and (ii) update the TOC and monitoring and evaluation plans, as needed.
8. Describe ethical considerations - This section includes a description of ethical considerations that demonstrate how the study will minimise risks to participants and communities and adhere to rigorous ethical principles.
9. Delineate team composition and roles and responsibilities - This information should (i) show how the skills of proposed team members meet the needs of the roles and responsibilities for the study and (ii) describe plans for training and supervising the data collection and analysis.
10. Specify deliverables - Finally, a SOW should outline the proposed deliverables for the formative research protocol that can be completed in the proposed time frame of the Refinement period. These deliverables could be non-traditional, such as a presentation or validated materials that can be used in community consultations.