Journal 9 - How might you see things going in Ghana?

In response to my "Journal 3 - A day at a Time", Andrew (my Ghana facilitator) asked me a couple follow-up questions and suggestions. I've included one of those questions in my Journal 9 topic, because today I wanted explore my answers.

I feel like Andrew's question is referring both to how I imagine I'll be conducting my study, how it might be received or perceived in the community, and what challenges or surprises I might encounter. It's a good question that will help me solidify my research focus and plan.

First I want to make a general study of the clinic's policies and function in relation to the community. Joan Dixon, the IAS 220 - International Development Professor, recommended a way to do this. Namely with The Community Capitals Framework Theory, by Cornelia Butler Flora (see below)

Sustainability in a community or organization is effected by the availability and strength of each of these "Capitals". For example, built capital for the Salvation Army Health Clinic might involve how functional, serviceable and sturdy their building is, their natural capital would involve the herbs or diseases are available/present in the area, the Human capital describes what doctors and volunteer skills are available in the community, etc. Identifying how each capital is involved and how they positively or negatively effect the sustainability of the clinic will give me a thorough description and coprehensive understanding of sustainability strengths and challenges.

Second, I want to involve the Wiamoase community opinions of the clinic's efforts. How would they measure the influence and involvment of the community on the clinic's efforts and focus? What needs does the community have? Does the clinic meet the primary needs? What challenges do they see the clinic having? What solutions would they offer to those challenges? This is a way to explore the level of participation the clinic employs and the community feels. Since this is a huge topic in Development, I want make their thoughts a focus of my study.

I'm sure that as my understanding of Development Theory and ethnographic studies, these ideas will narrow and focus, but I'm excited to study this topic in Wiamoase. I wonder if I should learn more about Salvation Army Efforts to avoid surprises and unknowns in that part of my study. I wonder who I could specifically interview to get a good sample of neighborhood opinions. Is this study too broad or am I focusing it enough? How open will people feel they can be with me about this topic? Is it something that interests them? Is it something they can see a benefit in being involved in? How will they feel when I ask them these questions? Will anything (like the influence of the clinic in the area, or the possible consequences of being open about concerns or improvements they would want to make) keep them from being open? How might studying and understanding the community politics and relationships better improve my the quality of my interviews?

I'm excited about the way this project is shaping. What are your thoughts?

Journal 8 - "Saving Grace"

I watched a movie called "Saving Grace" (with Tom Conti) the other day. Watching this movie as I prepare to do a field study this summer helped me focus on the challenges and attitudes this man faced as he attempted to understand and help a community. I wanted to record and explore the field study techniques I noticed from that movie.

The movie was about a Pope who, after serving in administrative duties for a year, struggles to know if his efforts in the Vatican are positively effecting the people he serves. Through a series of incidences, he leaves the Vatican and ventures to a small town that has requested a priest. While he's there he works anonymously among the people to try and understand their needs and empower them to meet those personally.

I found it important that when the Pope left the Vatican, he no longer used his "position" as pope in his interactions with other people. He wanted to understand the context of others without influencing their behavior and decisions with his identity. This way, he communicated his desire for real understanding of the community. It's only through this behavior that he is empowered to understand and offer real help, as opposed to making hasty assumptions and offering rude or quick solutions. When I go to Ghana, I want to act this way, not anonymously, but detached from my identity as a 24 year old US student studying this community. Instead I want to really get to know others, really interact with them as if we're equal and the same, because although I could adopt the notion that I'm different, essentially we are the same.

Also, each of the Pope's attempt to get to know people and situations was accompanied by an observant and respectful attitude. He listened carefully to each person, with an open mind to what they shared. This included him accepting their varied reactions to his questions and curious presence. This helped those he talked to further disclose their interpretation and opinion of events, as well as allowed them to trust him more. What a difficult attitude to have, as if you have no preconceived notions or expectations, but can accept whatever they want to do or think.

