Trainers Manual Training for young people to conduct qualitative research on young people’s sexuality and youth friendly SRH services
Š 2010 Rutgers WPF Henri van den Idsert Miranda van Reeuwijk Rutgers WPF evolved from the merger of the Rutgers Nisso Groep, Dutch expert centre on sexuality, and the World Population Foundation (WPF). Rutgers WPF is a member of IPPF, the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
Acknowledgments On behalf of RNG, Youth Incentives, we would like to thank Doortje Braeken and Kat Watson from IPPF for their insightful support, and for making this research project possible. It has been a great pleasure working with the both of you. We would also like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the IPPF Member Associations (MA) in Malawi and Bangladesh for their excellent logistical support and continuous effort in making this training a success. In particular we would like to thank the directors, district officers, youth officers and programme managers. Two names deserve particular mentioning here: thank you Mathias Chatuluka and Moazzem Hossain for making our work that much more pleasant and easy. We would also like to thank all the support staff of the MAs in both countries for their cooperation and humble support. This research training would not have been possible without the support of the local researchers in both countries; we therefore would like to say a special thank you to Dr. Papreen Nahar and Dr. Alister Munthali for their tireless efforts and overall coordination of the research at local level. Last but not least we would like to thank the sixteen young researchers in Malawi and Bangladesh for the incredible amount of work, motivation and fun they have provided us throughout the research project. It has been a pleasure to work with each one of you!
Thank you!
! Zikomo !
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1. Goal and objectives Goal The overall goal of the training is to train young people to conduct research on young people’s sexuality by applying particular research methods and techniques for qualitative data collection. The data collection takes place within the framework of the IPPF/RNG research “Do they match? Young people’s realities and needs relating to sexuality and youth friendly service provision” (RNG 2009). Objectives 1. To develop a research plan that includes question lists for FGD’s and individual interviews. 2. To increase knowledge on qualitative research processes, methods and techniques. 3. To build skills to collect data that help to answer the research question, in particular interview techniques, ‘rapport’, ethical conduct and reflection. 4. To collect data on young people’s sexuality and youth friendly services. 5. To organise a stakeholder panel for verification of research findings.
2. Introduction to this Manual 2.1. Background Information to the Research Project This training is part of a larger research project: in 2009, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) commissioned the Rutgers Nisso Groep (RNG) to design a qualitative research project in which the participation of young people is central, with the aim of improving the access and quality of Youth Friendly Service provision (YFS) by their Member Associations in Bangladesh and Malawi. The title of this research project is: “Do they match? Young people’s realities and needs relating to sexuality and youth friendly service provision”. The research will investigate whether sexual and reproductive health services provided to young people in Bangladesh and Malawi, meet the sexual realities and needs of young people, focussing on the perspectives of young people (see research proposal “Do they match?” RNG 2009). Central to the research is the involvement of young people as informants and as coresearchers. In order to involve young people as researchers, RNG designed an 8-9 day research training to equip young people with knowledge and skills to conduct SRHRrelated research. Each training had eight young research participants (gender balanced), one translator and a local researcher (in Malawi there were two research coordinators). A local research coordinator was assigned to support and further instruct the team and was responsible for the analysis of data and the production of the final research report. A stakeholder panel reflected on the findings at fixed times during the research period. At the end of a 3 month data collection period, a workshop was organised to present and verify the findings with MA staff, key informants and stakeholders. A plan of action was developed during the workshop to implement recommendations as formulated by the research team.
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2.2. Training Strategy The training was conducted by two researchers/consultants from RNG and two (local) researchers responsible for coordinating the young people during the data collection period. These research coordinators were familiar with the local language and context of the country, and had previous research experience in the field of SRHR (PhD) in Malawi. Next to supporting the facilitators and collecting data during the research training process, they were also responsible for team-building, finances and for arranging logistics in cooperation with FPAM. In order to reach the objectives and facilitate learning in a youth-friendly way an interactive, adaptive, and participatory training methodology was used. The content, level and tempo of the training were continuously adapted to the capacities of the participants and on the basis of their input. New exercises were added and some were altered to produce a more fluid training, particularly in interviewing and note-taking techniques. One thing we have learned from both the trainings in Bangladesh and Malawi is that the order and contents of sessions should be adapted on the basis of the input and capacities of the participants. To involve young people in a meaningful way in the research it is important that they do not ‘just’ learn how to ask questions (interview techniques). It is also important that they decide what issues are most important and need to be focussed on. Not only in the design of the research, but also during the interviews, priorities have to be made. To enable the young participants to do that in a responsible way, we put a lot of focus on building reflection skills: on the quality (validity, reliability) of data, on their own role as researchers, on interpretation and bias, on building rapport, on their responsibility as researchers for the well-being of their informants and on collecting information that reflects what is at stake for young people in the particular country. In addition, it was necessary to train the young people in basic analytical skills, in order for them to be able to formulate good questions that probe for details without losing focus on the main research question.
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Young people can carry the weight of the responsibilities that come with conducting research only if they are well trained, truly motivated, feel ownership of the research project and are involved in decisions regarding research focus and planning. In order for them to take their tasks and responsibilities seriously, the adults supporting them need to take the young people and their job as researchers seriously. This includes compensating them for their labour and responsibilities in the form of salaries. To evaluate the training sessions and the retention level of the participants, every two days the training coordinator held a verbal evaluation regarding the following three questions: •
What did you learn these past two days? What did you find most challenging? What could the facilitators do to improve the training?
In addition, at the end of every day the facilitators and coordinator reflected together on the training day and the collected data and adapted and prepared the sessions for the next day. Lastly, since the training involved young people, it was important to try and create an environment in which they felt comfortable and at ease.
2.3.
Training Programme
Day 1
Introduction and FGD with Research Team
Time 9.00 – 10.30 10.30 11.00 11.45 12.30 13.30
– – – – –
11.00 11.45 12.30 13.30 17.30
Day 2
Research Methodology
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 10.30 10.30 11.00 12.30 13.30
Sessions Energizer to facilitate introduction of all persons present Welcome by MA representative Break Explanation of research training: Why are we here? Conceptualising Sexuality Lunch FGD on young people’s sexuality and youth friendly clinics
– – – –
11.00 12.30 13.30 15.00
15.00 – 15.30 15.30 – 17.30
Sessions Energizer Continuation of FGD/Session on what makes services youth friendly Break What is research? Introduction to Research Methodology Lunch Brainstorm Interview Techniques & Exercise ‘interviewing the facilitator’ Break Practicing Interview Techniques: Role play exercise
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Day 3
Interview Techniques (continued)
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 9.45 9.45 – 10.30 10.30 11.00 11.30 12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30 16.30
– – – – – – – –
Sessions Energizer Evaluation of days 1 and 2 Interview techniques: Entry points and probing (after short summary of techniques discussed in day 2) Break How to prepare an interview Preparing an interview with service provider(s) Lunch Conduct interview with service provider(s) Break Summary of and reflection on what we learned Tour and explanation of the Youth Friendly Service in Dowa
11.00 11.30 12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30 16.30 17.30
Day 4
Personal Reflection and Research Ethics
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 9.45 9.45 – 10.30 10.30 – 11.00 11.00 – 11.45 11.45 – 12.30 12.30 – 13.30 13.30 – 15.00 15.00 – 15.30 15.30 – 17.30
Sessions Energizer Summary and evaluation of day 3 Carrousel game: Exploring own boundaries and values Break Analysis of carrousel game Research ethics, what does it mean? Lunch Ethical cases and discussion on consent Break Ethical protocols and requesting informed consent exercise
Day 5
Specifying Research to Country Context
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 9.45 9.45 – 10:45 10:45 – 11:00 11:00 – 11:30 11.30 – 13:00 13:00 – 14:00 14.00 – 16:00 16:00 – 17:00
Sessions Energizer Summary / Review of first week and short evaluation (of day 4) Working out research topics and questions Break Defining key concepts Preparing FGD questions for the field & division of tasks in FGD Lunch FGD with adolescent clients in the field Prepare presentations of findings for day 6
Day 6
Presenting Findings
Time 9.00 – 10.30 10.30 – 11:15 11.15 – 11.45 11.45 – 12.30 12.30 – 13.30 13.30 – 14.30
Sessions Preparation of presentation on findings Presentation group 1 Break Presentation group 2 Lunch Feedback on FGD findings and process: How to order & analyze data (according to topics) Drawing good conclusions Reflection on quality of data Note-taking exercise
14.30 - 15.00 15.00 – 16.00 16.00 – 17.00
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Day 7
Mapping and Research Plan
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 10.00
Sessions Energizer Introduction of guests (IPPF, FPAM staff) Summary and evaluation of the previous day(s) /research purpose for guests Mapping & Planning: selecting informants Lunch Stakeholder panel Break Data recording and reporting Team management plan
10.00 12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30 16.30
– – – – – –
12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30 16.30 17.30
Day 8 Time 9.00 – 12.30 12.30 – 13.30 13.30 – 14.15 14.15 - 15.30
Finalisation of Research Training Sessions Half day for catching up/need-based sessions/field work practices outreach programme and FGD Lunch Verbal and written evaluation Ethical Vow & Graduation Ceremony
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2.3. Set up of the Training Manual This manual is designed to take the facilitator through a series of training blocks aimed at achieving the main objectives. These blocks are built up of sessions and exercises on a day to day basis; each day possessing its own (sub) objectives and programme indicated in the grey boxes at the beginning of each day. Each session in the programme is further elaborated with a timeframe, verbal explanation, and exercises. The content used to explain the sessions is highlighted in orange boxes, while the exercises are highlighted in light blue boxes. Instructions within each training session are indicated through bullet points. If any special material is needed, it will be mentioned in the manual at the beginning of the session. The manual also shows which chapters from the text book need to be read beforehand by the participants. For our training in both Malawi and Bangladesh, we found it was very useful to use sticky wall paper, flipcharts, marker pens, and to have someone taking minutes of the whole training (for learning and evaluation purposes). The manual has been designed to allow other facilitators to adapt the methodology used for youth participation in research. In theory this methodology could be applied to any research topic; however, this particular research training specifically focuses on youth sexuality issues and YFS provision. Therefore, if the facilitator wishes to adapt the methodology to other research topics, alterations will have to be made to the content and subjects of the sessions and exercises (which can be easily done by looking at the daily objectives). Having said this, the structure and set up of the training has in our experience proven to be successful in creating meaningful youth participation in research (see training report RNG 2009).
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Day 1
Introduction and FGD with the Research Team
Objectives of the day: • Get to know one another. • Create ownership by young participants during the research process. • Understand the research purpose and the concept of sexuality and sexual well-being. • Collect data on youth sexuality issues and YFS in the country context. • Give an example of a Focus Group Discussion that can be referred to during the rest of the training. Time 9.00 – 10.30: 10.30 11.00 11.45 12.30 13.30
1.1
– – – – –
11.00: 11.45: 12.30: 13.30: 17.30:
Sessions Energizer to facilitate introduction of all persons present + Welcome by MA representative Break Explanation of research training: Why are we here? Conceptualising Sexuality Lunch FGD on young people’s sexuality and youth friendly clinics
Introduction: Energizer and Welcome
9.00-9.30 (30 min) Preparation: Check that the participants have read day 1 of the text book before the session starts. •
Try and make the introduction as playful as possible. Laughter creates a pleasant environment to start with. The aim is to get to know one another’s names, background, hobbies, habits + expectations. Here are some energizer options we found successful.
a) FIRE FIRE! (max 20 minutes for a group of roughly 8-10 people): Stand in a circle and explain the following: Imagine that we are all standing in a hot Savannah landscape, the earth beneath us is scorching hot, and when I repeatedly yell “fire fire” everyone has to run around the room randomly until I yell “stop”. As soon as you hear “stop” grab two other people to form a group of three. Once in the group let the group members introduce themselves and amongst themselves explain in turns what they expect to learn from this training and what they expect to bring to this training. This is followed by
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another round of “Fire Fire”. You can also ask the participants to explain what research means to them, and how they think this research relates to their work or life in general. Note: You can do this exercise three times each time asking the groups to discuss different issues (such as hobbies, dislikes and likes, good habits and bad habits, etc). From our experience this exercise always creates some laughs, and is useful in getting the participants acquainted with one another. b) Alliterate! The Name Game: (max 10 minutes) Standing in a circle each person gives his or her name in the form of a rhyme (alliteration) starting with one person, for example ‘Hungry Henri’. The person to Henri’s right then repeats what Henri said and adds his or her own alliteration, this continues until the circle is complete. This exercise is good for remembering each other’s names, and creates quite some laughs! Remember to write the alliterations on a piece of paper, preferably hang this paper up for the whole of the first day. c) Presentations (max 30 minutes) In this exercise the participants are put in groups of two people. Each group is given roughly 6 minutes to exchange personal information. This is done in the form of an interview; each member of a group has three minutes to tell a story about themselves. This could include information about hobbies, education, family, background, age, whether or not they have a partner, etc. After three minutes the other group member does the same. It is recommended that they take notes and write down what the other person is saying because the next step is to present the information your partner has given you. This presentation is done in front of all the participants. The exercise is good to get the group acquainted with on another; it also allows the participants to practice presenting information.
