Annex B: Basic methods and tools for PAR on population dynamics and the local environment

B.1 Transect walks and diagrams

One of the tools for gaining hands-on experience in a community is to take an observational walk, i.e., a walk during which attention is specifically paid to people, activities, resources, environmental features, etc. Observational walks may be taken in a meandering way, following a particular feature of the landscape or the interests of the observer(s). The walks can also be structured as a transect, i.e., a straight line cutting across the terrain in a specific way, such as a compass direction. Walks of these kinds help to verify the information provided on maps, both through direct observation and in discussions with people met along the way. Ideally the walk is organized for a small group, so as to maximize the opportunities for interactions.

Purposes

There are several types of transects, among which two broad categories are social and land-use transects. The former concentrate on housing types, infrastructure and amenities, religious and cultural features and behaviors, economic activities, skills and occupations. The land-use category focuses on environmental and agricultural features (such as cultivated land, forests, ranges, barren land and erosion phenomena, streams, bodies of water, types of soil and crops). A typical transect takes in a combination of social and land-use information.

Steps in using the technique

• Decide what issues to focus on and the information that needs to be gathered.

• Agree with the relevant interest group who will take part in the transect walk and discuss with them the purpose of the exercise.

• During the walk, take notes on relevant features observed; seek clarifications from local people; discuss problems and opportunities.

• After the walk, meet with participants to discuss notes; involve participants in drafting a transect diagram to be used for further discussion and feedback to the community at large.

Strengths

• Transect walks are a highly participatory and relaxed technique.
• They enhance local knowledge and can also be used in low-literacy communities.
• They may be extremely useful in validating findings of participatory mapping exercises.

• Transects may be time-consuming.
• Good transect diagrams require some graphic skills.

B.2 Participatory mapping

Participatory mapping starts with collective discussions among groups of community members and then proceeds to drawing maps of their perceptions about the geographical distribution of environmental, demographic, social and economic features in their territory. The participants are usually requested to draw their own map, e.g., on a flipchart or on the ground, plotting features with symbols that are understood and accepted by all members of the group, regardless of literacy. In certain cases, purchased maps, aerial photographs or basic drawings on paper or on the ground can be used as a basis for the participatory exercise.

Purposes

Participatory mapping is useful for providing an overview (or 'snapshot') of the local situation. It can also serve as a good starting point for environmental and social assessment. Periodically repeated participatory mapping may help in monitoring and evaluating changes in the distribution of social resources (e.g., infrastructures like schools and health units) and in the use of natural resources. 'Historical' and 'anticipated future' mapping (i.e., drawing a series of maps referring to different moments in time) are versions of participatory mapping that are helpful in describing and analyzing trends over time (see section B.3).

Steps in using the technique

• Explain the purpose of the exercise to the interest group.
• Agree on the subject of the mapping exercise and on the graphic symbols to be used; participants choose their own symbols.
• Ask a participant to be responsible for drawing or plotting symbols according to the suggestions of the group.
• Promote participation of all interest group members by posing questions to several individuals; allow the group to discuss different opinions and perceptions.
• Once the map is finalized, ask participants to interpret the overall picture; if appropriate, suggest that they identify the main problems revealed by the map and ask them about possible solutions within the locally available resources (which are already drawn, or could now be drawn, on the map).
• Remember that the map is community property; leave the original in the community and make copies of it if other uses are foreseen.

Strengths

• Mapping and the associated discussions quickly provide a broad overview of the situation.
• They encourage two-way communication.

• They help people in seeing links, patterns and inter-relationships in their territory.
• Individuals who are illiterate can also participate.

Weaknesses

• Subjectivity and superficiality: mapping exercises must be complemented by information generated by other participatory assessment tools.
• Some cultures may have difficulties in understanding graphic representations.