Finally, because of his deep and real approached to understand this community, he often experienced unexpected and sometimes negative things. His "field work" experience was unpredictable because he didn't try to control it or sway the people. Instead, honestly working with them to discover and understand their needs resulted in frequent surprises and difficult challenges.

His development effort was not something I will be attempting as a field study student, but I think his experience held lessons for me as I prepare to go to Ghana. I will be associating with people with deep emotions and opinions, whose actions and attitudes will effect my study and may disrupt it and cause challenges. I hope that I can have the attitude that the man in this movie had: one that conveys a deep respect for others and acceptance of their decisions.

Journal 7 - Culture Thoughts

1. People in Ghana class. Since I first sat down in my twi class, which is half Ghanaian students and makes for unfamiliar and explorable relationships, I've felt a curiosity about the subtle differences I could sense but not pin-point between myself and these other students. I am curious about how they see me, what influences that perception, and how that will improve or change with time. Will I ever really understand the subtleties of their culture? How can I better improve my behavior to invite openness from them and an opportunity for learning?

Culture from reading. This article was interesting because as I read through it I noticed that the biggest barrier to understanding the dos and don'ts of a culture is language. There are undertones that no matter how hard I try, I probably won't understand after 90 days in the field. How can I overcome that barrier for the sake of my study? I am doing something completely foreign to the rest of my experiences (like on my mission) and I don't know if two transfers would be enough time for me to learn even a part of what I need to.

Twi money differences. A difference I learned about on Wednesday that's been on my mind was the differences in money mentalities in Ghana and the US. Millie explained about how Ghanaians see a thousand dollars in the bank as a selfish excess. I'd never thought about that before, but I appreciated the explanation and already I've started trying to factor it into my mental role-play when it comes to bartering, buying food, or negotiating rent. I'm grateful for explanations like that and look forward to more as a way to avoid misunderstandings stemming from culture differences.

Journal 6 - Sources: the Challenge and Excitement!

Today I sorted through probably twenty different sources to find the basic four I want as my beginning framework. It wasn't challenging to find related topics to my research question as much as it seemed important to me to find sources that I could build my research around. I chose what I'll term the big four, each was unique in it's emphasis on one of four aspects of my research.

I'm studying development efforts in the Salvation Army Clinic in Wiamoase, so I chose to base those efforts within the UN context and hopefully will be able to link the efforts of the clinic to the efforts the UN communicated were important in the realm of health. I think that although the Millennium goals have proved a challenge to achieve, the pin-point the major problems that development efforts should focus on.

Because I know little about health clinics, I found an article prepared for a WHO conference about health and development enlightening and think it will prove helpful to my research. I'm not sure what indicators I should use to evaluate the efforts of the Salvation army Clinic, so an article about the theory and purpose of development indicators will prove useful for helping me address this community's unique characteristics. Finally, I have been studying from a book written about the foundation of Development Theory and the intricate situations and problems with that field. I think because this book is what drew me to the topic in the first place, it will be a huge resource as I prepare for this field study experience.

Doing this research has brought to my attention the difficulties that will be involved in field research. I'm nervous and feeling a little under-prepared and under-qualified as I read these articles and documents. I think that I feel more prepared for the field after the last few weeks of class, especially as I begin to see the foundation we're slowly building for this experience. I'm sure that there will be challenges dealing with language, culture, and the shortage of time and I wonder how I'll be able to successfully study this topic within the confines of these limiting factors.

Journal 5 - Considering Methodology and Culture Shock

I thought I'd take some time today to write about what I learned from doing that Super-quick Document Analysis today. I analyzed articles about Development views in a community and clinic policies, respectively. Each had to do with what I want to study in Wiamoase.