1.2
Official Welcome
9.30-10.30 (Max 60 min) Facilitator: partner organisation representative •
Have a formal introduction round carried out by a representative of the partner organisation, research institution or organisation that commissioned the research.
After the energizers, the first morning session is followed by an official welcome by a representative of the partner organisation who has worked closely with the research facilitators in organising the training. In our case the welcome was given by a programme director and district officer of the partner organisation. The representative should introduce the project or programme that the research is linked to, and explain to the participants why this research is important for this particular project or programme of the partner organisation. The representative then formally introduces the facilitators and research coordinators.
1.3
Explanation of Research Training: Why are we here?
11.00 – 11.45 (45 mins) •
Introduce the organisation and explain the roles of persons involved in the training: The facilitators should explain the following: their roles in the training and research, background information of the organisation they work for, and what they expect from this training and from the youth researchers. The facilitators also formally introduce the research coordinator, describing his/her
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role; if applicable the facilitators will also introduce any other persons involved in the research training (e.g. a translator or secretary). •
Clarify research purpose + research goal1 and planning of research and training. Explain who is financing the research and what their interest is in investigating youth sexuality issues and the quality/success of YFS, with the added element that makes this research unique: namely that the data gathered is done by young people themselves!
•
Introduce the main research question and sub questions
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In our case the research served the goal of IPPF and RNG in promoting SRHR: a) improving the quality of youth friendly service provision, and b) increasing the level of uptake by young people, i.e. making services accessible and available to all.
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Example 1: Introducing the research purpose, Malawi
Facilitator: Like all young people, young people in Malawi have questions, concerns, curiosities and sometimes problems relating to sexuality and sexual relationships. Can you think of problems that young people might have, and that they need help with? (Let the participants mention issues young people come to the clinic for). FPAM as an MA of IPPF, wants to help young people with such problems. They do this through offering certain services. Do you know of examples of services or forms of help that FPAM offers to young people? (Mention the following in case the participants don’t): • • •
Medical services Counselling Information through peer educators, youth centre, outreach, community activities.
However, despite the services that FPAM offers and the strategies and help of peer educators, etc. many young people still do not use these services or do not go to these facilities despite the fact that they know about FPAM. For whatever reason they do not wish to, or are not able to use these services: This is what we call Access. We want FPAM to reach more young people, in particular adolescents (1218 yrs) and underserved groups with its services. In order to know how to achieve this, we first need to find out why access to services is low for adolescents. What discourages young people from going to SRH services, or for those who do go, what encourages them to do so? In order to find this out, we are going to conduct research. We will interview young people about their concerns, questions and experiences relating to sexuality and what they think of the services. We hope this information can help us to make the services better, so that more young people will be able to access them. Research Goal: To increase the level of uptake by young people. Research purpose: To formulate recommendations for improving YFS and increasing the levels of uptake by young people. This is a chance for young people to make policy makers, decision makers and service providers understand what matters to them!
Ones the facilitators have introduced the research purpose they should cross check to see if the participants understood the link between the research goal and research purpose correctly. This can be done by asking them whether they understood what the concept of access means, and why it is important to increase the uptake of services by adolescents and underserved groups.
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After introducing the research goal and purpose, the next step will be to introduce your main research question and sub-questions. By investigating these research questions we hope to get a better understanding of factors that limit or increase access and uptake. Box 1: Research questions
Central research question What do young people need and what do they want from SRH services in order to match their sexual realities and needs and to enable them to enjoy sexual wellbeing? Main sub-questions 1. What are priority sexuality issues: Need and Demand? The uptake of services depends on the need and demand for these services. For instance, if adolescents are not sexually active, their need and demand for contraceptive or VCT services will be low. Therefore relevant questions in this respect are: • • •
What kind of services do young people need? What kind of services do young people want? What kinds of services are offered to them?
2. What are the major barriers (and enabling factors) to youth friendly services: (Awareness, Access and Quality)? Even if services match the needs of adolescents and demands of adolescents, adolescents will not make use of them if they are unaware that these services exist for their benefit. In order to investigate the reason for low uptake of services by adolescents, it is therefore important to ask questions relating to awareness, access and quality: • • • • •
Are adolescents aware that there are YFS available for them, where they can go with their SRH issues? Are the YFS effectively attracting adolescents to come to their static services or actively reaching adolescents by offering mobile/outreach services? Are YFS considered to be acceptable and affordable by adolescents? Do the YFS have welcoming, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, motivated and skilled staff? Do the service providers have adequate supportive organizational and management systems in order for them to deliver good quality services?
After the main research question and sub-questions have been clarified, the next step is to explain to the participants what their role is within the research process. It is best to do this in a participatory manner i.e. conduct a brainstorm session with the participants and ask them what they think their role is. Write down the answers they give you on a flipchart.
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Why are you here? •
Hold a plenary brainstorm asking the participants why it is important to have young people conducting the data collection (i.e. rationale for youth participation, ownership & internalisation of researcher role)? Important points that have to be mentioned if the participants fail to do so are:
Box 2: Youth participation in research
Importance of youth participation in research • •
• • •
• • • • •
Young people are valuable members of the community and have a wide range of experiences, viewpoints and ideas to contribute, together with other citizens. Youth participation could lead to an improvement of the quality and relevance of the research data: It allows for a relevant youth perspective regarding the research questions and ultimately the research design. Young people are experts on youth issues and how young people live their lives. Youth participation will give richer and more accurate perspectives on adolescent sexual behaviour rather than adults taking on this role themselves. Improves communication: Reduces the barrier to talk about sensitive subjects such as sex. Young people have the special ability to communicate with other young people. Respondents will feel more comfortable talking about their sexuality to people of their age. Respondents will also be able to relate better to the research since it is being conducted by young people. Has an empowering effect on young people as they are involved in processes that will affect decision-making in service delivery improvement. It also stimulates them to show their capabilities as researchers, i.e. it gives them a chance to prove themselves. Creates respect: Adults will take young people more seriously when they are involved in research and decision-making processes. Creates an ‘insiders perspective’ on the sexual behaviour of young people, which in turns gives a better understanding of the sexual behaviour of young people, rather than adults taking on this role themselves.
After illustrating the importance of youth participation in research that is focused on the opinions of young people, the next step is to familiarize the participants with the agenda of the research as well as the research training. This is followed by a brief outline of the expectations in terms of achievements by the end of the training and research. • •
Explain in an overview the set up of research and research training and our expectations and roles. Possibility for setting ground rules (but if it is a small group this can also be done more informally or when things are not going well).
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Example 2: Research Work Plan, Malawi
Flipchart: Overview of research time/work plan: Time 22-30 Sept 1 – 22 Oct
23 Oct – 21 Nov 22 Nov – 10 Dec 13- 17 Dec 17 Dec – 17 Jan
Activity Research Training Data collection phase 1 in Dowa and surroundings Final day: Stakeholder meeting I Data analysis by Coordinator Data collection phase 2 in Dowa Stakeholder meeting II and Dissemination Workshop Report writing by Coordinator Overview of training objectives/agenda (refer to training programme printed in text book):
Our expectations: By the end of this training you will understand what research is about and you will have the skills to conduct research, but we also hope that you will feel like a researcher. During this training we also want to develop a context-specific research plan together i.e. What questions are we going to ask, when, where, how? After training: We expect to collect data on the main research topics, to help the coordinator to make sense of it (analysis) and to discuss it with the stakeholder panel. You will become co-responsible for making this research a success. We hope to formulate recommendations on how to improve the services of FPAM so that they meet the needs and demands of young people. Role of the researchers: The youth researchers will be responsible for data collection through FGD, individual interviews and participant observation. They will also be responsible for accurate note taking during the data collection. Role of the research coordinators: The research coordinators will be responsible for coordinating the research process i.e. logistics & finance. They will also be responsible for guiding the research team and communicating the findings and research process with the training facilitators. The research coordinators will also be responsible for analysing the data and writing a research report. Role of the training facilitators: The facilitators will be responsible for conducting the training, setting up a research framework, and budget allocation. The facilitators will also be responsible for supporting the research coordinators in both content and logistics where necessary. Once the research report has been submitted by the research coordinators, the facilitators will be responsible for editing this where needed. Role of the partner organisation: The partner organisation is responsible for supporting the research coordinator in the field i.e. logistics, interviewing, locations, transport and access to stakeholders and target groups.
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1.4
Conceptualizing Sexuality, Sexual Well-being and Youth Friendly Services
11.45 – 12.30 (45 mins) In this session the facilitators will familiarize the participants with the concept ‘sexuality’ which was presented in the main research question and sub-questions (box 1). During this session a first introduction into FGDs will be made. On day 2 the concept of YFS will be outlined, followed by a FGD in the afternoon. These two concepts have been spread over two days because each concept is followed by a FGD, which takes a lot of time.
•
Hold a plenary brainstorm on what sexuality entails. Many participants will offer answers related to sexual activity. Purpose of this exercise is to broaden their perception of sexuality to entail non-physical aspects of sexuality and to orient them towards sexual well-being in a broader sense.
Box 3: What is sexuality & sexual well-being? •
Sexuality is how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings.
Can you give examples of experiences / expressions? Examples: • Experience: emotional and physical feelings including curiosity, fear, concerns, self esteem, happiness, love, attraction, sexual orientation, feeling masculine/feminine (gender identity), fantasies, desires, infatuation, beliefs, attitudes, values. • Expression: Behaviour, relationships, gender roles, flirting, dating, peer pressure, sexual practices, etc. • Influenced by interaction of biology, psychology, social influences, economic influences, political and legal influences, cultural influences, ethics / morality / religion / spirituality and history. Can you give an example per influence? WHO definition: “Sexuality is a central aspect of being human throughout life and encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships. While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always experienced or expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, ethical, legal, historical and religious and spiritual factors.” Conclusions: • Sexuality is much more than sex / sexual activity / intercourse. • Sexual activity = any action or activity that involves the stimulation of the sexual organs. • Sex = sexual intercourse (oral, anal, penal-vaginal). • So Sexuality also relates to people who do not have sex, or haven’t had sex yet.
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Does this mean children are sexual beings? Yes! But in a different way compared to adults Making use of FGD techniques: Looking at this definition, what kind of problems can you imagine being related to sexuality? Give examples: o o o
Physical health problems Metal health problems Social problems (give examples relating to sexual orientation, violence, harassment, forced marriage, initiation, enjoyment, relationship issues, etc.) •
So to be sexually healthy, does not only mean absence of diseases / physical problems / pain i.e. good functioning of the physical body. It also means absence of concerns, fears and emotional pain. It means enjoyment and safety in sex and sexuality, physically and mentally. In our research, we use the term sexual well-being for this.
After the session on sexuality, the next step is to familiarize the participants with the Sexual Rights Declaration. IPPF has developed a list of sexual rights that people have, including young people. The link between sexual well-being and sexual rights is that people should have the ability to enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights. •
Go through the articles in the sexual rights declaration2: the most important message is that people have the right to information and services and choices. This is a departing point for IPPF partners providing such services.
Note: in article 1: freedom from … based on Recap: Look again at our central research question: What do young people need and what do they want from SRH services in order to match their sexual realities and needs and enable them to enjoy sexual well-being?
2
These articles can also be found in the text book.
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This is the reason why we first have to investigate what kind of priority sexuality issues / concerns / problems / fears / desires / needs / wishes / curiosities adolescents have. Then we can see if and how the partner organisation is helping adolescents with these issues and the reasons why young people do or do not make use of YFS. •
Make the link with the FGD session in the afternoon: After the lunch a FGD will be held looking at the different youth sexuality issues in relation to YFS.
•
If there is time, explain the rights-based approach, or refer to it in the text book (day 1). If there is no time, this can also be explained later on in the training during the session on quality of services.
•
The facilitators can also choose to continue this session on the rights-based approach in the afternoon. Time will vary per training depending on the number of participants and level of interaction, etc. During our training in Malawi, we explained the rights-based approach at a later stage.
