The research activities described in this section refer to the period from December 2001 to December 2005. While decentralisation reforms in Cambodia are an ongoing process shaping not just education but also Cambodian society, the data and infor-mation presented here do not extend beyond 2005, when I returned to Finland.
Most of the field work, besides two study visits to the provinces of Kampong Cham and Kandal and various meetings in Phnom Penh, took place in the province of Kampong Thom. While recognising that this is linked to the fact that I was bound to the province because of my project work, the study explores traditional norms and values that are to be found in other parts of the country. As argued by Collins (1998), “the extremely lively and diverse civil society activity found in the villages of Kampong Thom may not be unique to this province in its preservation or traditional Cambodian social and cultural organizations, associations and activities” (p. 15).
The research activities encompassed the study of relevant literature and docu-ments, interviews, a survey, a case study, personal communication, and observations from the field.
6 I thank Angelika Fleddermann, GTZ CBRDP team leader, for bringing this point to my atten-tion.
Research methodology 107
5.3.1 Literature and documentsLiterature and documents
The analysis of the main theories on decentralisation, social capital, and in partic-ipatory local governance formed the core of the initial stages of the research and contributed to shape the theoretical framework presented in Chapter Two. Research activities consisted of a review of academic literature and, with regard to Cambo-dia, the review of mainly English language sources on the history, politics and social development of the country.7 A study by Bijker and Henke (2007) on social capi-Bijker and Henke (2007) on social capi-tal–related literature available in Cambodia found that English language sources are dominant. Out of 208 titles on social capital, community and participation, 198 are in English and 10 in French. Sixty-seven per cent of the sources are by authors whose first language is English, 22 per cent are Cambodians as the main authors, five per cent of the listed titles are by French authors, and six per cent are by donor organiza-tions without reference to specific authors.8
Reports and policy documents by international donors, NGOs and government on Cambodian development policies, decentralisation reforms, and the education sector completed the documentary sources. With regard to Kampong Thom prov-ince, the documentary sources refer to GTZ reports, Khmer language documents from associations that have been translated into English by Mr. Sarin Samphors, and the statistical sources presented in table 5.1 below.
7 Two exceptions are the GTZ report by Aschmoneit (1994), which is in German, and Franci (2004), which is in Italian. The research database, which contains all the publication reviewed for the research and which are not all included in this thesis, has 126 references on Cambodia divided into community (18), decentralisation (26) development (18), education (27), govern-ment (8) history (25), participation (3), social capital (1), all of which are in the English lan-guage or are English versions of relevant documents and publications.
8 One title has no indication of the author and is therefore missing from the total of 208. The total of titles with Cambodian authors is 60, with 12 per cent of these titles referring to Kim Sedara and another 12 per cent to Meas Nee, who therefore alone represent one quarter or all titles. Henke has noted that French remains somewhat underrepresented because relevant French material often does not enter the English public domain but remains in the Franco-phone NGO scene. In addition, French academic material is more difficult to find because the international academic social science debate is English dominated. German is also underrep-resented because most of the sources are academic and therefore not available in Cambodia.
Henke thinks that by including them the pattern will not dramatically change if the above under representations would be repaired by adding the French, German and Khmer publica-tions (the latter not included in the study) that have been missed by the study (Personal com-munication).
T����� 5��� S�u������ ��� qu��������v�� ���� ��� �������������
D��������� Y���� S�u����
Po�ulation census 1998 Ministry of Planning
Socio-Economic Survey 1999 Ministry of Planning
Cambodia Demogra���ic and Healt�� Survey 2000 Ministry of Planning Commune Database (CDB) 5.3 2003–2005 SEILA / Ministry of Planning Inter-Censual Po�ulation Survey (CIPS) 2004 Ministry of Planning Education Statistics & Indicators 2004/2005 2005 Ministry of Education Yout�� and S�orts
Most Vulnerable Families List 2005 CB�DP Kam�ong T��om
The following remarks need to be made with regard to the documentary sources.
First, it is important to recognise the damage produced by the civil war and the Khmer Rouge years. As noted by Ayres (1997), “a significant concern in research-ing Cambodian modern history is the depletion of a plethora of potential sources.
Documents were destroyed in Cambodia in acts of political malice, in an effort to obscure the involvement of certain individuals in the politics of a previous regime, or as an expedient for a shortage of raw materials” (p. 25). Second, the majority of the existing academic literature focuses on the war and the Khmer Rouge period.
Little information is available on the field of social development and the years before the civil war and genocide. Third, it must be remembered that existing sources are influenced by the political orientation of authors, official documents relate to spe-cific regimes and ideologies, government documents tend to emphasise the positive results and achievements over policy failures and donors’ reports have to be balanced against their specific aim (ibid.). By reviewing different sources, this thesis attempts to present different perspectives of Cambodian history and development as well as the traditional norms and values that shape community participation.
5.3.2 InterviewsInterviews
Interviews have been an important part of the research process. They have provided relevant information that complemented the documentary analysis, especially at the local level where such sources are scarce. This is also the area where project work and research have the strongest synergy, since interviews have provided extremely valuable information for the work with pagoda associations and Village Networks.