B.3 Historical mapping

Historical mapping uses a series of participatory mapping exercises to portray the demographic and natural resources situation of the community at different moments of its history. Usually, three maps are drawn, showing the situation as it existed one generation ago, at the present time, and what is expected after one generation's time in the future. Demographic information can be plotted as household symbols or circles to represent 10 or 100 people.

Purpose

Historical mapping can be extremely helpful to introduce the time dimension in participatory environmental appraisal and/or participatory census exercises. It can provide visual evidence of changes that have occurred and expected trends. In this way it can help identify determinants of environmental degradation and population dynamics and enables participants to consider suitable means of moving towards a desired future.

Steps in using the technique

• A map of the current demographic and environmental situation is drawn with participants.
• With the help of elderly community members, the same exercise is repeated to show the situation as it was approximately twenty years ago.
• The current and past maps are then compared, often with a brainstorming, to collectively identify major changes and their root causes.
• Based on the list of changes and causes, a prospective map can be drawn by the participants to show their expectations of the situation which will exist in the community in 20-30 years from now, if the current trends are maintained.
• The future map can be reviewed to explore differences between what is projected and what a desirable future status would be. The discussion can progress to identify potential means for addressing environmental degradation and population dynamics.

Strengths

• The technique can be very appropriate to summarize the results of a comprehensive participatory appraisal on environment and population dynamics.
• It may increase participants' understanding that most positive and negative changes in environments and populations are shaped by historical, man-made actions.
• It can help to identify mid- or long-term solutions to the population and environment problems affecting the community.

Weaknesses

• The exercise is long and complex. Three sessions with the group may be needed to get through the whole sequence of mapping and discussion.
• Sensitive issues from the past may be raised, including conflicts within the community and between the community and outsiders.
• The analysis is likely to identify effects and causes which are beyond community control. Discouragement and frustration may develop among participants.

B.4 Interviews with natural groups

Natural groups interviews are casual conversations with groups of people met during observational walks and other forms of participant observation sessions. Typical natural groups might be peasants working in their fields, mothers fetching their children from school, people queuing for a bus, traders and customers at the market, patients waiting in a health unit, etc.

Purposes

Natural group interviews are a suitable means to get verbal comments about the situation in which the actors are engaged. They help to discover problems and expectations related to the situation as perceived by local actors, as well as common interests leading individuals to cluster in small groups.

Steps in using the tool

• Make a list of settings where natural groups can be observed in the community, and the types of groups which seem to gather in those locations.
• Identify the groups likely to be most concerned with the topics of interest.
• Develop a set of open-ended questions you would like to address to the group.
• Find an opportunity to engage in conversation.
• Introduce into the conversation some of the key open-ended questions.
• Do not take notes during the conversation, but make a summary of the information obtained from the natural group as soon as the interaction is finished.

Strengths

• The technique helps to focus participant observation activities.
• It provides important hints about local views on the issues of interest.
• It helps to establish preliminary contacts and personal relationships with local people.
• Group interaction enriches the quality of the information which can be elicited.

Weaknesses

• Good communication skills are needed to get the most out of this technique.
• To avoid improper behaviors, some previous understanding of local etiquette is necessary.
• As people may not be willing to share all their ideas with an outsider, answers may be colored by what they think the outsider expects to hear. A countercheck of the perceptions collected through this technique is essential.

B.5 Focus group discussions

Focus groups are semi-structured discussions with a small group of persons sharing a common feature (e.g., women of reproductive age, shareholders in an irrigation system, users of a public service, etc.). A small list of open-ended topics, posed as questions (see example in Table 4.7), is used to focus the discussion.

Purposes

Focus groups have been increasingly used in participatory research to identify and describe insider perceptions, attitudes, and felt needs. They are a crucial technique in participatory action research.