Box 4: A rights-based & sex positive approach to sexual reproductive health Rights-based approach The rights-based approach towards the sexual and reproductive health of young people gained momentum during the 1990s when for the first time young people were internationally recognized as sexual beings with a right to education, information, youth friendly services, protection and participation. A number of key human rights instruments and United Nations conferences were driving forces in the emergence of a human rights framework for development work. In particular, The International Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) (1994) made a strong contribution to the articulation of a rights-based approach for addressing the sexual and reproductive health of young people. A rights-based approach recognizes individuals as ‘rights-holders’, which implies that others are ‘duty-bearers’. Duty bearers (governments, organisations and institutions) are obligated to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. Rights holders are entitled to demand their own rights from duty bearers, but they also have to respect the rights of others. This approach emphasizes the participation of individuals and communities in decision-making processes that shape policies and programmes that affect them. These are the basic principles of the RAP-approach promoted by the international department of the Rutgers Nisso Groep, which originate from what has come to be known as the ‘Dutch approach’. The basic principles of the Dutch approach include the right to good information, a healthy sex life and the right to be who you want to be. Translation to RNG/Youth Incentives’ RAP Rule: The RAP Rule is integrated in all aspects of Youth Incentives’ work. RAP stands for: Rights-based, Acceptance of young people’s sexuality and Participation of young people. Rights: • To • To • To • To
be yourself know protect yourself, to be protected have good health care
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•
To be involved
Acceptance: • • • •
Young people are sexual beings Sexual orientation Gender equity Talking about sexuality
Participation: • Of young people at all levels and in the entire process Sex-positive approach One of the first steps in developing and implementing programmes for young people is assessing their sexual and reproductive health and needs. Traditionally, service providers have done so by making use of a health approach, in which the risk factors relating to individual behaviour and the negative consequences of sex are used as primary motives for improving reproductive health, and altering sexual behaviour. However, this approach undermines the fact that people have sex for reasons that have less to do with health, than they have to do with pleasure. Health professionals often define young people’s sexuality from purely a health perspective and, in doing so miss the fact that young people also find pleasure and fun in sexuality. Young people who have been educated in sexual health will know about health risks and methods for prevention, but we have to bear in mind that their reasons for having sex have nothing to do with health. For this research it is important to understand the motivations behind young people’s choices concerning sexual behaviour. A sex-positive approach focuses on promoting an environment in which young people are encouraged to communicate their needs relating to sexual health and well-being in order to achieve sexual health and well-being. This includes prevention of diseases, but leaves space for understanding that people can make a decision to take a health risk, in order to enjoy particular (social, economical, biological and physical) benefits. A sex-positive approach is closely related to the rights-based approach in that it recognizes (young) people as agents of change, and encourages them to make positive and independent decisions. A sex-positive approach avoids the stigmatization of sexual behaviour while encouraging people to have safe and enjoyable sex. Refer to Sexual Rights Articles in Text book (day 1)
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1.5
FGD on young people’s sexuality and YFS
13.30 – 17.30 (4 hours) •
Introduce the concept of a FGD by conducting a brainstorm session on youth sexuality issues: We need to understand a bit more about young people’s sexual behaviour in the context of the country where the research/training is taking place. We also need to understand what these issues mean for (Youth Friendly) SRH Services. Explain that we as outsiders need this information, and that we need it from the perspectives of young people. Also explain that the method we use to collect this information (data) is a method that they will also use during the research: Focus Group Discussions. A good way to start is by asking them about their work for the partner organisation (keeping in mind that most of the participants are peer educators). If this is not relevant for your training then start by asking them what they know about the sexual behaviour of young people in that area.
Box 5: Questions for FGD on youth sexuality issues in relation to YFS
Key questions on sexuality issues: You have experience as peer educators – what have you learned with regard to young people’s sexual behaviour here in Malawi? • With what kind of questions or problems would young people come to you? Probing: Reasons: • Reasons for young people to engage in sex or to postpone it? • Negotiation between partners (or manipulation?) • Multiple partners Norms: • At what age is it acceptable to be sexually active? (in general and in Malawi) • Dating? Flirting? • Partner selection • Gender norms: When are girls/boys expected to be sexually active? • Do girls have the same views (/expectations) as boys on sex and relationships? What are differences? • What are the consequences of these norms for the SRHR of young people? Role parents: • Is young people’s sexuality accepted by parents/society? • What do parents expect? How do parents react? • Do young people hold the same expectations and views about sex and sexuality as older people? Taboo: • Which factors make sexuality and sex acceptable/non-acceptable in Malawi (age, marriage, love, relationships, financial motives)? • Which factors make talking about sex to young people difficult/easier? • Which factors influence communication about sex to young people? What are the consequences? • Do parents and children communicate about sex & sexuality, at what age?
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• How do parents approach the sexuality of their children? Do they accept it? Do they denounce it? • Which cultural values and norms have influence on the sexual behaviour of young people? What are the consequences? • What role does religion play in the sexual behaviour of young people? What are the consequences? • Who do young people get their information from (aggregate for different age groups)? • What are the characteristics of gender roles and norms in the region? Key questions on access to YFS: • Where (else) do young people go for help with these issues? • How does FPAM help them (outreach activities, services, speaking to parents/adults, contraceptive distribution)? • What factors might encourage/discourage young people to seek SRH services (contraceptives) and information from service providers? • How is young people’s sexuality viewed by service providers? Is it accepted, are they judged for it? Probing Access: • At what age do they teach sexuality education to young people at school? • Who is responsible for making sure young people have accurate information? • Where do young people get their SRH information from? • Where do young people get their contraceptives (per type: pill, condom) from? • At what age is the use of contraceptives accepted/not accepted? • What kinds of services are available for young people? Probing quality: • What do we mean by youth friendly services? • What qualities does a service have to have in order to be youth friendly? Why and how? (Write down the points mentioned and compare them to literature at the end of the questions). • Can we think of different types of YFS? • What are the challenges for service providers to be YF?
The information gathered during this session will depend on the comfort levels of the participants as well as their confidence in sharing such information with the facilitators. Experience has taught us that if the participants are unclear about the morning sessions, this will have negative consequences on their confidence and hence will negatively impact the FGD. It is therefore crucial to make sure they understand the purpose of the research in relation to the research question. Also make
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sure the introduction sessions and energizers create a pleasant and encouraging environment for the researchers to speak their minds.
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Day 2
Research Methodology
Objectives of the day: • • • •
To understand the concept of Youth Friendly Services. To learn about different research methods and their advantages and disadvantages. To have basic knowledge of what is necessary to conduct a good interview/FGD. To practise conducting an interview.
Time 9.00 – 9.15: 9.15 – 10.30: 10.30 – 11.00: 11.00 – 12.30: 12.30 – 13.30: 13.30 – 15.00: 15.00 – 15.30: 15.30 – 17.30:
Sessions Energizer Continuation of FGD / Session on what makes services youth friendly Break What is research? Introduction to Research Methodology Lunch Brainstorm Interview Techniques & Exercise ‘interviewing the facilitator’ Break Practicing Interview Techniques: Role play exercise
2.1 Concept of Youth Friendly Services 9.15 – 10.30 (75 min) Materials: Flip charts for exercise 2 Ask participants to read text book day 2. Hats or T-shirts that say Researcher on one side and Informant on the other (see page 31). •
Continue with FGD on YFS if necessary; otherwise summarize information collected during FGD on day 1.
•
Explain what factors make services youth friendly, according to literature [approximately 10 min]
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Box 6: What makes a service youth friendly?
“Youth friendly services are able to effectively attract adolescents, responsively meet their needs, and succeed in retaining these young clients for continuing care. Youth friendly services should offer a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services relevant to adolescents’ needs.” (IPPF 2008: Provide) “With the right attitude and understanding of young people’s sexuality and sexual reproductive rights, high quality youth friendly services can indeed be provided” (IPPF 2008: Springboard: 3) YFS should be based on a comprehensive understanding of what young people in a particular community want and not just what providers believe they need: in other words respectful of the realities of young people’s diverse sexual and reproductive lives. A service that young people trust and feel is there for them and their needs, and is supportive of young people’s sexuality so that they have a happy, healthy and safe sexual life regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, income level or marital status (IPPF 2008: springboard). IPPF makes use of a rights-based approach in defining YFS, and states that YFS should respect young people’s life choices and sexual and reproductive health decisions. Clients have the right to (refer to sexual rights declaration): • • • • • • • • • •
Accurate information Access Choice Safety Privacy Confidentiality Dignity Comfort Continuity of services Opinion
Exercise 1: Translate articles into practical implications for service delivery, i.e. for each article ask the participants to come up with things that service providers could do in order to uphold that sexual right, i.e. What does a service provider have to do to guarantee the “the right to privacy” of a young client? (List points mentioned by participants). Discuss and compare the points mentioned by the participants.
Definition YFS continued: With regard to the specific services that youth need. IPPF suggest that sexual reproductive health-related services for youth should include: • •
SRH counselling (focusing on attitudes and relational interaction competence), Contraceptive provision (including emergency contraception,
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• • • • • • •
Sexually transmitted infection/HIV prevention, counselling, treatment and care, HIV testing, Pregnancy testing, Sexual abuse counselling, (Sexual) relationship counselling, Safe abortion and/or abortion-related services (antenatal care, etc). Information, education and communication activities, and behavioural change communication activities such as quizzes, debates and workshops (IPPF 2008: springboard).
Services for youth could also include non-sexual reproductive health activities such as: • • • • • • • • • •
Indoor and outdoor games Library: education material (IEC brochures etc) Internet facility Snack shop Training in life skills Training in vocational skills Career development activities Music and film shows Festivals Treatment for minor ailments
Young people should have ownership over the centre and should be involved at all levels of decision-making, implementation and monitoring activities. Based on the information above, and according to various studies, the following checklist can be used to assure that services are youth friendly: Access: • • • • • • • • • • •
Quality: • • • • • • •
Convenient opening hours. Privacy/confidentiality is ensured. Effective referral & marketing system. Young adolescents (12-15) are also served. Registering and administration is discreet and easy. Location of clinic and/or centre does not repel youth. Mobile services and referral systems to reach underserved youth. Comfortable setting: entertainment and relaxation facilities are offered to youth (see 1.2). Affordable fees/separate fees for young people. Peer educators/counsellors available. Non-medical staff (staff that provide supportive or auxiliary roles such as receptionist, security guard, cleaner, etc.) are oriented to communicate with youth in a friendly and respectful manner.
Friendly staff Competent staff Strategies in place that focus on needs and desires of youth. Youth participation: Youth input/feedback to operations facilitated. Non-discriminatory & non-judgmental service provision. Acceptance of youth sexuality. Respect for young client.
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• • • • • • • •
Minimum package of services (see 1.1. Sufficient supply of commodities and drugs. Range of FP methods offered. Emphasis on dual protection/condoms. Waiting time not excessive. Delay of blood test and pelvic exam possible Awareness raising strategies about rights (youth empowerment). Gender sensitivity
Note that this definition is very extensive. In some cases it will only be necessary to use the definition outlined in box 6 up until the first exercise. Once these points have been explained, and once the exercise has been done, the facilitator can then summarize the following most important points: Box 7: Summary of definition YFS in relation to needs and demand of young people
Practically this means that during the research you will have to investigate whether the service-providing organisation is able to: (in order to responsively meet the needs of adolescents) • • • • •
•
Attract adolescents to come to their static services or actively reach adolescents by offering mobile services, Offer relevant services in line with adolescents’ needs (incl. referral network), Be acceptable and affordable for adolescents, Have welcoming, non-judgemental, non-discriminatory, skilled staff who are aware and knowledgeable of adolescent’ sexuality issues. In order to offer good quality and accessible services for adolescents, YFS require a supportive organisational and management system and motivated staff.
Explain to the participants that as part of each of these points you can formulate questions to ask during the research. This will be further discussed on day 3, when we prepare for the FGD with service providers.
Exercise 2: The following table can be prepared to make an overview of factors that influence the uptake of YFS. Ask the participant to think of both barriers and enabling factors for young people, and then fill in the chart below:
Flipchart: Factors that influence uptake of services: Barriers Demand x Awareness x Access x Quality x Organisational Support x
Enabling factors x x x x x
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2.2
What is Research? Introduction to Research Methodology
11:00-12:30 (90 min) •
In this session the facilitators should elaborate on the concept research3 and frequently-used terms in research methodology.
Box 8: Defining the concept of ‘Research’
Research can be defined as: A study or investigation with the aim of finding new information or reaching new understanding about a certain topic. Research is an organized and systematic way of finding answers to questions. • An ‘organized and systematic way’ means using data collection methods. • The information that helps you to find an answer to your question is called data. • The source that provides you with the data is called data source. If this source is a person, this person is called an informant. • The process that leads to answering your question is called data analysis. However, in order to find answers, you first need a clear and focused research question. This is always the first step in every research. The formulation of a research question will help you: • • •
3
To focus the data collection (narrowing it down to the essentials). To avoid collection of data that are not strictly necessary for understanding and solving the problem you have identified. To plan and organize the data collection in clearly defined parts or phases.
