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Qualitative research skills workshop held in Nairobi
RECOUP partners from Cambridge, Edinburgh and Kenya came together over nine days (17-25 April 2007) in a workshop on undertaking qualitative educational research in poor communities in the Kenyan context. This was the second of such workshops, the first having been held in Delhi, November 2006.
The aim was to orient Kenyan researchers with the intellectual and practical implications of the qualitative research to be undertaken in the qualitative sub-projects in Theme 1 (human and social outcomes of education for the poor) and Theme 3 (partnerships and the delivery of schooling for the poor). The workshop consisted of twenty different sessions, ranging from discussions around what is good pro-poor qualitative research to a critical engagement with the strengths and weaknesses of selected research methods.
Sessions were devoted to collecting and analysing life histories, photography, semi-structured interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork, all of which will be used for data collection purposes in the different sub-projects. The workshop also provided opportunities for members of the RECOUP team to discuss the intellectual foundations of the various sub-projects and to chart the future direction of the qualitative research work to be undertaken in Kenya.
Another noteworthy aspect of this workshop was a day long visit to two of the four Kenyan research sites. All participants visited a rural and an urban setting to practice various research skills, such as observations, and more importantly, how to record such observations.
The workshop developed a climate of trust and openness, which allowed researchers with various backgrounds and experiences to articulate concerns and work in a relaxed and productive fashion. All the sessions were interactive and activity based, drawing on the skills and experiences of all the participants.
The workshop received positive evaluations, being rated as "highly relevant", fostering "participatory and interactive learning", and "friendly and easy". Indeed, there were suggestions for taking this learning forward through various other opportunities and these are being discussed.
