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The course is a critical review of human-centered quantitative and qualitative research applications in international affairs, with a particular focus on learning the tools used by social scientists to evaluate the quality and feasibility of different research approaches in developing country contexts. The first half of the course delves into the practical uses of validity theory as the gold standard to assess the victories and pitfalls of experiments, quasi-experiments and non-experiments in real-world cases around the world. The second half of the course is devoted to understanding qualitative research methods (in-depth interviews, focus groups, and a variety of observational tools such as photography and graphic novel techniques), and learning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative work in hard-to-access contexts across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The course provides a practical knowledge foundation for professionals who aspire to critically assess the real value of quantitative and qualitative evidence presented to them, while it helps them to determine the right opportunities to generate new knowledge for more informed and effective policy and program design.