•
Refresh the participant’s knowledge by going through questions again. Go back to main research questions and go through them again
•
Brainstorm about ways to collect data (research methods) to answer the research questions:
Refer to the text book where the concept is also explained.
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Exercise 3: Brainstorm about research methodology What methods can you think of that you could use to find answers to the research questions? Methods are:
• • • • • •
Interviews (With whom? How? Where?) Group interviews: FGD Participant observation Questionnaires Literature study, service statistics Case study
e.g. on treatment by counsellor in YFS: • • • • •
Role play Drawing Essay / diary Documentary / pictures
Explain the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods and the pro’s and con’s of different methods, in terms of: • • • • •
Type of data: in-depth/general Generalizable Validity (true experience or norm?) Researcher skills necessary (amount of rapport, level of analysis) Time and resources.
Box 9: Pro’s and Con’s of different research methods4 Quantitative Data: Is information expressed in terms of measurable numeric values? Examples are data from surveys or information that is expressed through attaching a certain value to something (e.g. on a scale from 0-10) so that it can be counted. Quantitative data is useful if you want to know how general/ common something is, or if you want to know about the frequency of a certain phenomenon, i.e. How many? Quantitative research: To collect quantitative data, you have to ask closed-ended questions, so that the answers can be categorized and counted. Questionnaires and services statistics are examples of quantitative research. Pro: It does not matter very much who conducts the research, does not depend much on researcher skills. And it gives you a good overview of things that count for a big group of people. Con: Not in-depth, no opportunity to ask for explanations and if topic is sensitive (e.g. sexual behaviour), then there is a high chance that 4
Also refer to text book (day 2) where they can find this information.
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respondents will write down something different than their actual behaviour or opinions. Qualitative Data: Is information in the form of descriptions that cannot be written in numbers? Examples are stories about feelings, meanings, experiences, attitudes and beliefs. Qualitative data is gathered with the aim of understanding something, like (sexual) behaviour and the reasons why and how something happens. Qualitative Research: To collect qualitative data, you have to ask open-ended questions, like questions that start with why and how. Interviews and FGD’s are examples of qualitative research, but also case-studies, essays, diaries, films/documentaries, etc. Data can also be collected through observations, if that helps the researcher to understand something better. Pro: Is detailed information that helps you to understand something. If it is carried out well, the information is more trustworthy compared to quantitative data and therefore it is better to use this method for sensitive themes like sexuality. Con: It is more difficult to carry out well, because you need good researcher skills. What kind of data the researcher collects depends on what kind of questions he/she asks and how he/she asks the questions, on the setting and whether he/she has ‘rapport’ with the informant, etc. Also, the data is collected with less informants and therefore less representative for the bigger group.
•
This information can be presented in the following overview which is also in the text book given to the participants:
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Pros and cons of different research methods Method
Pros
Cons
generalizable, can Questionnaire/Survey Large-scale, Measurable numeric values, examine correlations (whether one variable has a relationship with so can be counted. another). Seen as more scientific/objective (results the same no matter who conducts the data collection).
Desirability bias, only literate informants, need to know if everyone understands the question the same way. Cannot investigate in-depth (reasons, explanations, meanings).
Reports, texts, statistics, Already available, desk work. literature, etc. Called ‘secondary data’.
Might not be exactly the data that you are looking for. Data might be biased/not reliable. Sometimes a lot of work.
Participant observation For example observe (and note down): How men and women interact in a pub, How teachers teach sexuality education in a school, How service providers respond to young unmarried clients in a clinic.
Direct observation of behaviour in natural setting (no reasoning/justification by informant). Researcher is ‘undercover’. Better able to include factors you might not have thought of beforehand.
Time-consuming, a lot of work to transcribe and analyse notes. Ethical questions might arise as informants are not informed/have not given their consent.
Interview Data in form of description of feelings, meanings, attitudes, reasons. Examples: stories of change exit interviews consult/counselling
Personal! Allows for in-depth studying of why & how, for understanding what is at stake for the person studied instead of what is at stake for the NGO/donor. Good method to assess impact, whether your activity or intervention has changed anything and on which levels. Good for illustrating other (quantitative) data. Good for assessing behaviour that does not conform to the norm.
Rapport and trust needed. Time-consuming. Researcher bias (researcher ‘colours’ the data) – data depends on skills and rapport of researcher, and on setting/location.
Focus group discussion (FGD) Examples: It is better to ask opinion of women about male behaviour in all-female group. Debate between boys and girls on responsibility/ condom use, etc.
Sometimes easier to talk ‘as a group’ compared to as an individual (group safety, group agency). Good for assessing norms, what is expected and how it is judged. Good for debates. Good for checking inconsistencies, contradictions. Good for checking if something is valid for bigger group
Because of the group setting, there is conformity of less assertive people to the opinion of ‘leaders’ in the group. Therefore normative data. Composition and setting of group can influence the data you collect; you should reflect on this.
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Method
Pros
Cons
Case study For example, to understand: Why someone becomes a sex worker, drug addict, engages in multiple relationships. How sexual violence comes into existence, what contexts facilitate this. How courtship/partner selection works (for example in relation to negotiation of condoms).
Focus on one case. Gain in-depth understanding of complex issues. Personal story can be more appealing than statistics. Illustration/explanation of other data.
Limited applicability to other situations/people. Timeconsuming, a lot of work to transcribe and analyse notes.
Role-play Examples: Courtship ‘Temptations’, reasons to engage in sex, reasons to drop out of school, role parents, peers, partners.
Projective method: not necessarily revealing personal experiences. Therefore useful for collecting information on sensitive issues. Good way to show complexity and what happens in social interactions. Yet also consensus of group that it works this way. Can be tool for advocacy/ awareness-raising.
Difficult to analyse, best way is to record on film and literally transcribe. Sometimes exaggerations. Some people may be too shy to perform/act.
Essays/diaries E.g. ‘sex’ diaries, essays on personal stories, experiences.
Good to collect very personal information, for instance on sexual practices/condom use/first-time sex/sexual violence or harassment/gender inequality.
Difficult to analyse. Not always reliable as information might be biased through desirability or shame. A lot of work for informant.
Pictures/film As part of case study and/or participant observation. As data recording tool during interviews, FGDs.
Gives impression, personalizes, can show feelings/emotions, reach wider audience – advocacy tool. Play back to fill in memory gaps, to allow second opinion on interpretation. To encourage others to discuss issue. Literal transcription, so less researcher bias.
Multi-interpretable. A lot of work to literally transcribe, code and analyse the data ‘Overacting’, exaggerations or shyness because of camera. Not anonymous.
Drawings/mapping E.g. on being approached, unsafe places, understanding of the body.
Ice breaker for difficult topics, entry point for discussion, especially useful for shy/young people. Good for mapping ‘unsafe’ places (e.g., in the village). Good for examining ‘explanatory models’ relating to the body, health and sickness
Difficult to interpret/analyse. Has to be followed by an interview or discussion where the informant can explain the drawing or map.
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2.3
Interview Techniques & Exercise ‘interviewing the facilitator’
13:30 - 15:00 (90 min) •
Explain to the participants that during this research we will mainly make use of qualitative methods, in particular FGD and interviews and that we will practice these methods and train the participants in techniques (or tactics) that they can use in order to collect objective information.
•
Interview techniques “Rapport”: Brainstorm what you need in order to collect truthful information.
•
Explain that we as researchers also have to adhere to sexual rights and the client rights.
Exercise 4: Brainstorm with the participants about what the rights of the informant imply for how we conduct our interviews.
Creating a conducive environment for interviewing the informant
Conducive environment What is necessary to encourage people to open up and honestly express their experiences and opinions? Remember, people often do not like to say something negative, because they want you to like them. Or they are embarrassed or ashamed to talk about something personal, or about issues relating to sex and sexuality. A core interview technique is to create a conducive environment to make the informant(s) feel at ease and to talk openly and honestly about sex and sexuality. Introduction: Anonymity = ensuring that no one will be able to find out who the person was that provided this particular information. Confidentiality = ensuring that the personal information that the informant provides will not be shared with others if the informant does not want to, or that the information will be shared, but that the informant will be anonymous, so that no one can relate the personal information to this particular informant. Consent = permission that the informant gives to ask him/her questions and to use this information for the research/M&E, but this permission needs to be based on informed choice. So the informant needs to know what he or she is giving permission to. That is why we call it informed consent.
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Flipchart: How to create a conducive environment:
• • • • •
Create a comfortable and private setting. Introduce yourself and the research properly. Try to build rapport and show respect. Address sensitive topics in a sensitive way. Use open-ended questions and avoid leading questions.
•
After the flipchart has been presented, go through the Informed Consent procedure5 form with the participants, and explain to them the importance of creating rapport and abiding by this procedure.
•
In conclusion tell the participants:
Don’t judge (make the informant trust you and open up to you). Watch Power disparity. Listen Show genuine interest. Don’t interrupt. Be ethical. Be clear. Use correct tone of voice. Show empathy. Summarize main points.
Be friendly, show respect, and treat the informant as the expert! Introduce yourself as you would to your friends, using slang language, make use of peer culture. 5
The form can be found in the textbook on ‘Young People as Researchers’
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•
Practice the following exercises: (depending on time, you can also choose one of the two exercises).
Exercise 5: Have the participants practice creating a conducive environment amongst themselves. Place two chairs in the middle of the group and alternate participants practicing their introductions on each other. Use the actual research topic, and pay particular attention to how they introduce themselves and the research topic. Give them feedback on their introduction.
Exercise 6 (30 min): Practice interviewing techniques on facilitator: Practice creating a conducive environment for interviewing on one of the facilitators. Place chairs in half a circle and have two chairs in the middle. Have the facilitator (in this case the informant) sit on one of the chairs, then practice the following: (After each participant, stop for a moment and reflect on their interviewing techniques): •
‘Interviewing the facilitator’s exercise. Explain to the participants that they will be taking turns in interviewing the facilitator with the goal to find out:
Example case:
How does he/she negotiate about condom use with his/her current and previous partners and which factors enabled this or made this more difficult.
•
For this exercise, it is good to sit in a circle (not behind the desks). Taking turns, ask the participants to sit next to the interviewee and ask him/her a question or some questions.
•
Each interview will be paused for reflection on verbal and non-verbal aspects of the interviewer posing the question. All basic elements of interview techniques should passed discussed and are written on the flip chart.
•
Use the caps6 that say Researcher on front and Informant on the back to illustrate when the participants are not behaving like researchers.
•
Have the participants comment on each other’s interviewing techniques. Those that are not asking questions can practice taking notes of what is being said.
6
For this research training we made use of hats which had the letter ‘R’ (researcher) printed on the front and the letter ‘P’ (peer educator) on the back. Every time the participant took on the role of a peer educator i.e. giving information rather than obtaining information, we asked them to turn their hat so the letter P was visible. This made the participant more conscious of their role as researchers rather than peer educators. If your participants are not peer educators, then the word ‘informant’ should serve the same purpose i.e. when a participant is giving information rather than obtaining it.
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•
If the participants notice that it would be better to ask open questions instead of closed questions: Explain the difference between open-ended and closedended questions. Examples can be found in the box below. This exercise can also be done later.
Box 10: Closed and open-ended questions Closed-ended question
Open-ended question
Did you go to the supermarket yesterday?
What did you do yesterday?
Is the service provider friendly?
Can you tell me about your visit to the clinic/service?
Should sex before marriage be allowed?
What do you think about sex before marriage?
Was the research training good?
How did you experience the research training?
Advantages of open questions Open questions generally begin with “why”, “what”, or “how”. Open questions can get a person to open up. They are good for getting all kinds of free information you did not ask for. Once a person opens up you will be able to use that information to your advantage. Disadvantages of open questions Open questions are intended to make people talk, but they cannot guarantee that. For example you could ask someone “What did they do yesterday” and they could answer “oh nothing really”. This is an important point to make regarding communication and negotiation skills in general. People do not always react the way you want them to, so you should always be prepared to use different communication skills and be quick on your feet (spontaneous and thinking ahead).
Advantages of closed questions Closed questions are useful for drawing a conversation to a close. You can use closed questions to narrow the focus of a conversation, and eventually steer that person into making a conclusion or definite commitment. Closed questions are also useful to fish for interesting topics, or to find out which topics the respondent is more willing to talk about.
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Example of a leading question: Leading questions A leading question is one that alters or influences the way a person perceives a fact or event. A good example is an experiment where people were asked a series of questions after watching a car accident film. One group was asked how fast the cars were going when they crashed into each other. Another group was asked how fast the cars were going when they hit each other. The last group was asked how fast the cars were going when they contacted each other. The researchers found that the first group estimated 60 km an hour, while the second group estimated 50 km an hour, and the last group mentioned 30 km an hour. So just changing the question influenced how fast people thought the cars were moving. Another interesting example is when they were asked whether they saw the broken headlight; people were three times more likely to respond yes than when they were asked whether they saw a broken headlight. In fact there was no broken headlight! This leading question altered their memory and caused them to recall something that didn’t even happen. This is how powerful leading questions can be.
