I chose for my study of the Health Clinic to use PRA methods when I interview.
I have a list of precautions from Chamber's book that highlights some of the risks to my methods I never considered, he called the chapter "Mistakes with Participation" and here are my notes:
1. Training and Consultancy – behavior and attitudes are as important as methods.
2. Routines and Ruts – an argument for flexibility is that good participatory processes always differ and cannot proceed by fixed methods or time scales
3. Exploitation – PRA methods serve well for outsiders’ research. Indeed, they serve almost too well because of the overwhelming data and the quality of insights that they can generate in a short time. But they also take people’s time and energy. These are far from costless. There have been many cases where local people have been exploited, thinking that there will be benefits from their participation when there will be none. The researchers depart, having extracted local people’s “outputs” – primary resources which they then process elsewhere for their own benefit from the added value.
4. Expectations – PRA processes tend to raise expectations. After giving their time, energy and creativity to appraisal, analysis and sometimes planning, local people may still expect some follow-up. The ethical problems posed are worrying, but are now better recognized and more often grappled with. There is a tendency for appraisal to run ahead of action, and often to be followed by nothing at all except disillusion and anger among community members who have become involved and given their time. Local initiative from findings, local actions and proposals
5. Targets and Rushing: abuses are a function of scale and speed. Targets misfit, deter and even prevent participation
6. Saturation – how many projects like this have been done in this area? How many maps have already been made? How many assessments have already been done?
7. Don’t go in with too many expectations for what you’ll accomplish
8. Don’t try to find out everything. Find a focus question!
As regards concern #6 - researching on the specific projects done in Wiamoase will help me avoid repetative interviews/projects for interviews. I need to look up previous studies people have done in Wiamoase to find out what information people in the community have already provided. If I do my research well enough, I can find some of my information from people that have already done studies in Wiamoase, instead of asking for repeat information from the community members and frustrating or wasting their time.
The other concerns I have deal with #3 and #4 - I feel like there's a balance I need to strike between these two.
With my project, I am analyzing different factors in the community and how they affect access of the people to healthcare, so when people take the time to help me understand the issues and challenges they see, wouldn't the expect that sharing those concerns will bring change? I can't promise for the clinic that things will improve, I don't even know how open the clinic administration will be to the results of my study. This is an aspect of my study I should come to understand before I do interviews so that maybe I can explain to the interviewees the association (or lack of associate) this interview has with changes or improvement the clinic wants to make. In the meantime, how can I make sure I'm wasting as little of another person's time as I can? I need to be prepared as much as possible for the interviews I conduct, with topics and sub-topics or goals for each interview. I need to find as much information as I can by myself instead of asking every question I have without doing any of my own observations or initial research. With PRA methods I'll get great answers for my research, but only if I am prepared with good questions and goals for what I hope to learn from each person. I can do this to show respect for the time I'm taking from people's day, but I also should acknowledge that I won't always know everything I want to learn. I need to learn and develop interview skills that will make a less structured interview, or an interview where I'm not sure yet what I'll study, a better expereince and effective because of the skills I've worked on.
As concerns #4, How will I deal with a situation where a person shares information with the expectation that the concerns or challenges they discuss with me will change or that I will work to improve them? I think I need to consider the role the clinic is willing to play as far as follow through. They may only allow me to do the study but not be open to the results, in which case the interviews I conduct will only be helpful to other clinics and organizations that are more open. If this is the case, I should understand that before I interview people so that I explain clearly the potential influence (or lack of influence) of their talking with me and avoid raising their expectations.
On the other hand, the clinic may be interested in some of the insights, but what if some of the things I share end up being offensive? Can I even share this information with the clinic? Will it effect my interviews if people think I'll share the results with the clinic? These are all good questions. What if my findings highlight problems with culture, politics or staff at the clinic? How can I share my results so that they aren't offensive or target specific audiences. If I share my results with the clinic, I would only be able to share it with the Administrative official, and only if I'm certain sharing the information wouldn't implicate any of the people I interviewed.
It's a paradoxical situation I'm not exactly certain how to navigate, and it will be on my mind as I prepare for this trip.
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