Combined course in PLA/PRA and Advanced Qualitative Research
EDU4021/HEM4311
Semester 3: 10 Credits
Description/Rationale:
The objective of the course is to introduce students to methods used within the paradigm of PLA/PRA. These are methods that lend themselves to working with people living in oral cultures and rural communities. The methods can also be used among the poor in urban communities both in developing countries and the so-called developed world. Participatory Learning and Action (PLA ) is an umbrella term for a wide range of similar approaches and methodologies, including Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), Participatory Learning Methods (PALM), Participatory Action Research (PAR), Méthod Active de Recherche et de Planification Participative (MARP), and many others. The common theme to all these approaches is the full participation of people in the processes of learning about their needs and opportunities, and in the action required to address them. Participatory approaches offer a creative approach to investigating issues of concern to poor people, and to planning, implementing, and evaluating development activities. They challenge prevailing biases and preconceptions about people's knowledge. The methods used range from visualisation, to interviewing and group work. The common theme is the promotion of interactive learning, shared knowledge, and flexible, yet structured analysis. These methods have proven valuable in a wide range of sectors and situations, in both North and South. Participatory approaches can also bring together different disciplines, such as agriculture, health and community development, to enable an integrated vision of livelihoods and well-being. They offer opportunities for mobilising local people for joint action. In recent years, there have been a number of shifts in the scope and focus of participation:• emphasis on sub-national, national and international decision making, not just local decision making• greater recognition of issues of difference and power • emphasis on assessing the quality and understanding the impact of participation, rather than simply promoting participation The module will also take the issues introduced in Research Methods and Statistics (EDU 4011) and encourage you to think through the ways in which they are related to the practice of qualitative research. The course will be based around your own Master research projects in which a variety of qualitative research methods may be employed in a variety of combinations and contexts. You will be introduced to the practicalities and problems encountered by researchers in attempting to select the methods and analyses appropriate to their research questions; combinations of theory, methods, sampling, access, ethics and writing in “the field”. Drawing on ideas raised in discussions of your own work and other research, in the qualitative research literature, and in materials relating to the specific area in which you intend to do your research, you will be required to conduct practical work such as: interviews, observations, developing instruments for data collection, etc. Course aims: Qualitative and quantitative methods will be combined within the PLA/PRA paradigm. Data coming from social, demographic and economic statistics; classroom ethnographic procedures, e.g. tape-recordings, participant observations, time studies, field notes, teacher logs, student diaries, language histories, and sociolinguistic interviews can all be employed within the PLA/PRA paradigm. The main aims of this course are to give you a detailed appreciation of:• how participatory learning methods make use of a dialogic process which develops as it is being done within and between specific contexts and in cooperation with the local people.• how to be sensitive to the dynamics of research contexts and the interplay between partners in the participatory learning process• how to use lessons learned from other people’s experiences of doing participatory action research to think about how and where your own work is going.• how qualitative research is a dialogic, iterative process which develops as it is being done within and between specific contexts.• how to deal with this issue through being sensitive to the dynamics of research contexts and being prepared to be flexible with research questions and methods.• how to use lessons learned from other people’s experiences of doing qualitative research to think about how and where your own work is going.• how to use the data collection methods available in qualitative research. Delivery: The course will be based around your own Master research projects in which a variety of research methods may be employed in a variety of combinations and contexts. The module will be delivered in five 4 hour sessions during one week through a mixture of teaching and learning methods. This part of the course will take place before you go to the field. This will be followed by one 2 hour session and two 4 hour sessions when you at the end of the term return from your field studies. In this last week of the course issues of data analysis and thesis writing will be discussed. The course will be structured as follows: • Introduction to methods used in participatory research, learning and action• Qualitative research in practice• Research questions and preparing “fieldwork”• Accessing the “field” and experiencing “fieldwork”• Constructing and analyzing “data”• Writing and after Assessment: Drawing on ideas raised in discussions of your own work and other research, in the participation-action and qualitative research literature you will be required to submit (before you leave for field-work) a process-oriented, autoethnographic account of the participatory learning and action exercise or qualitative research you are about to venture into.We expect from you after your return from your field-work and completed this course to submit a 3,000 word discussion of how the issues raised in the course and in the readings relate to the participatory or qualitative research you have recently undertaken.The grade for the course will be based on these two assignments and your active participation in class. Course readings: Atkinson, Paul and Hammersley, Martyn (1994): Ethnography and Participant Observation. In Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage. pp. 248-261. Defines ethnography and participant observation; a science? Brock-Utne,Birgit, 1996: Reliability and validity in qualitative research within education in Africa. International Review of Education. Vol.42. (6): 605-621. Chambers, Robert, (2002a): Notes for participants in PRA/PLA related familiarization workshop January 2002. In: Brock-Utne,Birgit and Ragnhild Tungesvik (eds.). Doing Educational Research in Developing Countries. Report no.7.2002.Oslo:Institute for Educational Research.pp.19-38Chambers, Robert (2002b): Participatory Workshops. A Sourcebook of 21 Sets of Ideas and Activities. June 2002, 220pp ISBN 1 85383 862 4Christians, Clifford, (2001): Ethics and Politics in Qualitative Research. In Norman K. Denzin, Yvonna S. Lincoln (eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage. pp. 133-155. Overview of the moral and philosophical issues related to ethics in qualitative research.Fontana, Andrea and Frey, James H. (1994): Interviewing: The Art of Science. In Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research: Thousand Oaks: Sage. pp. 361-376. History of interviewing, structured interviewing, group interviews, unstructured interviews, gendered interviews, framing interviews, ethical considerations. Hodder, Ian (1994): The Interpretation of Documents and Material Culture. In Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research: Thousand Oaks: Sage. pp. 393- 402.Patai, Daphne (1991): U.S. Academics and Third World Women: Is Ethical Research Possible?” In Sherna Berger Gluck and Daphne Patai (eds.). Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History: NY: Routledge. pp. 137-53.Robinson-Pant, Anna (2002): What can PRA offer to educational researchers? In: Brock-Utne,Birgit and Ragnhild Tungesvik (eds.). Doing Educational Research in Developing Countries. Report no.7.Oslo: Institute for Educational Research.pp.39-63.Scheyvens, Regina and Storey, Donovan (2003): Development fieldwork: a practical guide. London: Sage. pp.263Weiss, Robert S. (1994): Learning From Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies: NY: Free Press. pp. 246. Offers step-by-step method of qualitative interviewing: sample selection, development of an interview guide, the conduct of the interview, data analysis, and preparation of the data. Examples of successful and less successful interviews. Total pages: 863 Recommended reading: Aunger, Robert (1995): On Ethnography: Storytelling or Science? Current Anthropology. 36 (1): 97-130. Advocates combining formal statistical analysis and participant observation to trace causal development of a case. Responding to critics who argue that ethnography can never amount to anything besides personal impressions.Chambers Robert, Nicole Kenton and Holly, Ashley (eds) (2004): Participatory Learning and Action 50: Critical reflections, future directions IIED, October 2004. 224 pp, price US$22.50Kvale, Steinar (1996): InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing: Thousand Oaks: Sage. pp. 298. Offers an in-depth analysis into the theoretical and philosophical foundations of interviewing and the influence those foundations have on the process, the content, and the analysis of qualitative interviews. Marshall, Catherine, and Rossman, Gretchen B. (1993): Designing Qualitative Research 2nd ed.: Thousand Oaks: Sage. pp. 224Sieber, Joan E. (1992): Planning Ethically Responsible Research: Thousand Oaks: Sage. pp. 3-74.Total pages: 850