Note: During our training we found that the participants in Malawi were very direct and confrontational with questions relating to sex. Whereas in Bangladesh the participants were very indirect and sensitive to asking personal questions relating to sex. The level of directness will vary according to cultural norms. In Malawi we needed to practice more open questions in order to avoid being too direct and creating discomfort. In Bangladesh we needed to practice more closed questions in order to get information concerning sex.
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2.4
Practicing Interviewing Techniques: Role play exercise
15.30-17.30 (90 min) Preparation: on the basis of findings in the FGD on day 1: Choose topics for the role play interviews.
Exercise 7: Conducting interviews though role plays: Explain to the group that we will practise conducting an interview through role plays. Each role play will involve one informant and one or two interviewer(s) (in case one interviewer needs help). Have participants:
•
Assign the role of informant to three people. The rest of the participants will be interviewers, and have 15 minutes to prepare questions, after which they will take turns asking their questions.
•
Each interview will take a maximum of 15 minutes; 10 minutes for the interview and five minutes for feedback from the group. Particular things to watch out for are: the introduction, open-questions, entry points and probing questions.
•
Take notes of the interviews to be used for the exercise on day 3 (preferably on the computer so they can be printed out).
Example topics for role-play interviews from Malawi:
1. Experiences as peer educators or other roles within the FPAB project. 2. Whether project activities have improved the lives/SRHR of young people with regards to their sexual and reproductive health and rights? • • •
Why (not)? How do you know? What are the challenges?
3. Sexual behaviour-related personal interviews - depends on atmosphere and openness of group, but will also be addressed later, during the carrousel game on day 4).
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Day 3
Interview Techniques (continued)
Objectives of the day: •
• • •
To have more detailed knowledge of interviewing techniques o To learn when and how to use open-ended and closed-ended questions o To recognise entry points during qualitative data collection o To practise formulating probing questions and practice probing techniques. To learn how to prepare an interview or FGD. To practise conducting an interview. To get more insight into how youth friendly services work. Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 9.45 9.45 – 10.30 10.30 11.00 11.30 12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30
– – – – – – –
11.00 11.30 12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30 16.30
Sessions Energizer Evaluation of day 1 and 2 Interview techniques: Entry points and probing (after short summary techniques discussed day 2) Break How to prepare an interview Preparing interview with service provider(s) Lunch Conduct interview with service provider(s) Break Tour and explanation of the Youth Friendly Service in Dowa.
3.1 Entry points and probing 9.45 – 10.30 (45 min) Materials: (Printed) notes of questions and answers from the interview and role plays of the previous day and/or the prepared example from the text book. Flip chart with definition of entry point and probing. •
Introduction: Make a short summary of the interview techniques discussed on day 2.
•
Optional: If not done on day 2: summarize the concepts of open and closed ended questions.
•
Use summary of interview techniques to introduce concepts of entry points and probing. Explain these concepts.
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Box 11: Entry points and probing questions Entry points = answers, remarks or information that the informant gives you that provide you with an opportunity to ask more ‘indepth’ questions to find out more. The good thing about entry points is that you do not have to introduce a topic or question, but that you make use of something the informant has said. An entry point is inviting you to ask more personal questions. Entry points can be followed by probing questions. Probing questions = questions about motivation, opinion, reasons, beliefs, feelings – often they are ‘why’ questions. Probing questions help you to get in-depth information. Often you can ask more than one probing question after one entry point, or you can ask the same probing question but in different ways. For example: “ Why/How?”, “Can you explain?”, “How does that work?”, “ Can you give an example?” “How does that make you feel?”, “What is your experience with this?”, “What do you think of this?”, etc. Sometimes you can repeat the informant’s sentence in a questioning manner instead of asking a ‘why’ question. For example: “You said you think he does not want to use condoms?”
Exercise 8: Finding entry points & formulating probing questions: Hand out the printed notes of the previous day interviews and ask the participants to identify entry points in the text or example (that they missed the precious day) and to formulate optional probing questions.
•
The facilitators can also organize an ad hoc role-play, in which one facilitator will play the role of informant and the participants will try out their probing questions on the facilitator.
•
Another option is to use your own printed example of an interview (this doesn’t have to be very long i.e. no more than two pages) in which it is clear to the participant what the questions are and what the answers are. Ask the participants to identify entry points and to formulate probing questions for these entry points.
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3.3. How to prepare an interview 11.00 – 11.30: 30 min Materials: Flipchart with steps for preparation of interview •
Divide the participants into two groups and for each group instruct (only possible if there is more than one facilitator) participants on how to prepare an interview (general).
Flipchart: Steps for preparing an interview
5. 6.
Prepare yourself Organize logistics
Example 3: Preparation steps in Malawi
1 Formulate a research question The first thing you should do is to formulate a research question: What do you exactly want to know? On level of research: Central research question What do young people need and what do they want from SRH services in order to match their sexual realities and needs, and enable them to enjoy sexual well-being? We need to break this question up according to themes: 2 Formulate sub-questions If you have formulated your main question, the second step is to divide your main question into themes and then formulate sub-questions. Split up in two topics: A) Adolescents’ priority sexuality issues B) Youth friendly service: Demand, organisational support
Awareness,
Access,
Quality
&
These themes can be subdivided even further: A) What are priority sexuality issues: Need and Demand?
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The uptake of services depends on the need and demand for these services. For instance, if adolescents are not sexually active, their need and demand for contraceptive or VCT services will be low. Therefore relevant questions in this respect are:
What kind of services do young people need? What kind of services do young people want? What kinds of services are offered to them?
B) What are the major barriers (and enabling factors) to youth friendly services? Awareness, Access and Quality. Even if services match the needs of adolescents and demand of adolescents, adolescents will not make use of them if they are unaware that these services exist for them. In order to investigate the reason for low uptake of services by adolescents, it is therefore important to ask questions relating to awareness, access and quality:
Are adolescents aware that there are YFS available for them, where they can go with their SRH issues? Are the YFS effectively attracting adolescents to come to their static services or actively reaching adolescents by offering mobile/outreach services? Are YFS considered to be acceptable and affordable by adolescents? Do the YFS have welcoming, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, motivated and skilled staff? Do the service providers have an adequate supportive organizational and management system in order for them to deliver good quality services?
Look for barriers in going to YFS and for enabling factors that make young people go to YFS. This information will help you to reach the main research goal of formulating recommendations for FPAM / IPPF YFS. It is good to prepare a question list for your interview, to provide you with focus and inspiration during the interview. Examples are given in your text book (one on sexuality, one on FGD). But try to avoid being pinned down to the questions on the list. Be prepared to take a different path of questioning if during the interview this turns out to be interesting, logical or necessary. Make use of the entry points that come up during the interview. You can always come back to your question list. Remember that people rather talk about good things than bad things. Therefore it is important that you always include questions that inquire about more negative things, as people might not voluntarily share this information with you. You may have to encourage them. This is an important tactic! 3 Prepare the order in which you want to ask the various questions Start with general – non–threatening – questions about the person you are interviewing (e.g. age, background). Then proceed to more personal questions about the context of the issue you want to discuss. It is useful to think of indirect ways or topics that can lead you to more sensitive themes.
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4 Prepare your introduction In your introduction, you will explain to the informant: • • • • •
•
who you are, what the research is about, how you are going to guarantee anonymity and confidentiality, how you are going to use the information given by him/her and why you need his/her informed consent, that the informant can withdraw his/her participation in the research, at any point during the interview or research process and without having to give an explanation, go through informed consent protocol in the textbook. 5 Prepare yourself
Be prepared for the questions the informants might ask you. In principle you can prepare yourself for this by imagining being asked the questions that you pose. So how would you yourself answer your own questions? The informant might expect you to have knowledge on these themes and might ask for your advice or opinions. It is good to be prepared for this. But do not volunteer such information; remember it should be the informant who does the talking, not you! Tomorrow we will do some exercises that can help you to discover your own values and boundaries and give you some tips on how to deal with this. We will also look more closely into how we as researchers can behave in an ethical way. 6 Organize logistics This will become important after the research training. The main rule that a professional researcher has to obey is to ensure that his/her informant is not inconvenienced. This means that you should always try your utmost not to keep your informants waiting on you.
3.4 Preparing questions with service provider(s) 11.30 – 12.30 (1 hour) •
In preparation for the FGD with service providers on the afternoon of day 3; follow the preparation steps that were explained previously in box 12 and prepare the following: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Main question: What do we want to know? Sub themes / sub questions: Order of questions Introduction
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Example 4: Specific questions to service providers in Malawi Main question(s): What do we want to know? To start: How do they (service providers) work, what do they do? Specifically: Do they: • • • • •
Attract adolescents to their static services or actively reach adolescents by offering mobile services. Offer relevant services in line with adolescents’ needs (incl. referral network). Be acceptable and affordable for adolescents. Have welcoming, non-judgemental, non-discriminatory, skilled staff who are aware and knowledgeable on adolescents’ sexuality issues. In order to offer good quality and accessible services for adolescents, YFS require a supportive organisational and management system and motivated staff.
1. Is uptake of services low or high? Why? Are there any changes compared to one or three years ago? 2. How many young people make use of the centre or service point? 3. Why do young people come to the centre? 4. Which services do they make use of? 5. How does the centre reach young (underserved) people? 6. Are there any methods in place to ensure young people come to the centre? 7. What kind of advertising does the centre use? 8. Does the centre actively approach young people outside the facility? Explain 9. How far is the scope of outreach? Do they visit rural/urban areas too? 10. With which organisations/institutions does the centre work together to reach young people? How do they work together? 11. How could the centre effectively reach more young people? 12. Does the service provider feel they are reaching enough young people? •
Offer relevant services in line with adolescents’ needs (incl. referral network)
(Based on the needs of young people: Ask questions that reflect on these in terms of the services provided, do they match? Where don’t they match?). Also look at clinic statistics according to age and service provided in order to get an overview of most common/popular services, age/type of clients, and which clients are underserved or less common. Sub-questions: a) How do the service providers ensure they are familiar with the needs of young people? b) Are there strategies in place that focus on these needs? c) Have you ever encountered a young person with a problem you could not help? d) Does the service provider feel the location of the clinic encourages young people to make use of it? Explain. e) Do the service providers give any form of counselling to young people? Explain.
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f) Does the service provider do anything to ensure continuity of services to a particular client? g) Are there peer educators/counsellors available? h) Does the clinic make use of a referral system & marketing system for young people? Explain how this works. i) What do the service providers feel about the following services to young people under 18? Do they provide: •
SRH counselling (focusing on attitudes and relational interaction competence). Contraceptive provision (including emergency contraception). Sexually transmitted infection/HIV prevention, counselling, treatment and care. HIV testing Pregnancy testing Sexual abuse counselling (Sexual) relationship counselling Safe abortion and/or abortion related services (antenatal care, etc). Information, education and communication activities, and behavioural change communication activities such as quizzes, debates and workshops.
• • • • • • • •
3. Be acceptable and affordable for adolescents a. What does the service provider think about the opening hours of the clinic; are they accessible to young people? b. Are the opening hours convenient for young people? c. How do young people register if they want to make use of services? d. What are the costs of services for young people? Can they pay? e. Are the costs for young people the same as for adults? Are there any differences? f. Is the registering and administration system discreet and easy? g. What are the registering processes? How does it work? h. What are the prices of the different services available to young people? i. What are the prices for the use of equipment and materials? j. Is this the only place in the area where young people can use these services? If there are other places, how do their prices compare? 4. Have welcoming, non-judgemental, non-discriminatory, skilled staff who are aware and knowledgeable of adolescents’ sexuality issues What are their attitudes and opinions concerning young people’s sexuality? a) • • • • • • • • •
What are the opinions of service providers on the sexual behaviour of young people? How do they feel about: Dowry and marriage for economic reasons Sex before marriage Experimental sex at a young age Young people having sex with sex workers The role of the boy and girl in the relationship 12-15 year olds asking for condoms Unmarried girls asking for contraceptives Young people watching pornography Young people (>14) ‘in love’ and in a relationship
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a) How does the service provider ensure the confidentiality and the privacy of young people? b) At what age is kissing acceptable? c) At what age is sex acceptable? (How accepting are they of young people’s sexuality?) d) Are there any potential clients the service provider would refuse to provide a service to? Explain? (non-discrimination) e) Have there been any situations in which the service provider refused to provide a certain service to a young person? f) How does the service provider try to ensure he is friendly towards young people? g) How does the service provider try to ensure young people feel comfortable when they come to the clinic? h) How does the service provider avoid being judgmental towards young people? i) How does the service provider express respect towards young clients? j) Does the service provider ask the opinion of young people concerning the services they provide? If yes, what do they do with these opinions? k) Does the service provider make use of gender sensitive methods? How? l) How does the service ensure that the young client has sufficient knowledge about his options for treatment? 5. In order to offer good quality and accessible services for adolescents, YFS require a supportive organisational and management system and motivated staff.
a) Does the service provider feel he/she has everything available in order to do his/her job in the best possible way? Think of: • • • • • • • • • •
Training Information Good infrastructure Supplies Guidance Back-up Respect Encouragement Feedback Opinion to meet the needs of young people?
