Personal context of t��e researc��

I arrived in Kampong Thom in December 2001 to work for the German Develop-ment Service (DED - Deutscher Entwiklungsdienst)¹ as advisor for civil society and local governance in the Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP).

The project, which has duration of seven years (2002-2008), is implemented under the steering of the Cambodian Ministry for Rural Development in two provinces, Kampot and Kampong Thom. Financial support comes from the German Govern-ment, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Pro-gramme (WFP), and from the Australian Government through Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). The main technical assistance is provided

1 DED is a governmental organisation receiving most of its funding from the German FederalDED is a governmental organisation receiving most of its funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. It was founded in 1963 and is one of the leading European development services for personnel cooperation. Almost 1.000 develop-ment workers are currently working in approximately 40 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America (www.ded.de).

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by the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ - Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammearbeit).²

CBRDP is a multi-sectoral project which in Kampong Thom covers four out of the eight districts of the province. The main activities are support to agricultural production, rural infrastructure development, local economic promotion, and com-munity development. The project objective, as stated in the 2004 Mid Term Review, is “to reduce rural poverty [and] assist approximately 49.600 poor households in the project area to sustain increased food production and farm incomes from intensified and diversified crop and livestock production and increase the capacity of the mem-bers of the target group to use the services available from the government and other sources for their social and economic development” (IFAD 2004: 2).

As advisor for civil society and local governance, I worked within CBRDP’s com-munity development component at the Provincial Department for Rural Develop-ment (PDRD) of Kampong Thom. The set up of the project involves, between the two provinces, eight to ten international advisors from GTZ and DED, about 20 GTZ local staff, and about 70 government counterparts. In my work I supervised two lo-cal staff, one government counterpart, and six staff of CNGOs. The work of our civil society team focused on two main areas:

• Support to traditional associations

• Establishment and capacity building of Village Networks

The first area of work focused mainly on one district of the province, Stoung, where the project provided support to the 11 members of the Pagoda Association Coor-dination Committee (Pacoco), an elected body representing 96 traditional associa-tions (about 6.000 households) involved in organising the collection of cash and rice contributions and providing small credits to association’s members and support to schools. The civil society team provided training on management and administra-tion, monitoring, and, in order to promote networking and exchange, study visits to meet similar associations in other provinces. With regard to local governance, Pacoco members received training on the role and function of Commune Councils and were encouraged to take part in the monthly commune meetings to present the activities of their associations and plan the community contributions to small rural development projects. The second area of work of the civil society team concerned the promotion of participatory local governance through the establishment of Vil-lage Networks. The aim of these Networks is to identify active individuals or groups at the village level, bringing them together in an informal group to link them with

2 GTZ is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwideGTZ is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. GTZ works mainly for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and is implementing some 2.700 development projects and programme in over 130 countries (www.gtz.de).

Commune Councils while, at the same time, identifying ways for the Commune Councils to support the different groups. ³

The topic of the present research touches on most of the areas of the project work, although the focus on the link between communities and schools provides a specific perspective that was not at the centre of project activities. In September 2003, during a researchers’ seminar at the University of Tampere, where I presented the research questions and methodology, a fellow PhD student noted the possible problems that I could face in my dual role of researcher and project advisor, observing that I needed to be careful in keeping the research ‘academic enough’.⁴ I interpreted her remark as a warning about the possibility that my involvement with communities through project activities could limit the objectivity required by the conventions of a doctoral dissertation. That comment has accompanied me all along the research process and, I believe, has helped to better define the purpose of this research, the choice of the research methods and tools, and in a way clarify the question of whether the role of advisor and researcher can be compatible. The next sections present the research methodology and activities by reflecting also on the limitations and opportunities presented by the researcher – advisor role and how this has influenced the research process.

5.2 �esearc�� met��odology and t��e dual role researc��er – advisor

Theoretical and methodological approaches of scientific research are shaped, ac-cording to Husén (1994), by paradigms defined as “cultural artefacts, reflecting the dominant notions about scientific behaviours in a particular scientific community”

(p. 5051). During the twentieth century, the two main paradigms employed in re-searching educational problems have been the ‘scientific paradigm’ and the ‘human-istic paradigm’, which have often been juxtaposed to describe different and somehow incompatible research philosophies (Keeves 1988, Muijs 2004).

The ‘scientific paradigm’ is “modelled on the natural sciences with the emphasis on empirically quantifiable observations which lend themselves to analyses by means of mathematical tools” (Husén 1994: 5051). As the task of the research is to establish casual relationships and to explain (Erklären), quantitative research is considered to generate knowledge for understanding which may be independent of its use in plan-ning and implementation (Husén 1994, Cornwall and Jewkes 1995). The ‘humanistic paradigm’, on the other hand, is “derived from the humanities with an emphasis on

3 For more details see Pellini and Ayres 2005.

4 I thank Nelli Piattoeva, academic assistant and PhD candidate at the Department of Educa-tion of the University of Tampere, for this comment.

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holistic and qualitative information” and helps to provide an interpretation or under-standing of events (Verstehen) (Keeves 1988, Husén 1994).

The idea of opposed paradigms is useful to illustrate two theoretical ends. How-ever, as mentioned by Husén (1994), in reality these two positions are linked along a continuum and complement each other to the point that it is possible to speak of “only one paradigm but many approaches” (Keeves 1988a in Husén 1994: 5054).

Likewise, Cornwall and Jewkes (1995) argue that the separation of between qualita-tive and quantitaqualita-tive approaches, with the former being the field of participatory research and the latter the field of conventional research, is actually too simplistic.

