Applied research

KIT Royal Tropical Institute addresses development challenges at local, regional and global levels through research that generates new insights and knowledge in our areas of expertise: health, sustainable economic development and gender.

Our front-runner research is always applied, generating knowledge for policy, implementation or advocacy. The research fills knowledge gaps identified by our partners, but we also formulate priority research questions. Our research creates a solid evidence base by testing common assumptions and beliefs and assessing intervention strategies that work best in different settings. The evidence, translated into policy recommendations or operational guidelines, helps public and private sector organisations to improve the impact of their development work.

Joint learning trajectories

KIT conducts (systematic) literature reviews, explorative—often qualitative—case studies, action research, survey-based quantitative research and studies which combine two or more of these methods. Our partners and clients are a crucial part of our approach to applied research. Their deep involvement enables us to produce joint learning trajectories and action learning.

Transparency in research data management is high on the KIT agenda. When possible, viewing and access to research data is made possible either through easy-to-access web-based data navigator facilities or—for advanced users—through Dataverse with downloadable data sets in STATA format.