Journal 11 - Assessing Rural Needs

I'm still trying to understand and develop my methods section of my research, specifically I'm questioning how best to evaluate the health clinic's efforts and success in Wiamoase. As I discussed in Journal 9, I plan to use Community Capitals Research to study all aspects of the clinic. To build on this, I read a book last night that has made me aware of the value of a good survey.

I read Assessing Rural Needs last night and discovered what I've decided will be a key component of my research project. The book--written to help organizations and researchers create a good development project--focused on assessing rural communities by preparing basic survey questions that hopefully highlight major issues or concerns and make communities and service needs more comparable. The book provided some sample surveys and offered some advice on what are some good questions to ask.

To take this from theory and put it into action, I've brainstormed some questions I'll include in my survey.

1. Does the clinic have excess capacity, or is the size about right, or is it too small?

2. Is the clinic in good condition or poor condition?

3. Are it's patients mainly from around here, from communities close by, or from very distant communities?

4. Are any other facilities needed to help with the patients and work that is done here? If yes, specify _________.

5. Other than the services offered by this clinic now, are there any other services that should be developed here?

6. Is the ability of the clinic to meet the needs of the community increasing since it was established, unchanged since it was established, or decreasing since it was established?

7. Is there scheduled (bus, rail, boat, air) service to the Health Clinic? If yes, what, and how often (daily weekly)?

8. What health services does your community have? (include a list health service facilities)

9. In case of emergency or major illness, where to people generally go to get help? Name of Institution_______________. Location___________________.

10. How much time does it take to travel to (Name of Institution)? Dry season ____ Wet season___

11. How do people usually get there? _____________

12. In case of emergency is transportation available?(Always, sometimes, rarely)

Some of these question might be less usable or important than others, and they demonstrate to me that I'm still in the preliminary stages of methods development, but I'm excited for the shape my project is taking!

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.