It is often said that we value what we can measure, but it might be more accurate to say that we measure what we value, and different people value very different things, an insight that is central to debates about the meaning of development and the need for broader indicators such as well-being. What, how and when we measure, how we use and interpret the results, and who decides these things are crucial questions in development -- and serve to highlight not just the methods, but the politics and power relations involved.

In the development sector, this debate has been accepted as legitimate for many years (though it remains to be resolved) -- perhaps because the exploitation of poor countries, their experience of colonialism, and/or their greater reliance on outside assistance from donor agencies have placed power at the heart of any meaningful analysis of what to do. It's a conversation that has generated whole new philosophies of knowledge and methods of participatory research to explore alongside randomized control trials and other quantitative techniques. Some have called this a shift from "using data" to "cultivating wisdom," by which they mean the ability to use information of different kinds to foster collective action and analysis, and to "co-produce" a vision of what matters most with those who are being "developed" at the center of that vision.

Counting and measuring are only one part of a process of continuous, collective learning and communication that should be driven by the diverse needs and beliefs of all those who are working for and funding development and social change. There is no "best" approach or model or organization to be revealed by "the data," outside of a particular set of criteria and circumstances that are themselves contested.

Read the full list by Michael Edwards about calculating social change from PhilanTopic