NetACT Community Development Conference28 January 2015

Johannesburg

Understanding the community: the importance of research for

community development

To develop the community, you have to

understand the community

“Research is listening to people”

Unit for Religion and Development Research (URDR)

• Research partner for faith communities• Understanding your context, understanding your issues• With the goal being change

Tearfund sexual violence research

• We will speak out international coalition• IMA World Health, Christian Aid, WCC, WVI, CAFOD, UNAIDS

• UNAIDS working with churches• Further research: SA, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea• TF HIV&SV Unit

You have to give the community a voice, and listen to it

But what is empirical research?

In general…

• Decide on the focus of the research• What is the question you want to answer?

• Get a grip on it• Do not make it too big• Make sure you understand all the relevant concepts

• Choose a research design• E.g. Surveys? Case studies?

• Decide on population and sampling• Population = the people you are going to listen to• Sampling = the specific types of individuals (e.g. age, gender, employment status, etc.)

• Choose your research methods• E.g. interviews? Questionnaires? Focus groups?

• Fieldwork• Data processing

• Typing it up/ Putting it in Excel/ Transcribing/ etc.

• Coding• Qualitative data: looking for the general themes

• Data analysis• Putting it together: what does it tell us?

• Compiling findings and conclusions• General findings, drawing conclusions, making recommendations

• Report

The biggest

challenge:

your worldview

How to overcome our biases

• Who determines the focus of the research?• Literature review• Group research• Discussing it with others• Open-ended questions• Others’ input during interpretation phase• Getting others to do fieldwork

What does PAR teach us?

• Collaboration between researcher and research subject• Knowledge is generated for the purposes of action

Doing ethical research

Ethical research practices

• Asking for consent/permission• Full information about the project• Permission to withdraw• Anonymity• Confidentiality• Safe storage of data• Sharing of research results

Empirical research is the first step to doing community developmentBecause you cannot develop a community if you do not understand the community