I imagine that this was a useful process for you guys to think through cause prioritisation research and relevant considerations. Looking at your methodology though, it seems as if you were attempting to essentially redo EA cause prioritisation research to date from scratch in a short timeframe?
My guess of the most useful process would have been to just take some of the most commonly / widely recommended EA cause areas (and maybe a couple of other contenders) and try to clarify how they seem more or less promising in the Malaysian context specifically.
If you agree with my characterisation of your process, with the benefit of hindsight, would you recommend that other national groups follow your methodology or my suggested alternative?
And, a somewhat separate question: what sorts of considerations do you think differ between Malaysia and other contexts in which these questions have been considered, if any?
Looking at your methodology though, it seems as if you were attempting to essentially redo EA cause prioritisation research to date from scratch in a short timeframe?
My guess of the most useful process would have been to just take some of the most commonly / widely recommended EA cause areas (and maybe a couple of other contenders) and try to clarify how they seem more or less promising in the Malaysian context specifically.
If you agree with my characterisation of your process, with the benefit of hindsight, would you recommend that other national groups follow your methodology or my suggested alternative?
Yes I agree. I think national groups should highly consider that their first iteration of local priorities research be that—taking recommended EA cause areas and conducting shallow research on them.
That’s what we did EA Singapore, although not in a very deliberate way. Once that’s out of the way, it saved a lot of time for deeper, more useful research. Here are the reasons why I think EA Malaysia chose to do this instead: (a) we wanted to test out a methodology, (b) we want to have a stronger consensus in our team when many felt some non-EA recommended areas should be included, and (c) we wanted to be sure we didn’t miss any potential promising cause areas out.
I don’t think they are good reasons per say, but I just wanted to put them out there.
what sorts of considerations do you think differ between Malaysia and other contexts in which these questions have been considered, if any?
I’m not sure if I understood your question correctly, so please do let me know if I didn’t.
I don’t think there’s any significant considerations that are different, since most of these considerations (or the specific methodology) are from Charity Entrepreneurship. If I were to compare CE’s methodologies to other methodologies used by other organisations, I imagine it would be significantly different.
I imagine that this was a useful process for you guys to think through cause prioritisation research and relevant considerations. Looking at your methodology though, it seems as if you were attempting to essentially redo EA cause prioritisation research to date from scratch in a short timeframe?
My guess of the most useful process would have been to just take some of the most commonly / widely recommended EA cause areas (and maybe a couple of other contenders) and try to clarify how they seem more or less promising in the Malaysian context specifically.
If you agree with my characterisation of your process, with the benefit of hindsight, would you recommend that other national groups follow your methodology or my suggested alternative?
And, a somewhat separate question: what sorts of considerations do you think differ between Malaysia and other contexts in which these questions have been considered, if any?
You’ve made some good points that I didn’t get to write in our forum post, and I’ve made an edit to direct readers to your comment.
Hi Jamie!
Yes I agree. I think national groups should highly consider that their first iteration of local priorities research be that—taking recommended EA cause areas and conducting shallow research on them.
That’s what we did EA Singapore, although not in a very deliberate way. Once that’s out of the way, it saved a lot of time for deeper, more useful research. Here are the reasons why I think EA Malaysia chose to do this instead: (a) we wanted to test out a methodology, (b) we want to have a stronger consensus in our team when many felt some non-EA recommended areas should be included, and (c) we wanted to be sure we didn’t miss any potential promising cause areas out.
I don’t think they are good reasons per say, but I just wanted to put them out there.
I’m not sure if I understood your question correctly, so please do let me know if I didn’t.
I don’t think there’s any significant considerations that are different, since most of these considerations (or the specific methodology) are from Charity Entrepreneurship. If I were to compare CE’s methodologies to other methodologies used by other organisations, I imagine it would be significantly different.