Data Collection Methods

As mentioned above, multiple techniques of the qualitative method have been used to collect data and information from the field, because no single source has a complete advantage over all the others (Yen 1994). These are formal and informal questionnaires, in-depth interview, participatory rural appraisal (PRA), local cultural appraisal (LCA), participant observation, thematic interview, informal discussions, et cetera.

3.8.1 Formal Questionnaire

A formal questionnaire (see appendix 3) was used to collect primary data and information from the study area. This questionnaire consists of 11 descriptive, analytical questions written in the local Bengali language. The motives of this questionnaire were to discover the people’s perspectives on the research issues of governance, decentralization and people’s participation in Bangladesh. Due to the nature of the questionnaire, it was distributed among the selected government officials and college and school teachers of the study area.

3.8.2 Informal Questionnaire for an In-depth Interview¹⁸

Besides the formal questionnaire, an informal questionnaire was used for an in-depth interview of the villagers. The motives of an in-depth interview were to learn the local people’s perspectives on the services provided by the local government institutions, the effects of decentralization, and their participation in local development activities.

18 In-depth interviewing is a data collection method relied on quite extensively by qualitative researchers (see for details Marshall and Rossman 1995). It allows person-to-person discussion and leads to increased insight into people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour on important issues. It aims to ask questions to explain reasons underlying a problem or practice in a target group. The aim of such interviews is to deeply explore the respondent’s point of view, feelings and perspectives.

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At the initial stage of the research, it was challenging to reach the local inhabitants. Initially, to overcome this situation, some of the local people of the study unit (rickshaw-drivers, shop keepers, and the school teachers, and religious leaders) where randomly approached. They were asked about how the inhabitants of the study unit, who were quite busy with their seasonal cultivation and were sceptical about trusting the researcher, could be approached. A suggestion was given to approach Mr. Shahidul Master (a master in local terms means a teacher), a reliable, responsible person who is respected to the villagers. In any local crisis, people would always find him beside them, but on the other hand, he did not have any political affiliation. Regardless, a meeting with Shahidul Master was arranged, where the details of the research and purpose of the field study were explained to him, resulting in his agreement to assist with conducting in-depth interviews with the selected villagers. In fact, he expressed his feelings of content and pride to be a part of this study, as this was the first time in his life that someone had asked him to do such “noble work”, as he called it. Thus, it was made possible for the researcher to visit people’s homes, either with Shahidul Master, or alone, and conduct interviews. Although at first this appeared to be time consuming, it eventually turned out to be an effective technique, which the researcher has named Local Cultural Appraisal (LCA). This approach is further described in the following.

3.8.3 Local Cultural Appraisal (LCA)

Access to the informants is one of the major challenges of qualitative research, especially for the social science researchers who are applying this method for their academic work. Cultural bindings, situational influence and the living conditions are the major constraints to accessing the informants in developing countries like Bangladesh. The issue of access is not addressed adequately by the contemporary techniques of qualitative research, that is, how to access the key informants for an in-depth interview. These techniques only deal with how to select the informants, what would be the selection criteria, how to conduct an interview, how to collect data, how to analyze data, et cetera. Therefore, qualitative research has a drawback in the aspect of accessing key informants. Marshall and Rossman (1995) do highlight one technique named ‘Negotiating Entry’, but it is concerned with gaining access to the respondents from an organizational rather than a local perspective. In order to overcome this situation, the researcher introduced a new technique, namely ‘Local Cultural Appraisal’ (LCA). LCA is a technique that helps the researcher to discover the possible local ways or means to access key informants for an effective, in-depth interview. It might facilitate researchers to observe the local socio-cultural traditions, values and bindings of the study unit from a micro perspective.

This method has been followed especially during the in-depth interviews with the local inhabitants.

3.8.4 Snowball or Chain Approach¹⁹

This approach of qualitative research is especially useful when researchers are trying to reach populations that are hard to find. Although this method would hardly lead to representative samples, it is very helpful for collecting information in a short time. It saves time and is less costly as well (Patton 1990). This method has been followed in this research, especially during the case studies of the development projects.

3.8.5 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)²⁰

The PRA technique of qualitative methods has been followed to collect necessary information and data from the study area. It is a short-cut and less expensive but effective technique, because the researcher facilitates local people in analyzing information, practicing critical self-awareness, taking responsibility and sharing their knowledge of the life and conditions to plan and to act. A total of seven PRA exercises were conducted during the field visit, and three of them were female groups. Different key diagrammatic techniques of PRA have been followed to find the real facts and figures for this study from the grassroots people, such as rapport building, social mapping, Venn diagrams, pair-wise ranking, time trend analysis and semi-structured questionnaires.

3.8.6 Participant Observation²¹

Participant observation as a straightforward technique and a very useful way of collecting qualitative data (Trow 1972), it has been followed in this research. This technique was especially used for the local political leaders and government officials. During the field study

19 Snowball sampling is an approach for locating information-rich key informants (see for details Patton 1990). It is a method that helps researchers initially contact a few respondents and then ask them whether they know of anybody with the same characteristics that they are looking for in their research.

20 PRA is a methodology for interacting with villagers, understanding them and learning from them. It constitutes a process of involvement with rural people for indigenous knowledge building exercises. It is a way of learning from, and with villagers to investigate, analyze and evaluate constraints and opportunities (see for details Mukherjee 1994).

21 Participant observation is a method in which the observer participates in the daily life of the people under study, either openly in the role of the researcher or covertly in some disguised role, observing things that happen, listening to what is said, and questioning people over some length of time (Becker and Geer 1972). According to Delamont (2004) the term participant observation does not usually mean real participation; researchers do not usually catch fish, teach classes or dig coal, rather they watch these things being done, and help occasionally.

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period, for example, the researcher attended many formal occasions and government-sponsored programmes with the local political leaders and government officials. Such involvement and participation facilitated the researcher to acquire some interesting information about the local administration and nature of the local politics.