Qualitative Methods
Maria Camila Chaparro, BA (she/her/hers)
Specialist, Communications
Pact
Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Diana Morales, MA (she/her/hers)
Officer, Monitoring & Evaluation
Pact, Colombia
Tripti Pande, MScPH (she/her/hers)
Senior Officer, Learning Evidence and Impact
Pact, United States
Patricia Henao, MSc
Country Director
Pact, Colombia
Diana Morales, MA (she/her/hers)
Officer, Monitoring & Evaluation
Pact, Colombia
Tripti Pande, MScPH (she/her/hers)
Senior Officer, Learning Evidence and Impact
Pact, United States
Location: Room 309/310
Abstract Information: Traditional qualitative data collection techniques are often limiting methods for marginalized populations due to various factors. For example, participants may not have the ability to verbalize and/or express their thoughts effectively as they are not used to answering evaluative type questions and/or a question/answer format. Further, traditional interviews and focus group discussion formats can be alienating for those not accustomed to the process. The Vamos Tejiendo (“Let’s Weave”) project in Colombia used innovative story telling and non-traditional qualitative data collection techniques to understand the perception of women regarding gender and social norms in the cut-flower and sugarcane sectors. The evaluation team used techniques such as self-portraits, the “Bank of Time” game and social cartography to encourage reflection among the participants. These approaches enabled the participants to present and situate themselves using their own words, concepts, and visuals, providing a more accurate and also exploratory picture, leveraging the value of qualitative methods to explore while still providing some framework for analysis. Overall, these methods helped the participating women to tell their stories with more confidence whilst simultaneously learning about their labor rights. Through this demonstration session, the speakers will highlight Vamos Tejiendo’s approach to using story-telling as an evaluation method, lessons learned from using non-traditional data collection methods and triangulation of results with other project evaluations to assist in project design. Demonstration participants will walk away with knowledge on how to use the four approaches and ways to analyze, and disseminate them using creative formats such as comics and videos
Relevance Statement: Traditional key informant interview (KII) and/or focus group discussions (FGD) are often alienating to individuals who may not be accustomed to the procress, specifically marginalized populations who are not used to such interview techniques. Within the Pact-led Vamos Tejiendo (“Let’s Weave”) project, the target population is women who are working in the cut-flower or sugarcane sector who are incredibly busy. Using traditional qualitative approaches such as interviews or FGDs may not be as “fun” for participants who are taking time to contribute to an evaluation. To encourage interactive data collection and learning, the Vamos Tejiendo project used a combination of non-traditional data collection techniques to understand perceptions on gender and social norms from women working in the cut-flower and sugarcane sectors. The presenters will discuss why they picked each approach, how they tailored each approach based on the population type, and how the combination of approaches tells us a larger story. Presenters will also provide lessons learned as well as best practices for analyzing these more non-tradtional data to present a clear story of the women it represents. This demonstration will be most relevant for individuals working with marginalized populations and/or individuals for whom traditional data collection approaches may not encourage high-quality data collection due to the populations with which they work. Participants will walk away with working knowledge of how to use these four approaches and methods to analyze them based on their evaluative needs. This demonstration session directly aligns with the conference theme “The Power of Story Telling” as stories in this case will help support relationality and help contextualize monitoring findings from the progress indicators. Pact’s use of non-traditional data collection methods mentioned above, encouraged women to provide their thoughts and reflections on gender and social norms. These data collection methods empowered women to verbalize their thoughts through the use of methods which were most relatable to them. This strongly highlights the power of story telling and how the results can be used as a program evaluation method. The demonstration will be submitted to the Qualitative Methods Topical Interest Group (TIG) as it aligns directly with the TIG’s mission to promote innovation of qualitative methods and enables evaluators to understand multiple ways of knowing and being specifically through the use of non-traditional qualitative data collection techniques