The first study was conducted in a Mayan community in Guatemala, where a young man interviewed people from different social strata on how they would view effective development in their own lives. As I read this article I wondered what kind of answers people in my neighborhood would give if asked the same questions - how would they seek to improve their own personal development? How would those answers differ according to age, family background, and religious involvement? How would people answer if the question was focused on what they would like to personally develop to improve the future for their children? I think their answers would sometimes concern education, some would probably involve less serious answers, some would involve making changes in government. If I was to conduct interviews like this man in Wiamoase, how could I focus my questions on development as opposed to answers about making changes in local government? I wish the study had included some of the questions he'd asked and what questions he found most effective.

As for the second study, I didn't find it as helpful in terms of methods because I felt like she lacked those in her study. She didn't really use any sources that supported or gave a context to her subject and it helped me realize the importance of paying attention to what we are going to discuss today in class. I want to get a better handle on the history of my community and clinic foundation, as well on sustainable development efforts before class to help me prepare and develop my project proposal.

After skimming and answering the questions for the assignment, I went back and read the first part of the paper where the girl discussed the feelings she had upon first arriving in India at the hospital she was going to study with. I found her thoughts and description of what the adjustment was like refreshingly open and insightful. She described how it felt to enter a community where she couldn't communicate, how alone and frustrated she felt when she couldn't conduct her study the way she'd wanted to, and she described feeling out of place and different than the people around her. I appreciated hearing those stories, even though it made me nervous for the first little while in the community, I'm not learning Twi very well and I don't feel like I know how to barter or haggle for rent. Her description made me wonder what would be most frustrating to me and how I can best prepare for that... Perhaps I should devote an three hours a week just to things that will help me adjust to the culture of Wiamoase instead of just focusing my efforts on what I'll research and how.

Journal 4 - Reading about Research Design

When I read the reading assignment for today, I knew that I wasn't going to really benefit from reading and considering all the questions included in the text, but I wanted to use some of those questions to really help me improve my study development. Since I feel like my Research Design needs some help, I spent a while brainstorming answers to the questions from that section.

The first question was What was the purpose of the study: exploration, description, explanation, or a combination? As I considered this question, I realized I'd like to become familiar with and describe the policies of the SA Clinic, AND explore the perceptions of the community of those policies. This ultimately helped me narrow my research down to a description and exploration study. I like the focus those simple categories give my research, and that what I want the purpose of my study to be fits well in these categories.

Another good group of questions that spurred thought was What was the unit of analysis? Was it appropriate to the purpose of the study? Are the conclusions drawn from the research appropriate to the unit of analysis? For example, have the researchers studied cities and ended up with assertions about individuals? From this I tried to find a unit of analysis. It is difficult for me to pinpoint, but I feel like a good unit would be the development policies in the SA Clinic. As the rest of the questions implicate, my research should focus on describing and exploring opinions about these policies. My conclusion would have to deal with whether they are effective (I'm not sure how I'll measure that yet; perhaps through opinions and the success in solving an issue the clinic or community faces). I think this question helped me see the focus my study should have on policies, without making conclusions beyond what I've studied. As I read these questions, I think it educated me on what mistakes I should avoid (confusing units of measurement and conclusions) and helping me shape my research design. All of the questions helped, but these two especially made me think.

Because I want to ask good, effective questions, I've also been thinking about how helpful it would be to participate weekly in a Development Effort in Provo. I think that could influence my research proposal if as I'm developing my method of research I have a situation where I can imagine the questions I would ask the volunteers, administrators, or community members about this effort and how those questions would be received.

Journal 3 - A Day at a Time

An Aside: This morning I listened to D. Todd Christofferson talk in a replay of the CES Fireside this last Sunday. He taught about taking things a day at a time when you feel overwhelmed, instead of focusing on the sometimes daunting future. I felt that his message applied to the "to do" list for this research opportunity. While I feel a desire to participate in this program, thinking about all there is to get done can get me quickly overwhelmed. The talk helped me see that even though it may be a challenge to get do Ghana and do field research, because I think it will be a shaping and worth-while experience, I can do it if I take things a day at a time.

