What We Know About Traditional MERL Tech - Insights from a Scoping Review

This paper explores the peer-reviewed evidence base of “traditional” technology-enabled monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL Tech) in international development assistance from 2015 to 2019. The authors conducted a scoping review that searched seven databases, screened 3,054 reference titles and abstracts, coded 886 abstracts, and extracted and analyzed conclusions and recommendations from the full texts of 256 studies. The findings reveal the most frequently reported technologies, MERL activities, and the sub-sectors, and the geographies where those tech-enabled activities occur. Gaps in the evidence for specific technologies, MERL activities, and sectors are mapped. The data reveals which technologies are trusted more than others and reported barriers to effective MERL Tech implementation and areas that researchers suggest for further investigation. The results suggest that the evidence from peer-reviewed studies is not proportional to estimated MERL Tech activity, significant publication bias exists, and further knowledge synthesis of unindexed grey literature is needed to provide a more comprehensive and possibly accurate description of MERL Tech practice.