February 2022 - BRAC Institute of Governance and Development

WEE-DiFine’s second RFP funds six research projects

Posted on 23 February 2022 | by BIGDAdmin | Leave a Comment

With WEE-DiFine’s second RFP completed, the range of innovative topics on the intersection of digital financial services (DFS) and women’s economic empowerment (WEE) continues to grow. Encouraging cleaner cooking through DFS, maternal well-being and WEE, and the impact of smartphones on household property rights—these are just three of the topics that the WEE-DiFine initiative has funded through its second competitive RFP.

With operational learnings from the first RFP,¹ the Initiative set out to develop new resources. When asked about these resources, WEE-DiFine Initiative Director Kym Cole stated, “We aimed to create resources to help demystify the competitive application process and support research teams to create the most competitive proposals possible.”

The second RFP, which focused only on small grants, was launched in early April 2021 and closed at the end of May 2021. Similar to RFP #1, proposals underwent a competitive, multi-step review process. During the final stage, an Advisory Committee convened to discuss each proposal. The Advisory Board voted to incubate three proposals. Incubation involves feedback calls, coaching, and further review of revised proposals in order to help teams prepare a competitive proposal for the next RFP. Incubation does not guarantee acceptance or future funding. The remaining six proposals that were not accepted for funding or incubation were offered feedback calls to walk through the comments provided throughout our review process.

Forty-nine proposals were received, and six were conditionally approved for funding. Five out of the six proposals accepted include a PI who is from the country of focus in the research study.

WEE-DiFine RPF #2 statistics

Although RFP #2 only solicited proposals for small grants, teams could apply in more than one category, and eight teams applied to more than one category. The largest share of proposals were for pilot studies (33%) followed by measurement studies and qualitative studies as formative or standalone research (both at 23%), and finally qualitative studies as extensions to existing studies (21%). Through RFP #2, the Initiative funded four pilots and two qualitative studies. To date, the Initiative has not funded any measurement studies.

To date, WEE-DiFine has funded three studies each in India and Bangladesh, two in Kenya, and one each in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania.

List of funded studies:

Title: An experimental analysis of the impact of smartphones and household property rights on the uptake of DFS

Associated Investigators: Philip Roessler (William & Mary), Tanu Kumar (William & Mary), Peter Carroll, (University of Michigan), Boniface Dulani (Institute of Public Opinion and Research) Daniel Nielson (University of Texas-Austin)

Country and Partner: Malawi; Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR); Girls Empowerment Network (GENET)

Description: Access to mobile devices is a prerequisite for DFS usage which may have positive effects on WEE. This pilot study seeks to explore how women’s ownership of smartphones can increase their use of DFS, household economic well-being, and WEE. Participants will be recruited in the Blantyre district of Malawi and will be assigned to one of four groups: technical efficacy treatment, property rights treatment, cash placebo, or control. This research could potentially increase our understanding of the impact of shifting husbands’ beliefs on property rights for women with secondary impacts on DFS usage and phone uptake.

Title: Understanding how digitally addressing liquidity constraints through salary advances impacts women’s bargaining power and economic empowerment

Associated Investigators: Achyuta Adhvaryu (University of Michigan), Anant Nyshadham (University of Michigan), Smit Gade (Good Business Lab), Aditya Jagati (Busara Centre for Behavioural Economics), Pooja Gupta (Busara Centre for Behavioural Economics)

Country and Partner: India; Shahi Exports

Description: Access to financial resources can improve women’s ability to respond to shocks, such as unexpected expenses due to illness. Unfortunately, women have lower access to financial resources. Working with garment factories in Karnataka, India, this pilot study will explore an innovative salary advance intervention which allows women to access funds between pay-cycles. The research team will explore the impact of the intervention on outcomes including self-efficacy, bargaining power, and investments in household expenditures such as healthcare and education.

Title: Encouraging cleaner cooking: Digital finance and LPG use in Ghana

Associated Investigators: Kelsey Jack (UC Santa Barbara), Kwaku Poku Asante (Kintampo Health Research Center), Darby Jack (Columbia University), Dean Karlan (Northwestern University), Christopher Urdy (Northwestern University)

Country and Partner: Ghana; Innovations for Poverty Action & Kintampo Health Research Centre

Description: Traditional cooking fuels, like wood, coal, and kerosene, can have harmful effects on individuals and the environment. Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) offers a cleaner and safer alternative to traditional cooking fuels, but there are barriers to adoption and sustained use, including women’s intrahousehold bargaining power. This study will test two interventions designed to increase the adoption and continued use of LPG through access to digital financial services.

Title: Empowering Poor Urban Women in Bangladesh through Digital Financial Services: Does Wage Payment via Mobile Money translate into Economic Empowerment?