Now for the thoughts I've had on my project design. Something that really helped my research process this morning came from a diagram in the library website...
From this diagram I researched the basics of a topic I've been leaning toward: International Development Theory. In my research I ran into some theories about "developmental sustainability" that caught my attention and drew my interest. The basic tenets of this idea are that once developmental aid is provided or offered, how sustainable is the aid? I didn't realize until I studied the ways that one can increase sustainability that this was something I identified with success in development efforts, the ability of the people a project helps to continue it on their own or to contribute in a major way.

A reason I can identify this as a major factor in developmental success deals with the personal experiences of my friends and myself. One example: I had a friend who volunteered to travel to Ecuador with Habitat for Humanity. She commented on her surprise that, although the members of the community were friendly, the effort her group was making to build these homes seemed less effective because members of the community weren't involved in the effort. It seems like a project would experience more success and more beneficial to people if there is more working together between a community and an organization. It might also be easier to increase the longevity and reach of the cause if it involved input and participation from the recipient community or population.

After reflecting on this theory and the points made, I thought about the Salvation Army clinic in Wiamoase that I've been considering doing my project on. What are the views of the community toward this clinic? How much involvement does the community have? What policies make community participation necessary? What SA policies might limit that involvement? Does the clinic's longtime presence in the community indicate policies that facilitate sustainable efforts? What are these? Are there attitudes of the community that help or hurt the clinic's sustainability?

What do you think about my questions?

Journal 2 - What's Unique about Field Research?

I just read Babbie's "Qualitative Field Research and Research Design" and learned the answer to this question.

I've been involved in quantitative research methods and abstract thinking throughout my college experience, but Babbie highlights a point in his writing that makes it evident field work is sometimes the only way you can come to a real answer. He comments "Clearly we could not have discovered the nature and strength of agreements... except through field research... Only going out into life, doing it, and watching what happened gave us an accurate picture."

This method of learning (through field research) seems like a very real analysis and like it involves a great deal of observation and good questions. I'm glad for all the material we read in class, since it really helps me understand what kind of perspective I'm going to need to have for going out in the field.

Something I'm considering studying in Ghana are the ways that the education system in Wiamoase is benefited by humanitarian or developmental efforts and what the effects of that help has on the students' perspective and attitude about their community and the direction of their future. I'm curious to know if they feel more empowered to migrate from the community, or if there are any other results of the education.

Because of this article, I can see that I should consider the people I would interview, and how I would need to be involved in either the school system or with someone involved in the effort. I would need to ask questions of others about what they think about the effort and if they've noticed an influence on the community. I think I can shape what I want to study into a field research experience and reading this article has helped me figure out how to do that better, as well as helped me see the constraints that might be on my research topic.

Journal 1 - Topic Ideas

My desire to take a more hands on apporach to geography is the reason this field study adventure began, and my struggle to nail down a particular research question has surprisingly helped me realize that desire.

I want a research topic that deals with Geography and fits into the Ghanaan experience I'm going have so the last few days I've spent a couple hours developing and discussing my ideas with three professors. The conversation with them has helped me decide on some direction in three areas--migration or population changes because of humanitarian efforts, Ashanti and Colonial Influences on Wiamoase's Local Government, and Muslim, Christian, and Anamist interaction in Wiamoase and Ashanti region.

While I talked to my professors, I realized that asking these questions was helping me explore and consider geographic concepts better than I ever have before. This hands on experience is teaching me how to do research in the field of geography, helping me think deeper about geography, and get to know by professors in a different way as I talk with them as for their advise. This realization of what i'm already learning has given me a small dose of what I'll have learned when I'm completed the field study.

I am really grateful for the help and advise that these professors gave me, the viability they confirmed in each topic, and the thought of studying any of these things. However my lingering concern is two-fold: the topics are broad and difficult to decide between--making me wish I knew more about the Ghanaan community I'm going to-- and I only have until Wednesday to narrow things to one topic.