RECOUP/Community scoping/Handout on Community Scoping

The following is a list of things that might be done in the early stages of a village or urban neighbourhood study. Each setting will have unique features, and different projects will have different needs for general background information. Deciding what to do when (and what might be possible later on but not at the beginning) takes time and judgement, based on a growing understanding of local politics, among other things.

This is not a complete list and researchers can add more as they go on if it seems sensible in relation to the research goals, and if time permits. Local people should be invited to participate as fully as possible in the research process at this stage, so two things must be taken extremely seriously:

• Researchers must make clear that they value local views, even if they disagree with them quite profoundly, or think them to be based on ignorance. In many communities local people are used to being patronised, ignored, abused, or being treated as passive research subjects (including by Government servants, and NGO staff as well). But good qualitative research depends on researchers communicating that they really want to know what local people think. So conversations should be encouraged, especially at the start; the questions local people ask should be answered as fully as possible; discussion should be welcomed not avoided.
• Researchers must write down, as fully as possible, either at the time or immediately afterwards, anything of significance that they are told. What is said 'off the record' is often of great interest. It must of course be recorded with due deference to concerns of informed consent, and protecting anonymity; usually this means that researchers should not take out a notebook as soon as someone starts speaking, but remember the conversations afterwards and record them as fully as possible.

'Should do early'

• Outline mapping of the community. Many research projects need a physical map to help researchers get around, and to set the boundaries of the area they are studying. Taking the help of young people from the community helps to build their confidence as well as to ensure a better map. Map what community members see as important resources (or threats) within the community: take care to list schools, clinics, police posts, characteristics (such as ethnicity) of smaller areas within the community as well as routes out of and into the community. To make the map, researchers should walk around with local inhabitants, both to check on the accuracy of what they are being told, and to familiarise themselves with the community and vice versa. [This is what is known as a 'transect walk'.] Such a walk provides an excellent opportunity to ask questions as well as to answer questions from local people. This may take several days, because at each corner someone new may ask what is going on, and researchers should always answer their questions fully and courteously.
• Household census. Many projects need a reliable list of households and their members. Such a listing may already exist (for example with a public health nurse, or the village council -- but you may not be able to get access to it). Existing lists can provide a basic starting point. Do not regard them as accurate without cross-checking: poor people migrants or temporary residents, and people living in unauthorised dwellings, perhaps on the edge of the community are particularly likely to be omitted. Creating your own list (using the outline map and visiting as many households as possible) means visiting all or nearly all households. Household censuses have four main purposes:
  • To provide basic data on the community: numbers of children in and out of school, for example;
  • To provide a sampling frame to allow for the selection of people for more detailed study..
  • To provide another opportunity to visit all parts of the community, familiarise researchers with the community and vice versa, to explain the research and allay people's fears and concerns.
  • To provide additional information that may come without being requested. The back of the household census form can be used for this purpose, or a separate notebook. ALL information to do with the key concerns of the research should be collected and written down, either at the time (if people seem happy with this) or afterwards. These informal conversations may spark a series of brief discussions (e.g. on local definitions of poverty, or the costs and benefits of schooling, or the reasons why children do or do not go to school in general, or to a particular school) which may provide clues for later research, or topics for interviews.
• A census should be as accurate as possible on the things you are really interested in. BUT you should be willing to accept guesstimates (e.g. of people's ages, precise number of years of schooling, or ownership of consumer durables) rather than aiming for 100% accuracy. A household census is a relatively quick exercise, and refining the accuracy of some of these items may not be important, or can be left till later.
• See the draft household census attached as an example:
  • General discussions relevant to your research topic.
  • This should be done fairly soon : these should be general discussions: try not to make it about the focus of your research, but get an overall picture and context.

'Should do at some point'

• General details of village or neighbourhood facilities. This involves visiting all the schools, clinics, training facilities etc to find out more about them. How much more will depend on your particular project. At this point one might also move out of the community to visit the main facilities mentioned as being used by its members in the wider world: probably most secondary schools, training facilities, clinics etc.

'Could so at some point'

• Oral histories from older residents about the development of the community; this could include narratives of people who have been successful in some way.
• Discussions with government servants, journalists, NGO workers and/or other outsiders‚Äî about the particular characteristics of the selected communities and how they differ from others (larger/smaller, richer/poorer, why, etc);
• Event histories of the community, considering when facilities were established, electricity provided etc;
• Migration accounts of people who have left

---

Singal, N., and Jeffery, R. (2008). Qualitative Research Skills Workshop: A Facilitator's Reference Manual, http://oer.educ.cam.ac.uk/wiki/RECOUP, Cambridge: RECOUP (Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty, http://recoup.educ.cam.ac.uk/). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. (original page)