Associated Investigators: Zaki Wahhaj (University of Kent), Maliha Rahanaz (University of Kent & BRAC University)

Country and Partner: Bangladesh; HelloTask

Description: HelloTask, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, connects domestic workers with short-term opportunities. Working with HelloTaskers, the research team will randomly assign participants to one of two treatment arms or a control group. Both treatment arms will be offered digital financial services (DFS) training and a bKash (mobile money) account. The only variation between the first and second treatment arms is that the second treatment arm will receive their HelloTask payments via cash, as opposed to mobile money. Finally, the control group will not receive DFS training or support and will receive payment via cash. This research has the potential to reveal the impacts of mobile money payments and DFS training on various outcomes including household decision making and savings.

Title: Digital finance services, women’s economic empowerment, and maternal mental well-being: An ethnographic study in rural Kenya

Associated Investigators: Estelle Sidze (African Population and Health Research Centre), Caroline Wainaina (African Population and Health Research Centre; Utrecht University), Amanuel Abajobir (African Population and Health Research Centre), Emmy Igonya (African Population and Health Research Centre), Wendy Janssen (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development)

Country and Partner: Kenya; African Population and Health Research Centre

Description: Building on an ongoing cluster RCT in Kakamega, Kenya, this study seeks to better understand the role of digital financial services (DFS) on healthcare practices among vulnerable, rural women. The intervention currently being studied involves an insurance scheme delivered through mobile phones. Taking an in-depth qualitative approach, the research team will expand on the RCT and utilize ethnographic methods including participant observation. This research will complement the quantitative findings and has the potential to explore how access to DFS influence healthcare use, women’s economic empowerment, and maternal well-being.

Title: Digital financial services, transaction costs and women’s empowerment: A qualitative analysis

Associated Investigators: Naila Kabeer (London School of Economics and Political Science), Lopita Huq (BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, BRAC University)

Country and Partner: Bangladesh; Shakti Foundation

Description: By reducing transaction costs, DFS offer the potential to close the persistent gender gap between those who have access to finance and those who do not. This qualitative study is an extension of a WEE-DiFine funded RCT that explores the perceived benefits of reduced direct versus indirect transaction costs associated with DFS. Using semi-structured interviews, the research team will unpack the causal processes not fully understood through the RCT. The goal is to understand women’s experiences from opening a mobile account to usage to the impacts on their lives.

¹ More on the first RFP can be found in a previously published blog post.

Jenna Grzeslo is Senior Program Manager, Research & Learning, at BRAC USA

Stories from the Field: Is Masking a Communication Barrier for Conducting Qualitative Interviews?

Posted on 24 February 2022 | by BIGDAdmin | Leave a Comment

The COVID-19 crisis has made face masks the new normal, presenting qualitative researchers with a new challenge when trying to build rapport with research participants. Dipanwita Ghosh and Dhanista Chakma share insights and strategies on conducting qualitative field research while wearing face masks during the pandemic crisis.

Conducting a focus group discussion (FGD) while wearing face masks.
Photo: Mohammad Mohibullah Khan

BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) adopted new research methodologies during the pandemic to generate insights and evidence for effective policies, leading to better development and governance outcomes. Research has played a key role in understanding the social impact of COVID-19 on the life and livelihood of the people. As a result, BIGD researchers conducted several qualitative studies during the pandemic. These studies require researchers to interview the locals. While conducting interviews for data collection, researchers ensured that COVID-19 safety protocols such as social distancing, hand washing, and masking were followed. However, they faced many challenges in their work due to the requirement of wearing a mask. A core component for in-depth interviews for the qualitative study is building rapport and creating an environment for comfortable interaction. Therefore, researchers build rapport with the participants before the interview and also take steps to keep them comfortable during the discussion. In qualitative interviews, limited time is a challenge in gaining the trust of the interviewers (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006; McGrath et al., 2018). Understandably rapport building can be more challenging if interviews were conducted wearing a mask. The purpose of this blog is to highlight the challenges faced by researchers in conducting qualitative interviews wearing masks and some strategies to facilitate effective communication with the participants.

Face masks reduce the volume and travel distance of exhaled droplets when talking, breathing, or coughing. According to WHO, masks should be used as a measure to suppress transmission of COVID 19 and save lives. To ensure safety from COVID-19, researchers needed to wear masks every time they came in contact with locals. However, face masks can sometimes create communication barriers, such as softening the speaker’s voice, concealing the vocal tone, and hiding the facial expressions that relay essential non-verbal information (Knollman-Porter & Burshnic, 2020).

