Journal 23 - Exploring Challenges with PRA

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.

Journal 14 - The Challenge of Misperceptions and Expectations

I feel safe saying that every class I've sat in this week has held a caution: avoid the pitfalls of incorrect assumptions; furthermore, get educated--right now!--about every incorrect assumption you could make. But how many cautions can my head really hold?

This semester my head is being filled with concepts that I may not yet fully appreciate or understand. Dave fills Intro to Development with cautions about how to perceive development, poverty, people, solutions and statistics. Field Study Prep fills my head with warnings about methods that are challenging or impractical, ethical and cultural situations I'm going to struggle with, and program items I should be focusing on. Middle East and Africa are just geography classes that delve into population, environment, and political nuances I should have known about last week or last semester. Twi is over my head and difficult to find time for with the mass of other classes I'm taking; worse still, I just record the Sister Black's lectures in religion, and otherwise it isn't even an afterthought... SID? Cultural Inquiry? Roommates? Callings? A boyfriend with a crazy schedule too??? (I promise I'm not having any sort of rant or mental breakdown, I'm just trying to express the semester's overarching emotion).

I assume that anyone reading this blog understands what I'm trying to express; there's a sense of being overwhelmed and overloaded that comes with the college experience. The constant stress and assignments are teaching me that there's a lot I don't know--which I think is mostly very good for me. If we had all the time in the world, we wouldn't have the chance to decide what was really important from moment to moment. These feelings can be motivating and absolutely, meeting expectations is sometimes necessary and always rewarding. But how come our professors expect us to absorp everything they've said, regurgitate it for the test, and remember it beyond their class for the rest of our lives? To cite ideals from C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, we are imperfect people and sometimes we hold others to a higher standard than we ourselves could ever attain. I wonder if my Professors sometimes do that too, or maybe they all just overestimate how much I already know...

I think the purpose of this blog was just to express conflicts I'm experiencing this week. These are conflicts I think I'll experience every day in the field. How should I deal with the challenges of sensory and brain overload? How can I prioritize what I need to do each day? What mistakes will I make in the field as I struggle to juggle new things, new people, new experiences with the expectations of ISP, IRB, my professors, and the plan I make this semester?

I think that making my plan for the field simple will help. I think that focusing on conversation opportunities will be my highest priority. A close second that I'll have to have is maximizing those encounters by recording and reviewing the implications of those experiences. Maybe this week I should work on recording and reviewing experiences.

I remember learning on my mission that people aren't computers that can just download as much information as you give them. They are souls that learn in different ways and often their application isn't what you expect. People learn by personal expereinces of trial and error, they learn things deeply when they first had deep questions or when a person asks a question they can't answer. Time is a constraint that makes us realize and choose the most important things. Mistakes are made everyday and they don't mean we should lose sight of the big goals we have...

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.