Steps in using the technique

• Prepare a discussion topic guide (interview framework); decide on the number of focus groups; in a small community, two groups of 6-12 persons each and representing key different categories (e.g., men and women, peasants and herders, wealthy and poor, etc.) may be sufficient.
• Select appropriate facilitators; this may involve matching by age, gender or language ability (focus groups are best done in the local vernacular); the interviewer acts as a group facilitator, and a second person acts as a rapporteur (note-taker); the rapporteur needs to write rapidly to capture people's expressions as exactly as possible; it may be useful to tape-record the session, but only if the community and the group are comfortable with it and give explicit permission.
• If possible, test your topics with members of a similar nearby community to improve formulation and communication.
• Before starting, explain the purpose of the session to the group; after posing topics, be sure each person has at least one opportunity to provide ideas; if some participants dominate the discussion, it may be necessary to pose questions directly to one or more of the less talkative participants.
• As with semi-structured interviews (see section B.6 below), the facilitator is free to use a variety of probing questions to help extract ideas and to keep the talk focused; limit the length of the session to about one to two hours (including introduction).
• Notes and recordings of interviews should be carefully reviewed immediately after the session (and tape-recordings transcribed as soon as possible).
• Analysis consists of extracting information, views and attitudes from the discussion; vivid and expressive statements should be recorded as phrased by the participants; local interpersonal dynamics should also be recorded and assessed.

Strengths

• Group interaction enriches the quality and quantity of information provided.
• Focus group discussions are quite good at disclosing the range and nature of problems, as well as eliciting preliminary ideas about solutions.

• Practice and experience in qualitative research procedures is needed.
• Large amounts of information are easily obtained, necessitating skills in extracting and summarizing for the analysis.

B.6 Semi-structured interviews

Semi-structured interviews are lists of broad, open-ended questions to be addressed to knowledgeable individuals in a conversational, relaxed and informal way. The interviewer is left free to rephrase these questions and to ask probing questions for added detail (e.g., 'Who?', 'Where?', 'When?', and 'How?') based on respondents' answers and conversation flow. This form of interview is much more likely to yield in-depth opinions and perceptions than a closed-ended questionnaire.

Purposes

Semi-structured interviews can be used to obtain specific, quantitative and qualitative information. Household features, gender-related issues, use of natural resources, household economics and many other topics can be effectively explored by this technique.

Steps in using the tool

• Design an interview guide and a summary form; decide who is going to be interviewed (purposeful sampling procedures) and select appropriate interviewers (this may mean matching respondents and interviewers by age or gender, depending on topic and local cultural values).
• Pre-test the questionnaire guides with several individuals who are representative of the types of persons to be interviewed in the actual study (make sure the questions are comprehensible, etc.).
• Conduct a training for all persons who will be doing the interviews (i.e., the interviewers); be sure the training includes a number of practice interviews with other interviewers or community members and subsequent reviews to improve performance.
• Teach the interviewers to make relatively brief notes during the interview, filling out the summary form immediately after the interview; this will require practice to capture exact words and phrasing for quotations.
• Arrange for daily (or nightly) editing of all forms for completeness, errors, etc.; hold daily discussions about problems encountered during the interviews, and to review the preliminary results with other members of the team.

Strengths

• Less intrusive than questionnaires; can be paced to fit the needs of the respondent.
• Encourages two-way communication.
• Administered in an atmosphere that makes respondents feel at ease, which may include privacy and confidentiality, depending on topic.
• Can obtain very detailed information and rich quotations.

Weaknesses

• Practice and experience are needed for appropriately using this tool, which requires sensitivity and the ability to recognize and suppress one's own biases.
• Interviewers should have good literacy, communication, and summarizing skills.
• Interviewers will need some grasp of the general topics covered in the interview.
• Facilitator support is needed for analyzing data.

B.7 Group brainstorming

Brainstorming is a basic idea-gathering technique employed in many group exercises. It is based on a freewheeling discussion started by an open-ended and somehow provocative question forwarded by the facilitator. Opening statements should be general and non-leading, i.e., should not stress or overemphasize a particular point of view that can bias the ideas of the participants. It should be clear that brainstorming is a free and non-committal way of exploring ideas, i.e., no one commits themself to something by suggesting as a potential solution an issue to explore.