What do you think might/would help to provide even better services? b) Does the clinic have any non-health related facilities to attract young people? Think of: • • • • • • • • • •
Indoor and outdoor games Library: education material (IEC brochures, etc) Internet facility Snack shop Training in life skills Training in vocational skills Career development activities Music and film shows Festivals Treatment for minor ailments
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c) Are there any awareness raising strategies about rights (youth empowerment)? d) How does the management provide feedback on the functioning of staff members?
3.5
Afternoon session with service provider(s)
13.30 – 15.00: (1 hour 30 min) Facilitators: One facilitator for the interview, one for observations on process, one for observations on content and note taking on main findings. •
Make sure the service providers are instructed beforehand.
•
Introduce the purpose of the research and why you want to interview the service providers. Also explain that it is an exercise and you will interrupt the interview for learning purposes. The introduction and consent serve as an example for the youth researchers.
•
Let the participants interview the service provider(s) plenary [75 min.]
•
Pause the interview if important entry points are missed and explain this to participants – then continue.
•
Also pause to ask the service provider how he/she felt during the question posed.
•
When the youth researchers get stuck, or at the end of the interview, the facilitators will ask their questions based on missed entry points.
•
Also give the service providers time to ask questions of the team, when the interview is coming towards the end, or at another appropriate time. This helps to start the dialogue and also increases ownership of the research of the service providers.
•
At the end of the interview: Ask the service provider how he/she felt about the interview, what he/she thinks went well and what could improve.
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3.6
Tour of clinic
15.30 – 16.30: (1 hour) •
During the tour additional questions about the services can be asked.
Checklist for observations during the tour: o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Setup of the administration desk (is it discreet, does it ensure privacy?) Is there a library IEC/facility? Is there an entertainment centre/area? Are there (awareness raising) posters on the walls, what do they say? Is there a separate waiting room for young people, does it offer privacy? How are the waiting clients called when it is their turn? By name, by number? Is there a playground/play facility outside the clinic? What do you think of the decoration in the clinic, is it fun? Is it appealing to young people? Or is it very clinical? How are the staff dressed? Are they casual or very formal (do they all look like doctors in white robes?) Notice the body language of the staff: is it friendly? Is it welcoming, or strict and abrupt? Do they greet you when you come into the clinic, how are you greeted? Are there separate treatment rooms for minor ailments and more serious ones? Is there a snack shop? Are there any young people? Are there any young service providers?
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Day 4
Personal Reflection and Research Ethics
Objectives of the day: • • • •
To To To To
discover personal values relating to sex and sexuality gain knowledge about research ethics be able to critically reflect on ethics and own values adopt correct ethical conduct during the research
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 9.45 9.45 – 10.30 10.30 – 11.00 11.00 – 11.45 11.45 – 12.30 12.30 – 13.30 13.30 – 15.00 15.00 – 15.30 15.30 – 17.30
4.1
Sessions Energizer Summary and evaluation of the FGD with service providers Carrousel game: Exploring own boundaries and values Break Analysis of carrousel game Research ethics, what does it mean? Lunch Ethical cases and discussion on consent Break Ethical protocols and asking informed consent exercise
Evaluation of the FGD with service providers
9.15-9.45: (30 min) • •
Ask the participants what they thought of the interview: what went well, what did not go so well? Go through the main questions and check if they have found answers and where new questions came up. During this discussion and analysis, the two other facilitators will give their feedback: o o
On process / interview techniques used. On content, if the team missed entry points/important questions.
4.2 Carrousel game: Exploring own boundaries and values 9.45 – 10.30: (45 min) Materials: -
50-70 Cards with personal questions relating to sexuality (or RNG carrousel game). Stop watch.
Instructions: Depending on the size of the group, take one chair for each participant and place the chairs in pairs of two facing each other; make use of the whole room spreading out the pairs of chairs, so that one pair cannot hear what another pair is saying. Place the pairs of chairs in a large circle so that after each round of questions one participant can move to speak to a new participant. Do this until all participants have had a chance to talk to each other. Each round lasts 10 minutes, giving both the participants a chance to answer
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a question for five minutes. Ones the participants are seated in pairs, hand both of them one card with a question on it. Let each participant read the question silently (to themselves) and ask anyone who does not understand a question to raise their hand. If there is someone who has a question or doesn’t understand his or her question then assist them first before starting the clock. When there are no more questions, start the clock and give the first person a maximum of five minutes to answer the question. After five minutes, let the other person answer the question his or her partner has in their hand. If participants are ready in less than five minutes, encourage the other person to probe for more information (by asking How come? Why?, etc). After the ten minutes is up, switch the partners and start the process over again. Bird’s eye view of seating arrangement:
After each round of 10 min ask the participants to switch partners until all participants have talked to each other.
•
Explain the goal of the game and how it should be played.
Goal of the game -
To explore how people react when asked certain questions, in order to understand how to better conduct interview questions. To explore ones own boundaries when talking about sex. To explore the manner in which certain questions make you feel or react. To explore the manner in which different situations (talking to the opposite sex, talking to a group) make you feel or react. To think about the factors that could make respondents comfortable or uncomfortable during an interview.
Conditions that make the exercise successful -
participants need to trust each other participants need to feel safe talking to each other about personal issues.
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Rules -
Maximum of 30 participants (has to be an even number due to working in pairs). Explanation 5 minutes. Exercise 40 minutes. Discussion at the end 10 minutes.
Guidelines for answering questions: The persons being asked a question can determine themselves whether or not to answer the question, as well as how they wish to answer it. Give people the time to think about their questions. It is not necessary to discuss intimate sexual details, but rather to understand the factors that make it comfortable or uncomfortable talking about sex in an interview setting. Participants will be asked to focus on what they do or don’t wish to talk about and why; they will also be asked to focus on what makes them comfortable and uncomfortable. If someone does not wish to answer a question then the interviewer will pick another card. Each pair decides how long they wish to talk about a subject. Discussion at the end -
How did the participants experience talking to each other like this? Which topics were more difficult/ easier to talk about? Why? Are there differences when talking to someone of the opposite sex? Which topics made you uncomfortable? Which ones made you comfortable? Which topics were completely undiscussable? Did you notice your own boundaries? How did you indicate them? Did you notice any defensive reactions from the person you were interviewing? Why do you think this happened? Did you notice when the person you were asking questions of was becoming comfortable or uncomfortable? How did you notice this?
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Examples of questions to be put on the cards: -
Do you always have safe sex? Were you ever disappointed because you wanted to kiss and the other person went too far? Have you ever witnessed domestic violence? What happened? Did you ever keep your relationship a secret (e.g. from your parents or partner)? How did you feel about that? Have you ever had sex? Do you ever have sexual intercourse during menstruation? What do you think about sex before marriage? Have you ever had an STI? What did you do? How did you feel? Do you think your ideas about sex are different to your actual behaviour? Do you think sex is important? Why? How many sexual relationships can you handle at the same time? What criteria do you use to choose your partner? What do you dislike most about sex? What do you think is the perfect age to marry? Have you ever discussed your sexual experience with a health worker? How did you experience this? Did you ever feel (sexually) abused in a relationship? What does safe sex mean to you? What does free sex mean to you? What do you fear most about sex? Will you tell your children about masturbation? Why? Do you think you are sexy? Did you ever have sex with someone you did not like? What do you think about abortion? Are men who do the housekeeping less masculine? Is getting married for money an ok thing? When should a girl lose her virginity? When should a boy lose his virginity? Who is responsible for earning the money in the family, the man or the woman? Do you know of anyone that would have sex without being in a relationship? Would you have sex with someone without being in a relationship? Do you know of anyone that has sex with more than one partner? Did you ever have sex with more than one partner? Do you know anyone that has more than one partner? Did you ever have more than one partner? Were you in love with the first person you had sex with? What do you think: do most victims get raped by an unknown person or by a known person? Do you think boys have more need for sex than girls? At home, what do you call the female and male sexual organs? Do you find it important that your parents approve of your partner? Why? How do you know you are in love? Are boys raised differently to girls? What do you find romantic? Are you a romantic person? When a girl says ‘no’ does she mean ‘yes’? Do you think sex before marriage should be allowed? Why?
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- Do you think it’s important to remain a virgin until you get married? - What is sexual violence? - What are the nice aspects about having a relationship with someone from a different culture? And what are the less positive things? - What do you think about girls who carry condoms? - What do you think about boys who carry condoms? - What do you do if after having sex with your partner, you get pregnant unwillingly? - Whose responsibility is it to buy condoms, the boy or the girl, or both? - Do you find it uncomfortable buying condoms? - Do you think masturbation is normal? - Is it ok to have sex during menstruation? - Do you think it is normal to masturbate while you are in a relationship? - Are you able to talk to your friends about your sexual fantasies? - What changes occur in a girl during puberty? - What changes occur in a boy during puberty? - Do you ever feel lonely? - Can you talk to your parents about sex? - Can you talk to your parents about relationships? - Do you think your parents have the same view as you on sex and relationships? - Virginity is much more important for girls than for boys? Would you agree with this? Why? - What do you think about arranged marriages? - Do you think it is important to be in love with the person you have sex with? - What do you think of the following statement? There are more problems in a relationship between two people from different cultures (religions) than between two people from the same culture. - Would your parents accept you being with a partner from another culture or religion? - Could you fall in love with someone from a different culture or religion? - If you were to sleep with someone for the first time, would you prefer if it was that person’s first time too? - What do you do if you have a relationship with someone from a different culture, and your parents completely disagree with it? - Do you think people should abstain from sex before getting married?
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4.3
Analysis of Carrousel game
11.00 – 11.45: (30 min) •
Ask the participants what they thought of the game, what did they like, what did they dislike?
•
Go through the following questions, ask the participants to reflect on their feelings and values: -
•
How did people react when asked certain questions? Why do you think this person or you yourself reacted in this way? (Explore issue of asking questions to/by the opposite gender). How did it feel to ask people certain questions? (Which ones were difficult to ask?) Why do you think this was difficult? What does this mean about your own boundaries when talking about sexuality? Is it good bad to have these boundaries?
Emphasise the importance of recognizing and respecting boundaries!!! -
Would your informants’ reaction to certain questions have been different if they were asked in a different way or in a different situation? What could help to make respondents more comfortable during an interview?
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4.4
Research Ethics, what does it mean?
11.45 – 12.30: (45 min) Materials: Text book reading: • •
Flipchart Ethical principles for this research Ethical code of conduct and protocols
Ask the participants if they know the term ethics. What do they think it means? Explain that ethics refers to morality, to distinguishing between right and wrong, between good and bad.
Box 12: Principles and ethical guidelines People have a conscience to differentiate between good and bad; this guides their behaviour. This conscience is formed through your upbringing and the messages you receive from the people around you. These messages are based on guidelines for good and bad behaviour: Can you think of an example? o
Bible, Qur’an, philosophical statements, human rights, medical ethical principle of ‘primum non nocere’, laws of your country, YFS (client rights).
These guidelines are (based on) principles: statements about what you should do and what you should not do. If you work with people who can be harmed because of your work, your profession most likely has ethical guidelines, like in medicine, law, but also research. •
Ask participants if they can think of examples of how our research could harm an informant.
Examples of how research can harm an informant:
-
-
•
Breach of confidentiality and consequences if other persons find out. Disclosure of private and intimate information about sexuality and sexual activity can be potentially dangerous for young people in a context where adolescent sexual activity or particular sexual practices or orientations are not accepted. Negative consequences of disclosing this information to others include stigmatisation, social exclusion, expulsion from school, being ostracized by family or community, violence, etc. Informant might feel bad if judged by you. Recall of trauma but no offer of help (example of trauma?). If researcher abuses his/her power (e.g. over younger person)
Ask the participants to think about guidelines or rules one can follow, as a researcher, to prevent this from happening.
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Box 13: Guidelines to protect informants
-
Confidentiality and anonymity; informed consent and right to withdraw (even if this means you cannot use the data). This is why it is so important to guarantee confidentiality, anonymity and the right to withdraw, and to ask for informed consent so that your informant can calculate his/her chances of being harmed.
