Tag: research

Stories From the Field: Breaking Communication Barriers in a Qualitative Field Research

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Photo: Smiling schoolgirl in a yard

Upon joining the Gender and Social Transformation team at BIGD in June 2019, I have been engaged in some exciting qualitative research projects. The team is well-known within BIGD and also among international researchers for its expertise in qualitative research. As a member of such an expert group of researchers, I had to match the intensity of the job of conducting rigorous fieldwork in various projects.

Qualitative research is always challenging as the researcher needs to remain sensitive and continuously aware of all the questions which require answers to understand the context of a particular problem. Keeping all these in mind, we were conducting a research project called ‘New forms of adolescent voice and agency through the use of mobile phones and ICT’ with four schools from different socio-economic backgrounds in Dhaka and Cumilla. We aimed to explore whether mobile and internet usage is enabling adolescents to overcome barriers, and how it increases their voice and agency, with a keen eye on whether this contributed to building youth leadership.

This research is part of a nine-year (2015-2024) longitudinal research and evaluation study titled ‘Gender and Adolescent: Global Evidence (GAGE)’. GAGE is generating evidence on ‘what works’ to enable adolescent girls and boys to emerge from poverty and fast-track social change for young people, their families and communities.

The fieldwork of the project was divided into three categories — English medium school which represents higher class society, Bangla medium school representing the middle class and lower middle class and slum school representing the lower class. Taking Dhaka as the urban area, we conducted research in a Bangla Medium school, an English medium school and a Government high school, each representing a particular class as mentioned earlier, while another school, a Government high school from Cumilla, was added to the study to represent the rural lower-middle class.

The qualitative methodology of the research included focused group discussions and in-depth interviews of class eight students, their parents and teachers as I exclusively conducted FGDs and IDIs of boys and their parents. Upon completion of these activities in Slum school and Bangla medium schools from Dhaka and Cumilla, we struggled to find a suitable English medium school to wrap up the field work. Our senior team members picked out several English medium schools, most of which could not give us proper responses. However, we finally drew a positive response from Sir John Wilson School situated in the outskirts of Basundhara residential area. We went there and several team members went to meet the principal. Tensions within the team ran high after the principal mentioned undesirable incidents involving internet usage, such as cyber bullying and harassments, among the students of the school had made authorities cautious regarding the matter. We were worried whether the students would openly discuss these issues with us as conducting research in such English medium schools has been rare for us.

Photo: Students at Sir John Wilson School

We pondered over how we should deal with students from this particular class as communicating with them could be a challenge due to their verbal expressions and the issue mentioned earlier. Despite all these worries, I remained confident and enthusiastic because our topics were based on teenagers and the internet – both I am quite comfortable with. I felt my understanding of these areas would give me common ground with the particular respondents and allow me to draw enthusiasm from them as well. In separate meetings held by the team for this particular issue, I assured everyone that things would go smoothly.

After arriving at the school with the team under pressure, I began conversing with the boys and surprisingly drew spontaneous responses. My approach to the discussion was built around the universal usage of the internet and empathising with the student about web surfing to guide them into a common platform to make them open up without hesitation. As the FGD progressed we spoke following the guidelines. I tried to keep the mood light and had fun sharing secrets like flirting over social media and playing games etc. They brought up the issues of cyberbullying, sexual harassment and how the internet was becoming a place which regulated the mood of the adolescents often getting them depressed overreactions to certain posts and drawing comparisons with others they have contact with over the internet. I was deeply moved by their insights into social issues like garment labour movements, student movement over road accidents issues.

While speaking with them, I felt that the negatives of internet usage were highlighted overwhelmingly more than the perks. It is undeniable that the negative effects of using the internet during adolescence could bring great harm, yet the utility of the brighter side of the internet, like the negative sides, cannot be downplayed. With the internet’s unlimited resources for free, it assists them greatly in their studies, growing good hobbies and learning new skills, i.e. learning programming languages, developing games/apps, creating music and sharing them with a wider audience to appreciate or improve upon. It is nonetheless the quickest way to remain in touch with friends and families defying the distances. Adolescents expressed their worries about the risk of exposing themselves to strangers which sometimes lead them to getting blackmailed over life-threatening issues. Additionally, cyberbullying leads them into unhealthy relationships with friends, peers and forces them to take fatal steps like committing suicide which is a matter of grave concerns in the society.

After all the worries we had, it felt great to conduct productive FGDs and getting to know their activities and opinions about daily internet use was worthwhile as they expressed their opinions thoughtfully. It was the most enjoyable part of being a qualitative researcher as I felt privileged to have a job where I could connect with others in deep conversations and get to know their thoughts in the light of a particular context. And a well-versed conversation always helps to make the research compact and strong. Speaking to the respondents without any regard for their social class and status and in a passionate and curious mindset to understand the research problem can surely bring success in fieldwork.