Purpose

Brainstorming can elicit multiple ideas on a given topic, and the group discussion that usually follows it can help group members explore and compare a variety of possible 'solutions'.

Steps in using the technique

• The issue to be discussed is introduced by the facilitator; the key question is written on the blackboard or on a flipchart.
• Participants are asked to provide short answers, comments or ideas, i.e., no speeches at this stage; at times participants can provide ideas written on cards (only a few key words) which are then pinned to a wall.
• An important point to stress at the beginning is that 'all ideas are good ideas'; if anyone does not agree with someone else's point, they should give what they think is a better idea; accept only additional contributions during the brainstorming, not disagreements or arguments; defer those to the discussion afterwards; encourage fresh ideas rather than repetitions of earlier items.
• Each participant is allowed to express his/her view; over-talkative participants will need to be quieted, and silent participants can be explicitly asked for ideas.
• The facilitator picks the basic point out of participant statements and ensures that it is written (or portrayed with a picture) on the blackboard or flipchart; appropriateness of the summary is checked with the concerned participants.
• Keep the brainstorming relatively short: 15-30 minutes is usually sufficient to obtain most of the ideas on a specific topic without tiring the participants.
• Review the results with the participant group; remove duplicated items and cluster groups of similar ideas; highlight differences of opinion and discuss those until a list of clearly described ideas is achieved; record (or summarize) the results of the brainstorming and keep them for future reference.

Strengths

• A properly conducted brainstorming facilitates participation of all group members in the idea-building process.
• A large number of ideas and solutions can be generated quickly.
• It is a good introduction for more structured and focused exercises.

Weaknesses

• Experience in dealing with group dynamics - as well as good mediation and summarizing skills - is needed by the facilitator to keep the discussion on track.
• Conflicts and uneasiness within the group may limit the brainstorming results.

B.8 Ranking exercises

Ranking exercises, which may be done with groups or individuals, are a way to enable people to express their preferences and priorities about a given issue. When followed by a discussion of the 'reasons' for the ranking, the technique may generate insights about the criteria through which different individuals, groups or social actors make decisions on the kinds of issues of interest.

Purpose

Ranking exercises have been used for a variety of purposes, such as:

• identification of priorities and preferences;
• quantification of opinion and preferences elicited through interviewing or brainstorming;
• comparison of preferences and opinions as expressed by different social actors.

Steps in using the tool

• Make a list of items to be prioritized or obtain a list of items generated by other exercises and recruit the participants to be involved in the exercise.
• Define a simple ranking mechanism. This may be based on a pair-wise comparison of items in the list ('Is A better than B?'), on sorting cards representing items in order of preference, or on assigning a score to the different items.
• Prepare a matrix on which preferences identified by participants could be jotted down (e.g., on the ground, with a flipchart, on a chalkboard).
• Explain the ranking mechanism to each participant and ask them to carry out the exercise (e.g., give them three stones to place on any categories they want in response to a specific guiding question - which crop is the most difficult to raise, which problem to solve first, etc.).
• Ask participants to explain the criteria on which their choice has been made ('Why is A preferable to B?').
• Synthesize the ranking results (e.g., count how many times an item has been preferred with respect to others) and list the criteria of choice.

Strengths

• Ranking is a flexible technique which can be used in a variety of situations and settings.
• Whenever categorical judgments are needed, ranking is a suitable alternative to closed-ended interviewing.
• Ranking exercises are generally found to be amusing and interesting by participants and are helpful in increasing their commitment to action-research.
• Information is provided on both the choices and reasons for the choices.

Weaknesses

• Pre-testing is needed for the ranking mechanism and the tools to be used to facilitate it.
• Choices may be affected by highly subjective factors. In order to generalize results to the whole community, a proper sampling strategy is needed.