-
Not to judge, monitor wellbeing and reaction to your questions Attitude of professional researcher: never judge! This not only prevents your informants from feeling bad, it will also improve the quality of your data as they will be more open and honest with you. If you notice a person is not feeling comfortable, try asking different questions or less personal questions or ask the person about his/her comfort with the questions.
-
Refer person to professional in case of trauma/question for help Example of trauma? What could we do if we encounter somebody with such a story who asks for help? Do not offer to help yourself but refer to a professional who has been trained to deal with such cases! In this case: FPAB counsellors. Or first discuss with Coordinator. -
•
Never abuse your position as a researcher Can you think of ways that a researcher can abuse his/her power that could harm another person (e.g. intimidation, taking money, sexual abuse, blackmail with personal information)? Not to abuse one’s position of power as a researcher is something that a researcher has to promise, if he/she wants to become a serious and professional researcher. Such a promise is sometimes called a vow (e.g. the president of the USA when he assumes office or a medical doctor when he/she receives his/her diploma). A vow is like making a promise to God and to yourself.
Explain and show (on flipchart) the ethical principles of this research:
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Flipchart: Ethical principles of this (Malawi) research
For this research, we have a set of guiding ethical principles. These principles are derived from the universal human rights declaration, the convention of the rights of the child and the sexual rights declaration of IPPF: -
-
-
‘Primum non nocere’: First do no harm. The guarantee of confidentiality and anonymity (the right to privacy). Complete and correct information about the research purpose, process and potential consequences, on which the potential participant can base meaningful consent (the right to information, the right to consent). The right of all people, including adolescents and young people, to participate in matters that concern them (the right to participate). The right to freely and responsibly decide the number, spacing and timing of one’s children, to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health, for all people, including children and young people (sexual rights declaration). To continuously monitor and reflect on our ethical conduct and the participants’ wellbeing. In the case of questions to refer for help. Not to abuse one’s power as a researcher: adhere to the International Save the Children Alliance Child Protection Policy. Where it states children, we read children and adolescents (0 – 18 years).
All members of the research team have to commit and are obliged to follow these principles to the best of their abilities. If participants or informants ask questions relating to sex and sexuality, we oblige ourselves to provide them with correct and complete information, following the sexual rights declaration – or to refer to the person best capable of doing so. If participants or informants approach us with questions for help, e.g. in case of trauma, we oblige ourselves to refer this person to a competent professional or institution that can deliver this help.
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4.6
Ethical cases and discussion on consent
13.30 – 15.00: (90 min) Materials: Textbook with case studies •
Exercise “Case studies”: Present the following case studies and ask the participants (plenary or in small groups of 2/3 persons) to work out the answers. Goal of the exercise is to reflect on scenarios that participants could potentially encounter and to check if they have understood the guiding principles discussed earlier and can apply these.
Case studies from Malawi:
A girl has been sexually abused, during the interview begins to cry, and you can tell that your questions have negatively affected her emotionally. Out of desperation she asks you for help, saying that it is her uncle and that he does it repeatedly to her. What do you do?
During an interview with a 15 year old sexually active girl, she asks you for advice concerning STDs. You tell her to always use condoms and to go to a family planning clinic to get herself tested. The next day her parents show up at your house asking you why you are encouraging their daughter to have sex and to use contraceptives. What do you say to them?
During an interview with someone of the opposite sex, the informant openly flirts with you and tells you that they are attracted to you. You are also attracted to the informant and he/she touches you. What do you do in this situation?
During an interview you are convinced that the boy you are talking to is lying to you about his sexual experiences because you heard through one of his friends that he sleeps with prostitutes. What do you do?
During an interview a girl raises her concern about an itchy spot she has discovered on her vaginal entrance. She describes the spot to you, and asks you for advice. She even offers to show you the spot. What do you do?
•
If applicable: hold a plenary discussion on the issue of parental consent: Ask the participants whether they think we should ask the informants’ parents for consent for their child’s participation in the research. Make an inventory of the pros and cons. Come to a conclusion.
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Box 14: Pros and cons of parental consent
Pros -
-
Parents have the right to know about any significant activity of their under-age teens. Could open up discussion about sexuality and create a good bond between parents and child. Parents could learn to take their children seriously as they will be respondents in scientific research. It could create awareness amongst parents and stimulate use of health facilities by both parents and child. Both child and researcher will not feel they are being ‘secretive’ about the research. It may encourage parents to take the sexual health of their child seriously, and may reduce the barrier to using health services (therefore contributing to the overall goal of the research). Creates transparency.
Cons -
-
Quality of data could be jeopardized due to fear of the child i.e. their parents finding out the content of the discussion. Could create a selection bias. Usually, parental permission articulates what most agree represents the ‘best interests of the child’. However, this is often not the case (look at cases of child abuse, neglecting the law, etc). If the parents don’t fully understand the goal of the research, they may be inclined to refuse participation. Participation rates could decline significantly. Acquiring parental consent may be time-consuming (and cost money) and delay the research process. Child’s fear of parents finding out they are sexually active. Parents might get involved and ask the child what kind of questions they were asked (may cause shame and force the child to lie). It is a violation of the child’s right to privacy. Parents may feel that allowing their child to participate in research about sex would encourage their children to have sex. Parents may feel that their children do not know anything about sex and so shouldn’t be involved in such research. Parents may force child to participate due to material benefits they think they might acquire form participation. Parents may be illiterate and not be able to understand why such research is of importance. It may be very hard to reach the parents due to practical reasons such as infrastructure. Parents may expect something in return for letting their child participate in the research. If something were to happen (sexually) to the child after the research, the parents may blame the research for it. Asking for parental consent may deter the child completely from participation, even if they originally wanted to participate.
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4.7
Ethical protocols and asking informed consent exercise
15.30 – 17.30: (1 hour) Materials: Ethical protocols and consent forms (see textbook day 4). •
Go through the protocol of events and illegal activities.
•
Ask per case discussed in the previous session what the steps are to be taken in such a situation.
•
Go through the informed consent form again
Exercise 9: Divide the group in pairs and let them practice informed consent. Instruct them that they can look at the sheet if they ‘need help’, but that they have to try to do it by heart.
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Day 5
Specifying research to Dowa context
Objectives of the day: • • • • •
To make a topic list for the research ‘Do they match’ that is context specific for Malawi, based on the interview guidelines. To identify and define key concepts. To prepare the Focus Group Discussion in the field.
To practise conducting an FGD (one per group). To record data on how the FGD was experienced by the informants.
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 9.45 9.45 – 10:45 10:45 – 11:00 11:00 – 11:30 11.30 – 13:00 13:00 – 14:00 14.00 – 16:00 16:00 – 17:00
5.1
Sessions Energizer Summary/Review of first week and short evaluation (of day 4). Working out research topics and questions. Break Defining key concepts Preparing FGD questions for the field & division of tasks in FGD. Lunch FGD with adolescent clients in the field. Prepare presentations of findings for day 6.
Working out research topics and questions
9.45 – 10.45: (1 hour) Materials: Interview guidelines & flipchart with steps to prepare an interview. •
The goal of this session is to make a topic list for your research that can later be used by the team to prepare the FGD’s, for interviews during the data collection phase and for the preparation of the FGD later this afternoon.
•
This topic list can be created by making use of the preparation steps that were introduced on day 3 (purple flipchart) and using the interview guidelines in the textbook (day 5).
•
Remind the participants that on day 3 we learned about the steps a researcher takes in preparing an interview. These steps can also be used for preparing a whole research project. We already started filling in some of these steps during day 1 and 2 when we had practiced a FGD. Steps 1 and 2 are particularly important here.
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Preparing your research topic: Example from Malawi
1
Formulate a research question
2
Formulate sub-questions for sexuality/ YFS
•
Go through the interview guidelines. Discuss if the questions are appropriate and, based on the data from the FGD on day 1, formulate new routes for questioning themes that are at stake for adolescents in Malawi
•
(break) For YFS we have formulated sub-questions in order to prepare for the interview with service providers. These questions, in an adapted form, can also be used to ask informants.
•
Adapt service providers YFS questions relating to adolescents.
•
Consider the fact that in Malawi VCT is apparently attracting more young people compared to Family Planning services. Formulate research questions accordingly.
5.2
Defining the key concepts
11.00 – 11:30: (30 min) •
Explain conceptualisation and operationalisation of key concepts. Check with the participants what they have remembered from the first days of the training, about conceptualisation of sexuality and YFS.
Box 15: Conceptualising the research topics Before you start research, you need to define what you exactly mean with the major concepts/terms/topics that you use in your research. This is important so that others can understand what you mean, but also for yourself. For example, if you want to do research with adolescents, then you have to think about what you mean by adolescents. Which ages? Which characteristics? According to what criteria are they adolescents? What defines them as adolescents? What is the difference between children, young people and adults? This is an important step for getting more focus on your research. Another example is SRHR. This is a term we often use in our field, but sometimes we ourselves do not understand completely what is meant. On day 1 we discussed the conceptualisation of sexuality and on day 2 that of YFS. Can you remember how we explained sexuality? Sexual well-being; sexual rights; YFS? recap on sexual well-being.
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It is important that you can explain what you mean with these concepts, as you will have to explain it to your informants as well. •
Practice defining these concepts in the local language.
•
Can you identify and define other key concepts of the research that we want to carry out? o o o o o o o o o o o
•
Youth Adolescents Sex Sexuality Youth Friendly Services Quality Access Sexual Realities/Needs/Problems Sexual and Reproductive Rights Stakeholders Etc.
Go through the concepts that are relevant for your research. Make sure the participants have a good understanding of these concepts. If they have any questions, now is the time to ask and clarify them.
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5.3
Preparation of FGD in the field & division of tasks
11:30 – 13:00: (1 hour 30 mins) Materials: Handouts of FGD preparations and division of tasks (see page 64-65) •
Explain about the FGD you will hold with the adolescent target group7
•
Emphasise that they will work as a group and that the facilitators will stay in the background and will not interfere.
•
Explain that it is important to prepare this FGD well and that we will use the interview guidelines prepared in the morning.
•
We might not be able to ask all the questions in the interview guidelines. Have a plenary discussion on choice of topic/main research question.
•
Explain the different roles and why they are necessary. a
Facilitator(s): person(s) who will ask the questions.
b
Data recorder: person who will make notes on the contents.
c
Observers: persons who will make notes on the ‘form’ (process): Non-verbal communication • Did participants openly share? • Were they at ease? • What barriers can be observed? • What topics or questions were more difficult? • What makes them feel at ease? •
d
•
Evaluator(s): Person(s) who briefly interview FGD participants after the ending of the FGD on their opinion of the discussion, using the following questions: • What did you think of the FGD? • Did you feel comfortable/free to share your opinion? • Did you understand the reason for this FGD?
Group work: Preparation of the FGD and division of tasks -
Identification of the major objective of the FGD: What do you want to find out? Identification of main themes/topics (which will later be used for labelling). Preparation of questions, based on the themes, to guide the FGD. Division of tasks: two facilitators, one data recorder, two observers, and two evaluators: split the group into girls and boys; try not to mix the sexes especially if the subject of the research is sensitive. FGD’s tend to work better with informants who are from similar backgrounds (ages, sex, income, status, etc).
7
Make sure you have recruited these adolescents beforehand in collaboration with the partner organisation. Ask for a group of girls and a group of boys to be interviewed (ideally around 10-15 per group).
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HAND OUT FOR PREPARATION OF FGD IN THE FIELD (1) Main research question (major objective of the FGD: What do we want to find out?):
Relevant topics:
Sub-questions:
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HAND OUT FOR PREPARATION OF FGD IN THE FIELD (2) Division of tasks:
Facilitator(s): person(s) who will ask the questions.
Data recorder: person who will take notes on the contents.
Observers: persons who will take notes on the ‘form’ (process).
Questions to ask during observation of the FGDs: •
Do participants openly share?
•
Are they at ease?
•
What barriers can be observed?
•
What topics or questions are more difficult to discuss?
•
What makes them feel at ease?
Evaluator(s): Person(s) who will briefly interview two or three random FGD participants after the FGD on their opinion of the discussion.
Questions to ask during evaluation of the FGDs: •
What did you think of the FGD?
•
Did you feel comfortable/free to share your opinion?
•
Did you understand the reason for this FGD?
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5.4
Preparation of presentation on findings
16:00 – 17:00: (1 hour) Materials: Notes from the FGDs Flipcharts and markers Prepared Flipchart (instructions for reporting) Handout for the observers and the evaluators •
Hand out some flip-chart sheets and markers to the group. Ask the group to prepare their presentations, focusing on: Goal of FGD: What did you want to know/find out (main research question)? Contents: main findings and results (ordered by topic). Conclusion: answer to the research question. Observers: what went very well, what was the main weak point? Evaluators: what was the opinion of the evaluated FGD informants?
