EGAP: Evidence in Governance and Politics

Quick answer: Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) is a global research network dedicated to generating and accumulating rigorous experimental and causal evidence on governance, institutional reform, and development. Founded in 2009 and hosted administratively at the Center on Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California, Berkeley, EGAP coordinates the Metaketa multi-site replication initiative, open-access methodological guides, and an archived repository of experimental pre-analysis plans.

What It Is

Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) is an international cross-disciplinary research network designed to advance transparency and causal rigor in social science research. Established in 2009, the initiative unites academic researchers, policy evaluators, and development practitioners to address persistent methodological challenges in political science: publication bias, selective reporting of positive findings, and the lack of external validity across single-site field experiments.

EGAP serves as a collaborative platform bridging theoretical inquiry and empirical practice. It promotes the prospective pre-registration of experimental research designs, the drafting of detailed pre-analysis plans (PAPs), and open methodological standards. Prospective registration requires scholars to define hypotheses, sample designs, and statistical specifications prior to observing outcome data, directly curbing data-dredging and post-hoc rationalization.

Who Runs It and What It Covers

EGAP is governed by an elected executive committee of researchers in political science, economics, and public administration. Administratively, it is housed at the Center on Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California, Berkeley. The network maintains active regional hubs across Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, supporting Global South scholars and fostering equitable research partnerships.

The substantive scope of EGAP centers on field experiments, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and rigorous quasi-experimental evaluations across several key pillars of public policy and institutional governance:

Accountability and Electoral Integrity: Field interventions evaluating voter education, biometric verification, politician monitoring, and anti-corruption policies.
Conflict and Peacebuilding: Field experiments assessing community reconciliation, demobilization, and violence mitigation programs.
Public Service Delivery: Randomized trials examining bureaucratic performance, healthcare oversight, and decentralized educational resources.
Natural Resource Governance: Field studies measuring environmental compliance, community forestry oversight, and local taxation enforcement.
Ethical Field Protocols: Promoting strict adherence to social science research ethics, including informed consent and minimizing institutional disruption during experimental interventions.

The Metaketa Initiative

A central innovation of EGAP is the Metaketa Initiative, a collaborative model designed to overcome external validity limits in field research. Rather than evaluating an intervention in a single country, the Metaketa framework funds and coordinates clusters of harmonized field trials running simultaneously across diverse national contexts.

Each Metaketa round focuses on a specific policy problem, deploying a shared core intervention, identical outcome metrics, and harmonized pre-analysis plans. Completed and ongoing rounds include:

Metaketa I (Information and Accountability): Evaluated whether providing voters with factual information on politician corruption affected voting behavior across six field experiments in seven countries.
Metaketa II (Taxation and Public Goods): Examined citizen compliance and municipal tax revenue mobilization across diverse international contexts.
Metaketa III (Natural Resource Governance): Tested community monitoring interventions designed to curb illegal deforestation.
Metaketa IV (Community Policing): Evaluated whether collaborative community-policing meetings reduced crime and improved trust between police officers and citizens.
Metaketa V (Women’s Political Participation): Investigated grassroots interventions intended to increase female representation in local political bodies.

How to Search or Use It

EGAP historically maintained a dedicated design registry where researchers deposited prospective study designs and pre-analysis plans. On October 15, 2023, EGAP transitioned its primary registry infrastructure to the Open Science Framework (OSF) Registry platform, managed by the Center for Open Science. Historical EGAP registrations remain publicly accessible through OSF, while new experimental studies are registered directly on OSF or the AEA RCT Registry.