A total of 58 interviews (53 individual interviews and 5 group interviews) have been collected through research as well as project activities. They have been coded and
Research methodology 109
divided into four main categories: Cambodian background, education background, community participation, and civil society (Table 5.2).9
T����� 5��� Nu����� ��� ����������h ������v���w������� 5��� Nu����� ��� ����������h ������v���w��
C�������y I�����v���w��
C������� ���k���u�� 9
E�u������ ���k���u�� 9
C���u���y p������p����� ��
C�v�� ��������y 8
TOTAL 58
When considered relevant, interviews collected for project activities have been in-cluded in the research database. Thirty one interviews were conducted in English with foreign advisors or Cambodian staff working for international NGOs and do-nors. Twenty-seven interviews were conducted in Khmer with translation by Da Nary, project assistant of the civil society component of CBRDP. Focus Group in-terviews were tried on two occasions, but were not pursued further because a few people, and often just one person, spoke for the group. Social mapping was used once in an interview with the abbot of a pagoda in Stoung district. Most of the interviews at the local level took place with community members and leaders who have been also involved in CBRDP project activities. By using a semi-structured format for the interview, based on leading questions, I have been able to keep a consistency in the enquiries and reduce the loss of information through translation.10
Two project visits outside Kampong Thom in the provinces of Kampong Cham (March 2003) and Kandal (August 2002) were conducted to interview foreign and Cambodian advisors involved in education and to observe annual school cluster planning meetings in three core cluster schools.
5.3.3 SurveysSurveys
Quantitative data was collected using a ‘School Association Checklist’, derived from Village Networks monitoring activities and adapted to interview School Associations’
members. The checklist was designed to be simple and not time consuming question-naires where the reply to specific questions was mainly ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘I don’t know’.11
9 For the full list of interviews, observations, and personal communications refer to Annex 1
10 For leading question of interviews at the local level seen Annex 2
11 See the School Association Checklist in Annex 3.
The checklist also served as a capacity building tool for local staff to strengthen their experience with qualitative data collection and analysis.
The checklist was tested in June 2003, with the help of Ket Sobin as translator.
The results helped determine the design of the final checklist used between July and August 2005 to interview 30 School Association Committee members. The exercise was conducted with the help of Sarin Samphor who carried out the interviews in the field and entered the data in an Excel spreadsheet. Analysis was done using SPSS toAnalysis was done using SPSS to derive descriptive uni-variate statistics since the checklist contained mainly multiple choice answers and discrete information such as categories. Among the 30 SchoolAmong the 30 School Associations surveyed through the checklist, 28 supported a primary school (7,2 per cent of the total 416 primary schools in the province, see MoEYS 2005b) and one a secondary school; 28 of 30 schools are a part of a cluster.12 According to the MoEYS (2005b) estimates, the total number of students in the surveyed schools was 7.858, about 6 per cent of the total of the province. The checklist covered 30 villages in 10 communes of the province (12,3 per cent of the total of 81 communes) in 5 districts (of the total of 8 districts).13
5.3.4 Partici�ants’ observations, and �ersonal communicationsPartici�ants’ observations, and �ersonal communications
A case study to illustrate the experiences of a traditional association in the pagoda in Botum village in Kampong Thom since the late 1950s was derived from interviews, personal communication and recollections during meetings and interviews with community members. Project activities served as an important source of informa-tion about community dynamics through participants’ observainforma-tions. Observainforma-tions and notes relevant for the research were derived from a research log book and from project notes. The observations and personal communications with project advisors and consultants based outside Cambodia with experience in the field relevant for the study, were coded and catalogued using the same categories as was used for the interviews (Table 5.3).
12 Total number of schools in all clusters represented by the School Associations interviewed is 74 schools with an average 4,8 schools per cluster.
13 See survey map in Annex 4.
Research methodology 111
T����� 5��� Nu����� ��� ����������h �������v������� ��� p��������� ����u����������
C�������y O������v������� P���������
����u��������
Cambodia background 4 4
Education background 2 4
Community �artici�ation 11 8
Civil society 1 0
TOTAL �8 �6
5.4 Concluding remarks
This chapter has explored the limitations as well as the opportunities of the dual role of advisor – researcher for this study. During the four years spent in Cambodia, I have tried to minimise the former and maximise the latter by overlapping as much as pos-sible project work and research activities. Had I been in Cambodia only as advisor, it is likely I would not have reached the same in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of the links between communities and schools. Moreover I would have not explored in-depth the concepts of social capital that were the basis for the Village Networks approach. Likewise, if I would have spent a shorter time in Kampong Thom only as a researcher, I would have not have had the possibility to contribute to produce some change through the project, and, at the same time, learn about the dynamics of lo-cal governance and community development. Moreover, I would have not been in a position to establish the same personal links with representatives of traditional asso-ciations, local CNGOs, and colleagues that also allowed me to enquire about painful memories. It is not easy to determine between the researcher and the advisor, who has benefited the most. But, on a balance, it seems that both roles have contributed to this doctoral dissertation.