Research & Assessment
Understand what is happening before deciding what to do.
We design and conduct research, assessments and evaluations for organisations that need reliable evidence before making decisions, changing systems or responding to a concern.
- A research, assessment or evaluation report
- An executive summary or decision brief
- Research tools and methodological documentation
- Anonymised qualitative or quantitative data
Commission this when.
An assignment may focus on one organisation, programme, sector or issue, or span multiple countries and stakeholder groups. We identify the questions that need answering, select methods suited to the context, gather and analyse the evidence, and present clear findings and recommendations.
Our analysis considers not only what is happening, but how history, power, relationships, language and operating conditions shape what the evidence means.
Any one of the following is reason enough to start a conversation.
You need reliable evidence before developing or revising a strategy, programme, policy or system.
You need an independent assessment of how an organisation, programme or institutional system is working.
A board, funder, regulator or partner requires an external review or evaluation.
A policy or programme is not working as intended and you need to understand why.
You are entering a new country, sector or partnership and need contextual, stakeholder or market research.
You need coordinated data collection or consultation across several locations, countries, languages or stakeholder groups.
A concern or failure has emerged and you need an independent assessment of the surrounding systems, decisions and organisational conditions.
What you receive.
Deliverables are agreed for each assignment and may include:
A research, assessment or evaluation report
Setting out the methodology, evidence, findings, analysis and recommendations.
An executive summary or decision brief
Presenting the most important findings and their implications.
Research tools and methodological documentation
Such as questionnaires, interview guides, sampling frameworks and analytical frameworks.
Anonymised qualitative or quantitative data
Where its transfer is agreed, ethical and consistent with data-protection requirements.
Supporting outputs
Such as stakeholder or sector mappings, evidence reviews, risk analyses or assessments against defined standards.
A presentation or validation session
For leadership, boards, partners or other relevant stakeholders.
What this includes.
Four families of work. Most assignments draw on more than one.
Organisational and institutional assessments
- Organisational diagnostics
- Governance and decision-making reviews
- Safeguarding and PSEA assessments
- Accountability assessments
- Organisational culture analysis
- ESG and GRC assessments
Programme and system evaluations
- Programme evaluations
- MEAL reviews
- Policy implementation reviews
- Learning evaluations and assessments against defined standards
Context, sector and stakeholder research
- Stakeholder and sector mapping
- Market research
- Political and contextual analysis
- Power and localisation assessments
- Research to inform entry into new countries or areas of work
Participatory and commissioned research
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Surveys
- Consultations
- Qualitative and quantitative data collection
- Evidence synthesis
- Applied and academic research
- Product or tool testing
Multi-country research capacity.
CTDC combines central research leadership with an international network of partners, researchers, enumerators, contractors and specialist vendors. Through our work in more than 50 countries, we have built relationships that allow us to assemble country-based and multi-country research teams according to the locations, languages, methods and expertise each assignment requires.
Locally based researchers and enumerators contribute contextual knowledge, language capability, access and fieldwork experience. CTDC retains responsibility for the overall research design, team selection and preparation, research tools and protocols, ethics, safeguarding, data protection, quality assurance, analysis and reporting.
Depending on the context, access and safety considerations, research can be conducted in person, remotely or through a combination of both. This enables us to coordinate large and geographically distributed assignments while maintaining a coherent methodology and consistent quality standards.
- 50+ Countries worked in
- 120+ Organisations
- 4,500+ People trained
- 2 Languages at full scale
How we conduct research.
Six stages, in the order they happen. Not every assignment needs all of them; every assignment is designed against them.
We begin with the purpose.
We clarify what the research needs to establish, whose perspectives matter and which decisions the findings will inform.
We choose methods that fit the question.
Depending on the assignment, we may combine document reviews, interviews, focus groups, surveys, observation and participatory methods.
We build ethics and safety into the design.
Consent, confidentiality, safeguarding, data protection and risks to participants and researchers are considered from the outset.
We pay attention to power and context.
We examine whose knowledge is recognised, who can participate safely, who may be absent and how language, culture and institutional conditions shape the evidence.
We check quality throughout.
We develop clear protocols, prepare research teams, test tools, monitor data collection and review evidence from different sources.
We make findings usable.
We distinguish between evidence, interpretation and recommendation; state limitations clearly; and present findings in forms that support practical decisions.
What we do not do
We do not conduct disciplinary investigations into individual allegations. We assess systems, decisions, organisational conditions and institutional responsibility. If a formal fact-finding investigation is required, we will say so clearly and help you identify the appropriate process.
We also do not begin with a conclusion that the research is expected to confirm. Our findings follow the evidence, including when it challenges initial assumptions or raises uncomfortable questions.
Working in your language
We work natively in English and Arabic across every service and at any scale: research design and fieldwork, policy drafting, training delivery, facilitation, and written deliverables.
We also work in French and Spanish on smaller assignments: workshops and training sessions, interviews and consultations, focused reviews, and translation and localisation review. This work is delivered by associates who work natively in those languages.
For large-scale work in French or Spanish, we will tell you where our capacity ends and help you structure the assignment accordingly. We have designed and facilitated consultations in English, Arabic and French across fourteen countries, so we know what this requires, and we do not take on work we cannot deliver to the same standard.
Where an assignment needs other languages, we can arrange capacity through our international network and will be explicit about what that adds in time and cost.
Selected research in practice.
Regional civil society mapping across six countries
An international organisation needed evidence to design a new regional programme. CTDC researched the political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental and relational conditions across Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine and Syria. The findings informed a multi-year programme that has since supported more than 30 organisations.
Research & Assessment
Independent accountability assessment during a public crisis
A digital cultural platform needed to understand the institutional failures behind a public accountability crisis. CTDC assessed its governance, decision-making, response mechanisms, partnerships and public communications. The organisation adopted the recommendations, restructured its operations, published a response and continued its work.
Research & Assessment · Frameworks, Policy & Governance
Frequently asked questions.
Often applied to
Discuss a research or assessment project.
You do not need to arrive with a complete research design or terms of reference. Tell us what you need to understand, where the research will take place and what decisions it needs to inform.
We will help you determine an appropriate scope and tell you honestly whether CTDC is the right fit. The first conversation is free and carries no obligation.
