The Tobias Center on Innovation in Development at Indiana University’s School of Global and International Studies will host a two-day conference in May to share research papers relevant to the collection and analysis of social, economic, or political data from the African continent.  Taking place May 18-19, from 9 am Friday until 2 pm Saturday, the conference will seek to improve research on African political and economic development by contributing to the collection and analysis of high-quality data.

In particular, the conference seeks papers that answer substantive questions using large, multi-level, or non-traditional datasets, or which directly tackle issues such as missing-ness and measurement error. Quantitative observational research is the focus of the conference, but its scope may encompass field-based and contextualized research that assists in understanding quantitative data. With the exception of experimental evaluations of protocols intended to improve data quality (e.g. question wording effects), experiments are not the focus of the conference.

The conference will be devoted to intensive work-shopping of papers-in-progress. All participants are expected to have read all conference papers in advance; presentations will be minimal.  Accepted presenters will receive travel and accommodation for one author per paper. Abstracts are being accepted through January 20, 2018 at the following link: Abstract Submission Form,  or by email (please including email address, university affiliation, authors, title, and abstract) to steinbjf@indiana.edu.  As the conference approaches, information will be available on the SGIS Tobias Center Website. Please send questions to Justin Schon (jschon@indiana.edu) or Jess Steinberg (steinbjf@indiana.edu).