Box 16: Questions the observers and evaluators have to answer
The observers have to summarize their answers to the following questions for the presentation: o o o o o
Did participants openly share? Were they at ease? What barriers were observed? What topics or questions were more difficult to discuss? What made them feel at ease?
The evaluators have to summarize the answers to the following questions for the presentation: o o o o
•
• •
What did the participants think of the FGD? Did they feel comfortable/free to share their opinion? Did they understand the reason for the FGD? Any issues regarding ethics?
Instruct the researchers that they have to take turns in presenting the findings: facilitators start with goal, contents and conclusion, then one of the observers presents the outcomes of the observations and one of the evaluators presents the outcomes of the evaluation. Ask the evaluators and observers to pay attention to ethics: Did anything occur that had to do with ethics (i.e. giving information or adding own information)? If researchers are not ready by the end of the day, ask them to continue preparing later that evening after dinner. You can also choose to allocate some time the next morning to preparations.
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Day 6
Presenting Findings & Reflecting on the
Quality of Data Objectives of the day: • • • • •
To reflect on experiences and results of the FGD process and content. To get practical experience in analysing and interpreting FGD data and reporting (presenting) the main findings. To learn to critically reflect on statements, arguments and conclusions. To learn how to reflect on validity and reliability of data. To learn how to strengthen conclusions by building arguments.
Time 9.00 – 10.30 10.30 – 11:15 11.15 – 11.45 11.45 – 12.30 12.30 – 13.30 13.30 – 14.30 14.30 - 15.00 15.00 – 16.00 16.00 – 17.00
6.1
Sessions Preparation of presentation on findings Presentation group 1 Break Presentation group 2 Lunch Feedback on FGD findings and process: how to order & analyze data (according to topics). Drawing good conclusions Reflection on quality of data Note taking exercise
Preparation of presentation on findings
09.00 – 10.30: (1 hour 30 min) Materials: Flip charts •
6.2
Continue session 5.4 from the previous day if necessary, then have group 1 present their findings followed by a break, followed by presentations from group 2.
Presentation of the FGD findings
10.30 – 12.30: (45 min per group and 30 min break) Materials: Flip charts Marker pens •
Ask the group to present their findings. When they have finished, give the people, who are present during the presentation but who did not actively participate in the FGD, the chance to respond or to ask questions. Write down feedback during presentations.
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6.3
Feedback on the FGD Findings and Process & How to Order and Analyze the Data (according to topics)
13.30 – 14.30: (1 hour) • •
Ask the observers and evaluators to present their findings. Give feedback. First start with the positive aspects, the things you find interesting, that they did well; then continue with reflecting on the points they could try to improve the next time. Try to be interactive and ask the participants to reflect on certain points themselves.
•
Use the ‘mistakes’ they made as entry points to discuss reflection on quality of data and drawing good conclusions.
•
Ask the group to answer the following questions: •
• •
6.4
Your main impressions: What did you find most remarkable or interesting (for example something that is new to you, that you did not expect, that conflicted with information from others, or confirmed what others have said). Your own ideas and thoughts (e.g. explanations, hypotheses, ideas, conclusions). Your impression of the ‘trustworthiness’ of the information you have collected.
Drawing a Good Conclusion
14.30 – 15.00: (30 min) Materials: Sheets of the FGD presentation Prepared flipcharts and textbook with 1) steps to draw a good conclusion, and 2) steps to check validity and reliability of data. •
This session can also be an integrated part of your feedback to the presentation. E.g. “You conclude here that … Do you think that if you presented this to the E.D., or someone else who was not present at the FGD, this person is likely to believe you/be convinced?”
•
Ask the participants to reflect on the strength of their argumentation to support their conclusion: Take one of the weaker conclusions from the presentations as an example. Ask the participants: “How do you know this?” or “Do you think if the E.D. was here, or someone else who was not present at the FGD, that this person is likely to be convinced by this conclusion?”
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•
Explain the steps on how to draw a good conclusion: Box 17: Steps for drawing a good conclusion
A good conclusion: •
Gives an answer to the question, and a short explanation of why and how.
•
Is logical (the relationship between cause and effect is clear).
•
Is complete and reflexive: It includes a focus on the positive as well as on the negative. It includes information on what is not found (e.g. no stories of safer sex).
-
• -
•
•
Is based on strong arguments which in turn are based on sufficient and truthful data. If not, or if weak, the conclusion should include a reflection on the limitations of the research and the validity and reliability of the data, or the conclusion is preceded by such a reflection. Includes recommendations, or is followed by a paragraph that formulates recommendations.
Explain the importance of collecting sufficient and truthful data. Describe the steps to check validity and reliability of data:
Box 18: Steps to check validity and reliability of data
Steps to check validity and reliability of your data: 1
How much consensus is there on a particular topic or explanation?
2
Which topics did I collect conflicting data on?
3
Does the answer/conclusion count for boys and girls?
4
Are the data based on the informants’ own observations, experiences, or is it hearsay?
5
What do you think of the overall ‘honesty’ of the informants (with regard to specific topics)?
6
Are the main findings and conclusions verified with some informants?
7
Would the answers be different if you had been male/female, older/younger, had interviewed the informants in a different setting (e.g. in their homes instead of the clinic)?
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•
Ask them to think about which questions they did not collect (enough) data on and ask them whichever new questions come up in your mind that you would like to ask during the next FGD.
6.5
Reflection on Quality of Data
15.00 – 16.00: (1 hour) Materials: Flipchart with overview of steps on what to do after finalizing the interview and clean flipchart to fill in, per step, the answers after reflection on the interview with the service provider. Box 19: Steps to take after finalizing the interview •
Introduction
We have focused on preparing an interview and conducting an interview, but there are also steps to take after you have done the interview. •
Instructions on steps to take after finalizing the interview. (Ask the participants to) illustrate the steps with the example of the service provider interview of day 3.
When you have finished the interview, it is advisable to work out your notes immediately, or as soon as possible, when the information is still fresh in your memory and you can still read/understand your notes! Write down on top of the report sheet: • the date • name of the informant if you have it – if not, think of an alias • age • gender • and location Then, write down: • The main questions with the main answers (in a summary). • Your main impressions: What did you find most remarkable or interesting (for example something that is new to you, that you did not expect, that conflicted with information from others, or confirmed what others have said). • Your own ideas and thoughts (e.g. explanations, hypotheses, ideas, conclusions). • How the interview went: one thing you want to do different/better next time. • Your impression of the ‘trustworthiness’ of the information you have collected.
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Box 20: Reflecting on the interview and your data
INFORMANT: Do you feel the informant was honest with you?
Would he/she have told you something different in another setting/situation? (The kind of answers the researcher collects depend on the setting in which the questions are asked: in a group, in a one-on-one interview, at home, in the street, at the market, in school, etc.).
Are the data based on the informants’ own observations, experiences, or is it hearsay?
How do you assess the overall ‘honesty’ of the informants (with regard to specific topics)? RESEARCHER (yourself): Do you think the informant would have said something different if you had been a girl/boy, older/younger? Or if you had been friends with this person? Bias = a term used to describe that something has influenced the outcome (e.g. data, results) and the outcome is therefore less trustworthy.
-
Researcher = main instrument for collecting data. The answers that you collect depend on: what kind of questions you ask and how you ask them, on your ‘rapport’ with the informant, on your experience as a researcher (skills), on your interpretations: Unlike a film documentary, you write down the things that you think are important, or the way you understood it. This can be different from what someone else would have written down (e.g. somebody from another country, somebody with different skills or a different ‘rapport’ with the informant). This is not a bad thing, but it is important to think about how you influence or ‘colour’ the data. And it is important to explain this to the people who read your research data. There are a few tricks that you can use to make your findings more objective and to check the trustworthiness of your data: TRICKS - TRIANGULATION: Use different methods to collect data on the same topic or question, and see how the answers that you get differ, e.g. see what people answer you in a personal interview versus what they say in a FGD. Compare the data that you have collected on a certain topic or question with that of the other researchers. Compare the information that you have received from different persons. - VERIFICATION:
Check if the answers count for boys and for girls.
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Check your main findings and conclusions with some ‘key-informants’, people whom you think are most honest with you and have a lot of knowledge or experience.
Conflicting info:
if you find conflicting information, you have to investigate the reasons for this conflict, until you have an explanation.
The more consensus there is on a topic, the more valid the answer is. Thinking about how you and the setting could possibly have influenced your data is called REFLECTION. Reflection will help you to formulate new questions for the following interviews and bring focus, efficiency and quality to the data collection. Answering the above questions directly after the interview or FGD will later help you with ordering and analysing your data.
6.6
Note Taking Exercise
16.00 – 17.00: (1 hour) Materials: Notebooks for participants to take notes •
• •
Have one participant interview one of the facilitators (30 min). Compose a research question beforehand i.e. we want to find out whether the informant is able to negotiate condom use with his or her partner, and we want to find out in which situation he or she can or cannot negotiate condom use. Have all the other participants take detailed notes of the interview (15 min): detailed notes entail writing down exactly what the informant says rather than summarizing what he or she says. At the end of the exercise see who has written down the most and see who has written down the details of the interview (15 min). For example indicating when an informant laughs, etc can be used as an example of detailed note taking. Give the participants additional tips on note taking (identifying missed entry points, identifying research topics, coding and analysis).
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Day 7
Mapping and Research Plan
Objectives of the day: • • • • • •
To develop a youth-informed and context specific research plan. To map and make a choice for research informants and locations. To develop a plan for identification of, selection of and approaching gatekeepers, stakeholders and informants. To brainstorm about the goal, purpose and programme of a stakeholder panel. To understand how to carry out data recording. To develop a day-to-day team management plan.
Good to invite partner organisation staff or other key figures that will be involved in the research to the mapping and planning sessions.
Time 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 10.00
10.00 12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30
7.1
– – – – –
12.30 13.30 15.00 15.30 17.00
Sessions Energizer Introduction of guests (IPPF, FPAM staff) Summary and evaluation of the previous day(s)/research purpose for guests Mapping & Planning selection of informants Lunch Stakeholder panel Break Preparations for fieldtrip to outreach clinic the next day
Mapping & Planning selection of informants
10.00 – 12.30: (2 hours + 30 min break) Materials: Flipcharts •
Plenary brainstorm on where we have to look for answers to our questions. This should result in a list of type of informants.
•
Map where to find these different informants. This should result in a list (as well as the type of informants) of research locations.
•
Brainstorm on how to identify and approach these informants. Ask the participants who needs to be asked permission (consent) or/and who can help them to get in touch with the informants. Identify persons in the community (gatekeepers). Identify persons working for partner organisation (staff or volunteers) who can facilitate help from gatekeepers and access to informants.
•
Make a choice of groups of informants, locations for interviews and FGD, and ways to approach them and a plan how to achieve this within a timeframe of three weeks.
•
Make a plan for the number of FGDs and interviews to be held.
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Flipchart: Mapping the respondents and gatekeepers
Type of Informants
Location
How to reach? And ask for permission
e.g. school-going children e.g. out of school children
Schools
Headmaster
Slum areas, factories
Gatekeepers
Partner organisation Factory managers
Partner organisation
Flipchart: Research plan+ target
Method
Location
Frequency
Individual interviews FGD
At schools
20 girls
20 boys
At clinic
10 girls
10 boys
•
Discuss plan for day-to-day team management: o o o o
7.2
team meeting at the beginning of the day to instruct re. tasks and who goes where data collection data reporting team meeting at end of day for reflection on what went well/did not go well, ethical cases and new and interesting information found.
Stakeholder Panel
13.30 – 15.00: (90 min) Materials: Flipchart •
Explain and discuss the purpose of a stakeholder panel o Verification of findings o Brainstorm on recommendations o Future communityand FPAM support recommendations.
in
implementation
of
•
Identify potential stakeholder-panel members. Make a list.
•
Choose 15 stakeholders who can best help to achieve the objectives of the stakeholder panel.
•
Make a plan for selecting stakeholders and approaching them for consent.
•
Make a provisional planning for stakeholder meeting programmes.
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Day 8
Finalisation of Research Training
Objectives of the day: • To evaluate training • To emphasise responsibility that comes from working as a researcher • To close the research training Time 9.00 – 12.30 12.30 – 13.30 13.30 – 14.15 14.15 - 15.30
Sessions Half day for catching up / need-based sessions / field work practices outreach programme and FGD Lunch Verbal and written evaluation Ethical Vow & Graduation Ceremony
8.1 Research Training Evaluation Questions 1. What did you like the most about the training? 2. What did you dislike most about the training? 3. What would you have liked to learn more about or what could the facilitators have explained more? 4. What were the most important things you learned? 5. What should the facilitators do to improve the training? 6. What did you find most difficult? 7. Additional remarks?
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End of Training
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