Researchers and evaluators seeking to locate historical EGAP study registrations can use the following workflow:

Access OSF Registries: Navigate to the public search discovery portal at osf.io/registries/discover or follow the redirect from egap.org/registry.
Open Provider Filters: On the left-hand navigation sidebar, locate and expand the Provider facet.
Select EGAP: Check the box corresponding to EGAP to filter the hundreds of archived governance and political science registrations from the general database.
Enter Search Terms: In the primary search bar, enter keywords such as policy domain (e.g., “community policing”, “tax compliance”), country name, or investigator name.
Filter by Status: Use sidebar facets to filter by registration date or public status.
Examine Study Details: Click an individual study title to view the registration summary, abstract, contributors, and timestamped registration metadata.
Download Pre-Analysis Plan: Open the Files tab within the record to download the complete prospective Pre-Analysis Plan PDF, survey instruments, and power calculations.
Registering New Studies: For new experimental projects, initiate registration directly on the OSF Registry using the OSF Preregistration template, or submit to the American Economic Association’s AEA RCT Registry.

Strengths and Limits

Strengths

Mitigating Publication Bias: Archiving study designs before data collection ensures null findings remain discoverable, counteracting the file drawer problem.
Rigorous Multi-Site Replication: The Metaketa model provides a structured framework for cumulative causal inference across diverse political environments.
Open Educational Guides: EGAP publishes free 10-point methods guides clarifying complex experimental topics, including power calculations, spillovers, and attrition.
Global South Inclusivity: Substantial structural support for regional researchers and institutions.

Limits

Discontinued Direct Registration: Native study intake on egap.org ended on October 15, 2023; new registrations are now dispersed across OSF and AEA platforms.
Methodological Scope: Focused strictly on experimental and causal inference, offering few frameworks for qualitative or purely observational research.
Interface Complexity: Locating older registrations requires navigating OSF provider filters rather than a dedicated standalone portal.

Alternatives

Researchers conducting prospective study registration and evidence synthesis have several major platforms to consider depending on disciplinary norms:

Platform	Primary Disciplines	Design Formats	Embargo Period	Governing Entity
OSF Registry	Social, behavioral, and life sciences	OSF Preregistration, AsPredicted, custom templates	Up to 4 years	Center for Open Science
AEA RCT Registry	Economics, political economy	Standardized randomized controlled trial fields	Until trial completion	American Economic Association
AsPredicted	Psychology, marketing, experimental economics	Standardized 9-question structured form	Private until author unlocks	Wharton Credibility Lab
RIDIE	International development, public policy	Impact evaluations and quasi-experimental studies	Embargo available upon request	International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)
ClinicalTrials.gov	Biomedical, clinical interventions	Regulatory protocol fields (FDA/ICMJE mandated)	Statutory guidelines	U.S. National Library of Medicine (NIH)

While clinical trials mandate registration on ClinicalTrials.gov, political science and governance journals indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) routinely accept registrations deposited through OSF or the AEA RCT Registry.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does EGAP stand for?

EGAP stands for Evidence in Governance and Politics, an international research network focused on experimental governance evaluations.

Can researchers still register new studies directly on the EGAP website?

No. EGAP transitioned its registration services to the Open Science Framework (OSF) Registry on October 15, 2023. New studies should be registered on OSF or the AEA RCT Registry.

Where are historical EGAP pre-analysis plans archived?

All historical EGAP registrations are archived and discoverable on OSF Registries by filtering search results with the provider tag “EGAP”.

What is the EGAP Metaketa Initiative?

The Metaketa Initiative is EGAP’s collaborative research model coordinating clusters of harmonized field experiments running concurrently across multiple countries with identical core interventions.

Where is EGAP administratively based?

EGAP is hosted administratively at the Center on Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California, Berkeley.

Sources

Evidence in Governance and Politics. EGAP Registry and Transition Policy. https://egap.org/registry/ (2026-11-07).
Evidence in Governance and Politics. The Metaketa Initiative: Coordinated Multi-Site Field Experiments. https://egap.org/our-work/the-metaketa-initiative/ (2026-11-07).
Center for Open Science. OSF Registries Discovery Interface. https://osf.io/registries/discover (2026-11-07).
American Economic Association. AEA RCT Registry Guidelines. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/ (2026-11-07).