Our Expertise

At RG-SI, we specialize in helping organizations to understand their impacts in order to further their missions. We do this by working with clients to relate their specific organizational goals to measurable indicators for evaluation. We have expertise in a variety of research methods and topics that can be used to tailor a plan for data collection to the needs and capacity of each client. We aim to build systems of data collection and evaluation that organizations can implement in the long-term.

Research Methods

Experimental:

• Survey questionnaire design
• Public opinion polling
• Sensitive question techniques and pre- and post-treatment measurement 
• Behavioral measures designed to go beyond typical attitudinal survey questions
• Cooperation games, such as public goods experiments
• Methods for imputing missing data, building appropriate indices for analysis, and properly weighting survey samples for analysis

Qualitative:

• Guided focus group discussions
• Semi-structured interviews
• Qualitative text analysis 
• Comparative case studies

Quantitative:

• Linear regression model analysis
• Time-series cross-sectional data analysis with continuous or limited dependent variables
• Statistical models to account for causal direction
• Familiarity with structural equation models (SEM) and multi-level models, as well as matching techniques to evaluate program impact

Thematic Expertise

• Public policy, good governance and transparency, and accountability
• Extractive industries governance, trends, policies and social/political issues: oil, gas and mining
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• Gender, politics and resource distribution
• Energy and politics
• Wildlife/environmental sustainability
• Economic and social goods provision
  
• Social and economic development and Human Security indicators
• Identity politics and representation
• Inclusion of LGBTIQ+ in political and civic institutions; barriers to public participation on the basis of variation in sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression, and sex characteristics
• Sub-national/local governance
• Community needs assessment
• Public opinion assessment
• Effects of national and local content initiatives​

Regional Expertise

• Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Uganda
  • South Africa
  • Botswana
• Middle East
  • Lebanon
• Western Pennsylvania

PAST PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

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• Understanding the lesson learned from regulating CSR in Southern Africa
• Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
• The Local Context of Corporate Social Responsibility in South Africa
• Public support for sectarian politics in Lebanon
• Governance of Hydraulic Fracturing in Southern Africa
• Perspectives on representation: an attitudinal survey of women candidates in Uganda
• Corruption and the Extractive Industries in Africa
• Corporate Social Responsibility in Mining Sectors in Africa