Saklain Al Mamun is a Research Associate in the Gender and Social Transformation (CGST) cluster at BIGD. 

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

Photo 1 by Ricci Coughlan / DFID, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Photo 2 by Pragyna Mahpara

Stories from the Field: Venturing the Unchartered Territory of Qualitative Research

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Zeeshan Ashraf, Research Associate at the Research, Policy and Governance (RPG) team at BIGD, reflects on his experience in exploring qualitative research methods first-hand, in the remote villages of Sylhet. 

I have been working as a Research Associate at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) for over two years. Throughout my tenure at BIGD, I have been primarily involved with quantitative research. Although qualitative research is at the core of various programs of BRAC, it remained uncharted territory for me. Earlier this year, thanks to the initiative taken by Mehnaz Rabbani, Program Lead, Research, Policy and Governance (RPG) – I was able to participate in a three-day field visit along with my team members from the RPG team, to villages located in Sylhet district. This visit enabled me to experience the undertakings of qualitative research first-hand.

On the first day, we were assigned to conduct a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on the theme of digital literacy, which assesses an individual’s ability to use digital devices, such as computers and smartphones. We decided to organise the FGD in a village named Chanpur, which is located near Ratargul. Luckily, the people from the village were friendly and approachable and agreed to participate in our FGD. We also met some female teachers, who agreed as well.

Participants mentioned that every household had at least one smartphone. In fact, ownership of a smartphone was not confined to any particular socio-economic group.  They also mentioned that they used smartphones primarily for browsing Facebook, watching videos, playing mobile games, and for monetary transactions. During the course of the FGD, we noticed that only a few individuals were participating in the discussion, while the majority of the attendees remained tight-lipped. Moreover, the female teachers, who previously seemed quite enthusiastic about participating in the FGD, were reticent in front of the male participants in the discussion. The lack of involvement of the female teachers made us realize that FGDs should be organized separately for male and female participants. We also felt that we would have been able to obtain a more holistic picture of the village residents’ perception of digital literacy if all individuals had participated in the discussion.

We decided to conduct another FGD on the following day at a village named Jointapur, hoping that we would perform better as we had acquired some hands-on experience. We felt that the residents of this village were slightly conservative. Conversations with some of the local people substantiated our initial hunch. We came to know that none of the households possessed a television as they were instructed to eschew watching television by a late Wali. In fact, if television were to be found in a house, the residents of the village would storm in and destroy that television! As we walked around, trying to gather more participants, the residents gazed at us with suspicion. In fact, a resident enquired us about our purpose for visiting the village in a rather confrontational way. Another resident informed us that the villagers were suspicious of visitors, as some non-local individuals had committed anti-social activities in the past. Sensing the uncooperative attitude of the residents, we realized that we would be unable to conduct the FGD within the stipulated time. Hence, we left the village immediately. This particular experience made me realize that there were still areas in Bangladesh where the residents carried forward a rather conservative mindset, despite the wave of socio-economic progress in the country.

On the last day of the field visit, we decided to try our hand at another key tool of qualitative research – Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). We conducted the PRA in a village named Doloipara. The two primary components of PRA are – “wealth ranking” and “problem ranking”. Under the purview of wealth ranking, all households of a village are classified into different income groups. The participants of the PRA informed us that the households of Doloipara were clustered into four income groups- i) high-income, ii) middle-income, iii) low-income and iv) extremely low-income (Miskin). In order to undertake the task of problem ranking, we asked the residents to identify the most pressing problems of their village in a sequential way. The residents identified inadequate levels of drinking water as the most critical problem of Doloipara. The dismal state of roads, lack of electric poles and absence of proper drainage system were also identified as major problems. The residents mentioned that the aforementioned problems required immediate attention as these problems affected the daily lives of the people to a significant degree.

This PRA was the last assignment of the field visit. Following the conclusion of the PRA, we returned to the hotel to collect our luggage and departed for the bus station to board a Dhaka-bound bus. En route to Dhaka, I reflected on my experiences in this short yet insightful field visit. I realized that each village has its own culture and customs. Interacting with the residents of these villages can expand a researcher’s horizon of thinking, having encountered various perspectives from various individuals. Field visits can also teach a researcher the techniques of approaching and communicating with people from different walks of life. But most importantly, a field visit can open doors for a researcher to witness the state of a multitude of issues at the local level. All in all, I believe researchers should go out to the field, if for nothing else than for the sake of their personal growth and development.

