Measuring Skills in Developing Countries
Measures of cognitive, noncognitive, and technical skills are increasingly used in development economics to analyze the determinants of skill formation, the role of skills in economic decisions, or simply because they are potential confounders. Yet...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/775311488980295780/Measuring-skills-in-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26250 |
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okr-10986-262502021-06-08T14:42:48Z Measuring Skills in Developing Countries Laajaj, Rachid Macours, Karen skills agricultural productivity measurement Measures of cognitive, noncognitive, and technical skills are increasingly used in development economics to analyze the determinants of skill formation, the role of skills in economic decisions, or simply because they are potential confounders. Yet in most cases, these measures have only been validated in high-income countries. This paper tests the reliability and validity of some of the most commonly used skills measures in a rural developing context. A survey with a series of skills measurements was administered to more than 900 farmers in western Kenya, and the same questions were asked again after three weeks to test the reliability of the measures. To test predictive power, the study also collected information on agricultural practices and production during the four following seasons. The results show the cognitive skills measures are reliable and internally consistent, while technical skills are difficult to capture and very noisy. The evidence further suggests that measurement error in noncognitive skills is non-classical, as correlations between questions are driven in part by the answering patterns of the respondents and the phrasing of the questions. Addressing both random and systematic measurement error using common psychometric practices and repeated measures leads to improvements and clearer predictions, but does not address all concerns. The paper provides a cautionary tale for naïve interpretations of skill measures. It also points to the importance of addressing measurement challenges to establish the relationship of different skills with economic outcomes. Based on these findings, the paper derives guidelines for skill measurement and interpretation in similar contexts. 2017-03-08T22:02:18Z 2017-03-08T22:02:18Z 2017-03 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/775311488980295780/Measuring-skills-in-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26250 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8000 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Kenya |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
skills agricultural productivity measurement |
| spellingShingle |
skills agricultural productivity measurement Laajaj, Rachid Macours, Karen Measuring Skills in Developing Countries |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Kenya |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8000 |
| description |
Measures of cognitive, noncognitive, and
technical skills are increasingly used in development
economics to analyze the determinants of skill formation,
the role of skills in economic decisions, or simply because
they are potential confounders. Yet in most cases, these
measures have only been validated in high-income countries.
This paper tests the reliability and validity of some of the
most commonly used skills measures in a rural developing
context. A survey with a series of skills measurements was
administered to more than 900 farmers in western Kenya, and
the same questions were asked again after three weeks to
test the reliability of the measures. To test predictive
power, the study also collected information on agricultural
practices and production during the four following seasons.
The results show the cognitive skills measures are reliable
and internally consistent, while technical skills are
difficult to capture and very noisy. The evidence further
suggests that measurement error in noncognitive skills is
non-classical, as correlations between questions are driven
in part by the answering patterns of the respondents and the
phrasing of the questions. Addressing both random and
systematic measurement error using common psychometric
practices and repeated measures leads to improvements and
clearer predictions, but does not address all concerns. The
paper provides a cautionary tale for naïve interpretations
of skill measures. It also points to the importance of
addressing measurement challenges to establish the
relationship of different skills with economic outcomes.
Based on these findings, the paper derives guidelines for
skill measurement and interpretation in similar contexts. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Laajaj, Rachid Macours, Karen |
| author_facet |
Laajaj, Rachid Macours, Karen |
| author_sort |
Laajaj, Rachid |
| title |
Measuring Skills in Developing Countries |
| title_short |
Measuring Skills in Developing Countries |
| title_full |
Measuring Skills in Developing Countries |
| title_fullStr |
Measuring Skills in Developing Countries |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Measuring Skills in Developing Countries |
| title_sort |
measuring skills in developing countries |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/775311488980295780/Measuring-skills-in-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26250 |
| _version_ |
1764461270581379072 |