Methods in Development Research: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

by Jeremy Holland, John R. Campbell

Overview

Over the past decade there has been an increasingly receptive audience for participatory and qualitative research methods by policy makers, development practitioners and academics working in applied research. At the same time there is an increasing awareness that the value of research can be enhanced through a more systematic combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. While this recent interest has begun to provide useful pointers as to how development research might be improved, it has also given rise to certain problems.

This book will draw together lessons about emerging best practice with regard to combining qualitative and quantitative methods and approaches to generate 'numbers’ from qualitative/participatory methods and to monitor and evaluation development processes. It will build and expand upon innovation and reflection from practice in developing and developed societies, from within development agencies and academia, government departments and civil society organizations.

By drawing on current research in many sectors and countries, the book will situate current development research issues squarely within debates about development policy and social research and it will help begin the process of defining best practice in the use of participatory/ qualitative and quantitative methods, and issues of methodological triangulation which are of considerable interest to academics, practitioners and policy-makers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781853395727
Publisher:	Practical Action Publishing
Publication date:	05/28/2005
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Jeremy Holland is Lecturer in the Centre for Development Studies at the University of Wales Swansea.

John R. Campbell is Senior Lecturer in the Anthropology of Development of the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Table of Contents

Preface; Foreword
Introduction: John Campbell and Jeremy Holland

Part I. Combining Methods and Data: The Practice and the Potential; Applying the Method-data Matrix to Health Service Utilisation in Developing Countries by Jesko Hentschel (World Bank, Washington D.C.); Some practical sampling procedures for development research by Ian Wilson (Statistical Services Centre, University of Reading); Trade-offs between Management Costs and Research Benefits: Lessons from Forest and Farm Research by Kathrin Schreckenberg & Elaine Marshall (Overseas Development Institute, London); Qualitative Data Analysis to Promote Poverty Impact Assessment within Micro-finance Organizations by James Copestake, Susan Johnson and Katie Wright (Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath); Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence for Project Evaluation: Some Findings from PRODERS experience in Mexico by Gil Yaron, Jutta Blauert & Alejandro Sanguines (G. Y. Associates, Sussex IDS & Universidad Iberoamericana); Sequencing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Evaluating Rural Tourism in So. Africa and the UK by Jennifer Briedenhann and Eugenia Wickens (Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, High Wycombe); Combining Forest Measurements and Participatory Methods: Cases from Indonesia and Zimbabwe by Tapani Tyynela (University of Joensuu, Finland)

Part II. Quantifying the Qualitative in Development Research: How Far Can We Go?; Quantitative Analysis Approaches to Qualitative Data: Why, When and How? by Savitri Abeyasekera (Statistical Services Centre, University of Reading); The Limits to Convergence: Reflections from Participatory Poverty Assessment in Africa and Asia by David Booth (Overseas Development Institute, London); From Words to Numbers: A Basis for Translating Ethnographic Description by David Hanton (The LSE); Applying Analytical Sensory Evaluation Techniques to Translate Perception into Numerical Data in Rural Tanzania by Quirien van Oirschot (Natural Resources Institute, Greenwich); Quantifying Social Capital: The use of the Case study review method in Tanzania by Lant Pritchett (World Bank, Washington D.C.)

Part III. The process of combining methods: Democratizing Research, Empowerment and Institutional Change: Quality, Quantity and the Third Way by Nigel Gilbert (Professor of Sociology, University of Surrey); Participatory Indicator Development for Sustainable Natural Resource Management: Kalahari, Botswana by Mark Reed and Andrew Doughill (School of the Environment, University of Leeds); Exploring the Temporal Logic Model: A Colombian Case Study Evaluating Assistance to Internally Displaced People by Andrea Lampis (Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Externado, Columbia); Evaluating Democracy Assistance: The inadequacy of numbers and the promise of participation by Gordon Crawford (Centre for Development Studies, University of Leeds); Monitoring Social Policy Outcomes in Jamaica by Jeremy Holland (Centre for Development Studies, Swansea); DEEP Impact: Predicting the Distributional Impacts of Macro Policy in Ghana by Charles Abugre (Integrated Social Development Centre, Accra, Ghana)