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

Photo: The RPG Team in discussion with local residents of Chanpur

Conducting Online Surveys in the Time of a Pandemic The Dos and Don’ts

Conducting Online Surveys in the Time of a Pandemic: The Dos and Don’ts

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While most people at home are doing their best to hide away from COVID-19, researchers are making the most of this time at home to think up ways to demystify the effects of this lethal virus. One such team of young researchers at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) put their heads together (virtually) and decided to study the slowdown in all businesses in Bangladesh, including online businesses, that is being caused by Covid-19. They are particularly interested in examining the resilience of those online businesses that are owned and operated by women.

In a time of crisis, such as now, many people may not understand the urgency of conducting such research. The team at BIGD had anticipated these possibilities. They knew that what seems like unnecessary poking at present, would actually bear something fruitful in the future: gauging out the exact strength of the impact of COVID-19 on the online businesses, informing policy to actually make life easier for the participants and other online women-owned businesses in general.

The lockdown and mandated social distancing meant physical surveys are a no-go. Since the research would be dealing with online businesses, specifically those based on Facebook, an online survey seemed to be the ideal, or maybe the only, choice. The researchers designed the survey to be as short and easy as possible so that it did not add unduly stress on the participants.

With a target sample of 100 participants, the team rounded up a list of more than 200 women-owned Bangladeshi businesses on Facebook, keeping in mind that many potential respondents may refuse to participate because they do not trust online faceless interviewers or have other more important things to worry about. The team found out very early that simply inboxing the survey form with a generic descriptive message from BIGD’s official Facebook ID to a couple of hundred online pages would not get any response (and would not be allowed by Facebook regulations). They had to devise an alternate, more interactive, one-on-one strategy where the researcher would start by properly introducing themselves using Facebook messenger and then ease into a friendly conversation before going into the survey details.

A few ethical considerations had to be made in conducting this research during a global pandemic. Like so, it was clearly stated in the survey that a respondent had the options (a) to give consent, (b) to leave the survey at any point, and (c) to choose not to respond to questions asking for sensitive information.

Many of the contacted pages were wary about a researcher approaching them online with a link. Worried about their cyber security, they were reluctant to open the link to the survey form via Facebook and instead requested to have the link sent to them through email. Some pages agreed to fill up the form but later ignored the follow-up messages. Then there were other pages which did not wish to disclose the identity of their owners. Most respondents did not answer questions about their sales or revenue figures. At this stage, our researchers worked to build trust with the participants. Using snowballing tactics, some of the page owners helped convince other page owners to take part in the survey. Mutual friends between owners and the researchers also helped to connect the owners to the researchers. This being done, the researchers reassured respondents of maintaining strict confidentiality, knowing that these respondents were in a vulnerable spot and respecting their needs was of utmost importance.

The researchers were also aware that these women entrepreneurs faced many demands on their time: trying to keep their businesses afloat, dealing with the pandemic, and taking care of household responsibilities. Frequent follow-ups were required, where the researchers maintained their P’s and Q’s and were prompt to respond to all sorts of queries. The researchers had to bear in mind that the mental health and well-being of the respondents came before the need to maintain research deadlines. Hence even in the planning stage, researchers kept aside a long time frame for the survey duration to allow for any delays.

Despite the hurdles, the researchers believe that the trust that has been built between the researchers and respondents has actually helped to lay the groundwork for future follow-up surveys and interviews which will make for more in-depth research content.

This was a great learning experience for our team of young researchers. Being able to think innovatively, making spontaneous decisions and getting respondents to open up—these are skills which will take these researchers a long way.

Iffat Zahan and Maria Matin are Research Associates in the Research, Policy and Governance (RPG) team at BIGD, BRAC University. 

Photo : “Man browses his mobile phone while waiting in Dhaka.” – ADB Photo | Abir Abdullah under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license

Fear Of Uncertainty An Unexpected Common Ground

Fear Of Uncertainty: An Unexpected Common Ground

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Young researchers from the GAGE program realise they are in the same boat as their adolescent peers from the urban slums of Dhaka—but they are not facing the same storm.

“If people are stuck in their home then they won’t be able to eat properly. Even missing a month’s work is a huge deal for us poor people. People like us have to go outside and work hard to earn money, right?  If this continues, we’ll just have to starve to death” (Female, age 19)  

Over the last two months, the pandemic has spread into Bangladesh and morphed to the community transmission stage, with the number of cases rising at an alarming rate.  COVID-19 spares no-one; it does not heed the socially constructed bindings that separate us by gender, status, age, education or wealth. However, even at the hands of this nondiscriminatory disease, the least privileged are the ones suffering the most.

As researchers, we have the privilege of working from home, living our lives as routinely as possible. We’re worried about the world and our loved ones, some facing the mental health issues that come with being stuck at home. However, people without a stable income or formal employment are at an unfair disadvantage that is far worse. For these vulnerable populations, they have to deal with tension and stress on a day-to-day basis. While we bemoan our boredom and ‘Instagram’ our work-from-home struggles, the working-class population can’t ‘afford’ to be bored or take their mental health into consideration.

