NGO support toolkit (English)  >  Institutional Change  >  Research 

Planning and doing research

There are a range of inter-related issues that need to be carefully considered when undertaking research. Appropriate time, human and financial resources need to be assigned to the research and there may even be a need to hire extra staff. Additionally, adequate infrastructure may need to be made available. As well as capacity, adequate financial resources also need to be put aside for research.

Other issues which need to be taken into consideration include:

Effects of research on participating NGOs

For both NGO implementers of research and those who become informants, time is a necessary requirement for undertaking an effective study. This has to be balanced with time (and other resources) taken from project implementation.

Clearly defined methodology

All of the following should be addressed in clarifying methodlogy:

• whether baseline information exists; if yes how it can be used, if not, ways of getting retrospective information, if necessary
• identification of appropriate indicators which will enable the formulation of questions for the research
• identification of appropriate methods, these can include quantitative (questionnaires), qualitative (in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, case studies) and participatory approaches (essentially visual tools done by the respondents themselves)
• identification of respondents, numbers or appropriate samples, ways of recruiting respondents
• Language of research, whether there is need for translation, whether interviews will be recorded then transcribed

Whether the research will be participatory

By this we mean whether the participants in the programme, or whoever the respondents for the research might be, will be involved at all stages in the research, from the identification of the research questions, through to the development of indicators and method to adopt to the analysis of data. Often only one or two aspects of the process are participatory. Whilst participatory processes are an extremely useful way of obtaining information, and encouraging ownership of the research, they are also somewhat time-consuming. Hence the benefits from “participation” in a research process need to be carefully weighed against the challenges.

Use/dissemination of research findings

Prior to undertaking the research it is important to list the ways in which the findings from the research are likely to be used; these might include, for instance, a plan of how the findings might link to programming and / or how they might link to M&E systems (see above). A dissemination plan also needs to be outlined specifying, amongst other things, how and when dissemination will be done, by whom and which key stakeholders will be invited to events. Often it is important to include the respondents of the study in the dissemination meeting.

Communication

It is essential to communicate early on and clearly to the respondents / communities regarding what is being planned, their requested involvement, how they can contribute, etc. Also just prior to an interview/discussion with respondents a precise explanation regarding what the research is about, what is expected from the respondents, next steps, how they might be compensated, how confidentiality will be maintained, etc. is essential. If this is done effectively, expectations will not be beyond those of the research, adequate time will be put aside and respondents will see the value in providing their input.

Raising expectations

Often, expectations are raised through research and a plan of how to deal with them needs to be explored. Options might include, and clearly this has to be discussed before hand with implementers, including respondents in a programme if they were not already included, providing them with some other incentive or linking them up with another organisation working in the area.

Incentives

Some form of incentive is usually given to study respondents; incentives can take various forms including refreshments, information provision, some form of payment - though often it is not referred to as ‘payment for their work’, but might be explained as covering transport costs, or any combination of the above. Giving information proves a very useful incentive as respondents feel that in exchange for information they have given, they receive other useful information.

Consent and confidentiality

It is important that informants consent to being interviewed and that they are clearly aware of what is involved. Consent forms can be prepared which can be read out to respondents which they can then sign. An important part of these consent forms concerns issues around confidentiality, e.g. how it will be kept, how they will be referred to, how information obtained from the interviews will be used, how notes will be destroyed, etc.

Ethical review boards

It can be useful to establish an ethical review board to review the research proposal, to provide input into the overall research design, to provide on-going feedback; who is on the board needs to be carefully considered, i.e. people can come from within the organisation managing the research but outsiders who are viewed as key to the issue or have substantial expertise in the field of research can also be on the board. It should be pointed out that often ethical review boards slow down the research process mainly because of logistics of getting everyone’s input, finding a time when everyone can sit together, etc.

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