During the fieldwork, we observed that wearing masks might sometimes make communication arduous, particularly for older adults and people who have trouble speaking or hearing. Another challenge was the concealment of facial expressions, which communicate emotional information, allowing participants in social interactions to appraise the emotional states of each other and adapt their behaviour accordingly (Lazzeri et al., 2018). Masking precludes the ability to read lips and see facial emotions, both of which help understand what is heard. To support the argument, a case based on the field experience is given here.

Case: Interaction between a local rickshaw puller and a researcher

One of the researchers used a rickshaw to get from one location to another during fieldwork while wearing a face mask. As the rickshaw puller could not identify whether she was a local or an outsider, he demanded a higher fare for the trip. Since the researcher knew the exact fare from her previous experience in the same field, she told the rickshaw puller that he has demanded a far higher fare. The rickshaw puller finally agreed to the researcher’s fare offer and asked her:

“Mama apni ki raag hoisen? Ashole amra toh passenger er chehara deikha vara chai, kintu mask pora thakay ekhon keu raag korse naki raji hoise bujhte pari na.”

(Translated to English: Did you get angry mama? Actually, we demand the fare by looking at the passengers’ faces, but now as everyone is wearing a mask, it has become difficult to understand whether a passenger is getting angry or accepting our offer”.)

Note: In Bangladesh, both the rickshaw puller and the passenger address each other as mama to establish an informal relationship. It is an initiation of building rapport. Mama in English means uncle.

Some research participants informed that face masks impacted their hearing, understanding, engagement, and feelings of connection with the researchers. There were cases where participants could not hear or comprehend the questions of the researchers. During in-depth qualitative interviews, the ability of the participants to speak freely with the researchers is prioritised. However, in cases when both participant and researcher were wearing masks, hiding a major portion of their faces, some participants took a long time to feel at ease, compared to times when wearing a mask was not required. When participants saw researchers were wearing masks, they were concerned about whether they should also wear masks. During fieldwork, before starting the interview one participant said:

“Apni toh mask poira achen. Mask na poira ki kotha kon jaibo? Ashole ghore toh amader mask pora hoy na.”

(Translated to English: “You are wearing a mask. Can I speak without wearing a mask? Actually, we do not wear a mask at home.”)

Wearing a mask is necessary to suppress the transmission of COVID-19. Hence, we conducted qualitative research wearing masks at all times. Considering the difficulties posed by face masks during interviews, we devised a mechanism to conduct interviews to ensure effective communication with the participants:

We try to offer the participant our full attention and grasp theirs. We initiated a conversation by introducing ourselves, explaining why we were taking their time, and describing the study’s purpose and involvement. If a participant requested to see our faces, we first explained why we were wearing masks, then we dropped the mask from a distance and swiftly placed it back on.
We made sure that we faced the participant directly maintaining eye contact and that nothing was blocking our view.
If the interview spot was noisy, and if there are possibilities of relocation, we requested participants to relocate to a quieter place to create a more comfortable environment for the interview. If that is not possible, we requested them for a different time (esp. when the place is expected to be quieter) for the interview prioritizing their availability. If they are unavailable at any other time, we conducted the interview at that time.
Sometimes we had to match the pace of the participants by talking a little louder or slower to make the participants feel at ease. If the respondents did not understand the question, we explained its context by telling them why the question was asked, provided examples to make the question easy to understand, or asked the question differently.
Nonverbal cues expressed through body language can play a vital role in human communication. Therefore, using body language could also help in ensuring effective communication.
When the interview is conducted with someone new, ask if there is anything the researcher can do to make communication easier for both.

Masks will remain in use for as long as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying the issues and challenges that impede successful communication while wearing face masks is essential for better acclimating to the ensuing norm. Furthermore, developing coping strategies and skills that facilitate our communication during qualitative interviews with face masks is essential for managing the pandemic.

Reference

DiCicco-Bloom B, Crabtree BF. 2006. The qualitative research interview. Med Educ. 40:314–321.

Knollman-Porter, K., & Burshnic, V. L. (2020). Optimizing Effective Communication While Wearing a Mask During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 46(11), 7–11.

Lazzeri, N., Mazzei, D., ben Moussa, M., Magnenat-Thalmann, N., & de Rossi, D. (2018). The influence of dynamics and speech on understanding humanoid facial expressions. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 15(4), 172988141878315.

McGrath, C., Palmgren, P. J., & Liljedahl, M. (2018). Twelve tips for conducting qualitative research interviews. Medical Teacher, 41(9), 1002–1006.

Dipanwita Ghosh and Dhanista Chakma are Research Associates at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University.

“Stories from the Field” is an ongoing series where members of the BIGD team reflect on their experiences conducting research on-ground.