This recognition has led to a generalised consensus that in most cases research in the social sciences is to some extent participatory, and participatory research relies on quantitative as well as qualitative tools of data collection and analysis that today more and more tend to be combined and characterise the so called ‘post-positivist’

approach (Muijs 2004). According to this definition, post-positivists “accept that it is not possible to observe the world we are part of as totally objective and disinterested outsiders … [post-positivists] believe in the possibility to approximate reality by re-alising that our own subjectivity is shaping that reality” (ibid.: 5).

At the beginning of the twentieth century, one important element of the ‘scientific paradigm’ was the neutrality and objectivity of the researcher in order to limit or avoid biases. The underlying belief was that the scientific method could handle social reality “without any moral commitment” (Husén 1994: 5053). In the 1930s, Swedish economist and politician Gunnar Myrdal, was among the firsts who questioned this assumption, arguing that social researchers could not be free of their own values and political convictions and that researchers could arrive at more valuable and credible conclusions by actually making their premises and values explicit (Myrdal 1969 in Husén 1994). The need for the researchers to remain a neutral observer of social re-ality has been questioned by other authors as well. C. Wright Mills, for example, in The Sociological Imagination (1959), argued that “there is no way in which any social scientist can avoid assuming choices of value and implying them in his work as a whole” (p. 196). The research is influenced by external political and economic factors and the social scientist can not be considered as an “autonomous being standing out-side society” (p. 204). Similarly, American anthropologist, Clifford Geertz, argued in the late 1960s that “a professional commitment to view human affairs analytically is not in opposition to a personal commitment to view them in terms of a particular moral perspective” (1968: 157). Austrian-born philosopher Feyerabend (1999), writ-ing durwrit-ing the 1970s and 1980s, has posited that, given the complexity of reality, objectivity is difficult to reach since researchers are influenced by their worldview (Weltaschaung), personal values, the aim of their research, and the social and eco-nomic environment they live in. Both Mills (1959) and Feyerabend (1999) argue that the simple physical presence of the researcher creates a non-neutral situation and that information is absorbed through the prism of our experiences, interests, and

val-ues. Accordingly, the present study has been conducted keeping these views in mind and therefore applies a flexible and reflexive perspective “to explore local knowledge and perceptions” (Cornwall and Jewkes 1995: 1668).

The involvement of the researchers in the research process typical of the partici-patory methodology can take two forms: ‘participating observer’ or ‘observing par-ticipant’ (Bernard 1994).⁵ These two roles represent the ends of a continuum along which the researcher and the research move. At one end the researcher is mainly an observer who consults individuals for their opinions; at the other end the researcher is a full participant together with local people in a project that he or she has initiated and manages (Glesne and Peshkin 1992, Cornwall and Jewkes 1995). Cornwall and Jewkes 1995).).

The initial plan for this research was to be based on action research principlesbe based on action research principles which, as defined by Hall and Kassam (1988), would “combine social investigation, educational (and capacity building) work, and action … for the improvement of the lives of those involved” (p. 150). A mix of qualitative and quantitative tools for data collection would have enabled a closer dialogue with local communities and at the same time helped to plan and develop small scale community projects (Huizer 1997).

This initial aim resulted in a conflict with the reality of the advisory work and there-fore had to be changed. Direct involvement with a few communities has not been possible because the project activities extended in four (out of eight) districts of the province. The project work involved mainly coordination tasks rather than direct work with target groups and beneficiaries. In addition, the language barrier meant that project work and research activities had to be conducted with the help of in-terpreters or through field facilitators responsible for project activities at the village level (i.e. CNGO staff, project staff, government counterparts). Due to these circum-stances, the research methodology moved towards the ‘participating observer’ end of‘participating observer’ end of the continuum described earlier..

One concern with the research process has been the need to maintain a link be-tween project work and research activities. One pre-condition to conduct academic research while working as advisor in a development project, given the constraints in time and resources with the advisory work, is for the research and working topic to be the same or to overlap as much as possible. Only in this way is it possible to plan and organise data collection that could help both areas. In the case of the present study the overlap and differences between advisor and research activities are consid-ered here at two analytical levels: ‘local level analysis’ and ‘policy level analysis’.

With regard to ‘local level analysis’ (Figure 5.1), there has been substantial overlap with all the information related to the traditional, norms and values that characterise Cambodian communities today. In particular, the role of pagodas as spaces for com-munity participation and mobilisation and the links between Commune Councils and communities. Specific data collection had to be organised about the relationships

5 I need to thank Virve Lapinlampi and Anne-Mari Raivo, PhD candidates at the Department of Education of the University of Tampere, for bringing these definitions to my attention.

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between schools and School Associations and their role not only in school govern-ance but also in local governgovern-ance through their link with Commune Councils. The gathering of these data involved members of traditional associations that were par-ticipating in project activities. At the same time, the research activities were limited mainly to Kampong Thom province. The link established with informants through project activities helped to offset one of the risks of participatory research described by Cornwall and Jewkes 1995, that is, the loss of interest by informants who do not see an immediate impact from their participation. In the case of this research, the two processes were mixed and, besides being a source of data and information on communities, project activities were helping individuals to strengthen their associa-tion as well as their participaassocia-tion with Commune Councils.

With regard to policy level analysis (Figure 5.2), the main overlap concerned sec-ondary data on the history of Cambodia, national policies and donor policies on decentralisation and development. To complete the research material, a review was

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