In the narrow alleyways of the slums in Dhaka, basic utilities are rare. If some houses are lucky enough to have access to electricity, gas or water, the services are rarely uninterrupted. The idea of social distancing is almost laughable in these settlements, where families of six or eight are packed into single rooms. With several households sharing a common bathroom and kitchen, quarantine and isolation is an alien concept.

During the pandemic, adolescents in the GAGE programme are experiencing a different reality compared to their privileged peers. These adolescents are having to grow up far too soon, fast-forwarding through a critical phase of development. The impact of COVID-19 on their education and mental health is of great concern.

Our local team of researchers embarked on a journey to tackle this issue, focusing on adolescents facing the COVID-19 pandemic, located in low-income settlements in three areas of Dhaka – Rupnagar, Gazipur Sadar, and Mohammadpur. We had a list of 31 contacts from a baseline study conducted in 2018, from which we reconnected with 16 adolescents. This research was different for us, given the circumstances. However, we made the best out of the situation by utilising digital tools to coordinate remote working, using services such as Google Sheets, WhatsApp and Google Hangouts.

We thought we wouldn’t have much time during our phone interviews with each of the adolescents – leaving only a narrow window in which they could open up. However, to our surprise, most of the respondents were quite eager to talk, as they already had a rapport with the researchers from the previous baseline study. One challenge we did face during the interviews was finding a separate space devoid of external interruptions and noise, as ‘private space’ is not a “choice” but a luxury that most of the respondents could not afford. However, we tried to make the interviews as accommodating for the respondents as possible, keeping the questions simple and short.

The older adolescents we communicated with were quite well-spoken and aware of the COVID-19 pandemic. They knew that it was an infectious disease, and that they needed to maintain hygienic practices to prevent it. In contrast, the younger ones did not seem to understand the situation at all and were just following their parents’ instructions. One female adolescent (age 16) expressed her annoyance about not being able to go to school, “I don’t like staying at home all day because I can’t talk with any of my friends.  My neighbours are boys, so I cannot interact with them either since it is not accepted in our house. If I was attending school or coaching classes now, I would have fun and hangout with my friends. But the lockdown has made everything boring.”

Nearly all the respondents expressed their frustration and anxiety about the situation, worried about how their families would stay afloat in this economic crisis.  Being stuck at home for so long, not meeting their friends, is taking a toll on their mental health. They were also stressed about their families’ health, and felt quite helpless. A 15 year old boy told us, for example, how anxious he feels about his family members leaving the house. He said, “Every time my brothers come back from the bazaar, I panic. What if they catch the disease and it spreads to the family? They maintain hygiene, but they go out frequently and don’t always wash their hands every time. My mom and I keep telling them, but they say nothing will happen. I feel annoyed during these times, because they aren’t taking it seriously.”

Most of the respondents’ families were completely dependent on the income earned by their parents or siblings, which had come to a halt. Three of the adolescents in our sample had started to work after dropping out of school, but were compelled to stop due to the lockdown. This means that buying groceries, paying rent and getting by in the upcoming months is going to be very difficult. Although the government has been distributing aid, most of the respondents stated that help was yet to reach their households. One of them even shared concerns about corruption, referring to cases of local government representatives distributing relief only to their relatives.

Most of the respondents were getting information related to COVID-19 from the TV and through local “miking”, with few relying on online sources like Facebook and YouTube. Some of the adolescents stated that they did not have access to the internet at all, and not everyone in their class had a phone. Previously, school or extra classes were their only form of interaction with peers. In fact, none of the respondents were happy about schools being closed or exams being postponed. They are stressed about not being able to study, falling behind in their work, and performing poorly in their exams.

Most of the underprivileged adolescents had not been given any work at home and were trying to study by themselves. However, they all stated that they could not concentrate due to the pandemic, with thoughts of people dying and worries about the future. Moreover, most of the school-going adolescents do not have any support or guidance from their teachers. None of their family members are educated enough to help them with their studies, although their families are quite supportive.

Although we were offering a Tk.100 phone top-up to respondents as gratitude for giving us their time, we realised that simply getting the chance to open up about their anxieties was a much needed release for them. This was when we felt like the researchers and respondents were in the same boat, but fighting different storms. Perhaps, the acknowledgement that on some level, we shared the same hopelessness, despair, and fear in the face of a global disaster is what made the rapport building easy.

We are facing unprecedented times due to this pandemic. Researchers worldwide are conducting remote research, acquiring real time insights on the impact of the virus. As we continue our fight against COVID-19, we must always keep in mind the vulnerable adolescents who continue to bear the brunt of the crisis.

*This blogpost was originally written for the GAGE Programme*

Photo credit: “Mitaly” by Ricci Coughlan/DFID under CC BY-NC 2.0 license