RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT:
THEORY AND PRACTICE
MAIRÉAD FINN AND RONALDO MUNCK
WHY DO IT?

to show development programs are creating the impact they set
out to create;

to improve programs for the sake of better cost-effectiveness;

to develop new methodologies and solutions for addressing
ever more complex problems in combating poverty;

to back up demands for political or policy change through
scientifically based information;

Other reasons?
HORSES FOR COURSES?

BASIC RESEARCH (testing theories, not necessarily practical)

APPLIED RESEARCH (builds knowledge for practical application)

ACTION RESEARCH (to bring about social change)

EVALUATION RESEARCH (assesses the impact of programmes)

OPERATIONS RESEARCH (tests different methods to improve
programme efficiency)
THE GREAT QUANT-QUAL
DIVIDE?
Examples of
research questions
Qualitative research approach
Quantitative research approach
How do cash transfers support the
education of children?
What impact did cash transfers have
on children’s school performance?
In what ways can a literacy boost
programme affect children’s
education?
Does a literacy boost programme
improve children’s reading skills?
What social factors influence
women’s access to healthcare?
Is socio-economic status correlated to
women’s health?
Type of knowledge Subjective
Objective
Aim
Generalizable and hypothesis-testing
Exploratory and observational
THE GREAT QUANT-QUAL
DIVIDE?
Qualitative research
approach
Quantitative research approach
Characteristics
Flexible
Contextual portrayal
Dynamic, continuous view of
change
Fixed and controlled
Independent and dependent
variables
Pre- and post-programme
measurement of change
Sampling
Purposeful
Random
Data collection
Semi-structured or
unstructured
Structured
Nature of data
Narratives, quotations,
descriptions
Value uniqueness,
particularity
Numbers, statistics Replication
Analysis
Thematic and interpretative
Statistical
RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT
IS ABOUT:

being curious and having an interest in learning about the causes of
things

being willing to learn from data, and change your mind about prior
beliefs

having a concern to really understand what people say and the meanings
behind their statements

having an awareness of how you, the researcher, may shape what is
being said and the direction of the research

striving for analytical sophistication, identifying patterns that may not
be immediately obvious

being interested in discussing findings in a broader context, for example
in relation to previous experiences or the experiences of others.
PHASES OF RESEARCH

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More Defined in Quantitative Research
More Overlapping and Circuitous in Qualitative
Projects.
– Be comfortable and confident to move
between, to follow hunches, and to go back
and forth between stages.
Today: Examples from two studies
- Young People in Dublin City
- Migration, Housing, and Social Change
Example: Excerpt from Interview
Schedule (Young People in Dublin City)
Topic One: Health (1.1 / 5 / 10)
1. Thinking about this area/city, what do you do to keep yourself healthy in this area/city?
2. Would you say you are physically active?
(Probe on ‘Yes’ or ‘No’)
3.
What do you feel needs improvement?
4.
If it was up to you, what would you do to have more options for living healthily?
1.
Thinking about this area/city, what type of amenities / facilities are here?
(Probe on ‘Yes’ or ‘No’)
2.
What do you think about this? Is there anything that could do with improvement?
3.
If it was up to you, would you have any other amenities in this area?
1.
From this area, how easy is it for you to get to work and get around daily?
- What kind of transport do you use?
- How does this suit you?
- What would be your ideal way of getting around?
2.
What do you think about this? Is there anything that could do with improvement?
3.
If it was up to you, would you do anything to change / improve the way you can get around in
this area?
CONCEPTUALISATION
 Published Research
 ‘Grey’ Literature
 Review the full range of normative assumptions
 Mapping the different perspectives and interpretations
 Look at both objective understandings, and also the subjective
constructs of these understandings
 Thinking about what this means for your own research
methods
 A pilot study
or
A ‘community assessment process’
 Mapping the field
 Understandings of the field
Example:
Aim: To Explore the Social Changes Taking Place in a Local Housing
System during the Wave of Immigration from 1998 – 2008
Objectives:
1.
Describe the structure of the town’s housing system and the points
at which it interfaces with immigrants’ movements through it.
2.
Examine immigrants’ experiences, views and interpretations of their
housing situations and their understandings of the housing system
in which they reside.
3.
Identify immigrants’ aspirations in relation to housing; the resources
and knowledge drawn on to realise these aspirations; and the way in
which these aspirations are mediated by context.
4.
Explore people’s orientations towards housing and home in the
context of their broader migratory experience and how this relates to
their housing situations in this housing system.
5.
Investigate the way in which the housing system and housing
institutions in the area are responding to this mobile and diverse
population.
Managing the Research
Qualitative research approach
Quantitative research approach
Characteristics
Not always distinct phases
Move over and back between phases
Must be comfortable with this
Keep curious and reflective
Distinct phases of research:
- Design
- Collection
- Analysis
Sampling
Sampling with Purpose
A matrix of characteristics
The importance of gatekeepers
Consequences of denied access?
Ensuring the representativeness of
your sample
Data collection
Interview / Focus Groups
Respecting the Participants
Ethical Considerations
Good Quality Questions (No
Assumptions).
Distribution of surveys
Defined Variables
Analysis
Thematic and interpretative
Respect the time needed for this, to
generate insights. Start early, with
Generalised results
Relationships
Correlation and causality
THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER
 The importance of reflexivity, especially in qualitative research
 Being aware of your position and how this affects the interview
process, and hence the data.
 Managing expectations in relation to the research.
 The interview process: the location, your appearance, your data
collection instruments (even how you present the forms).
– The interview process in differential power situations: interviewing
elites? interviewing vulnerable people?
– Language: Being fed the ‘official line’. Getting beyond what is ‘not
said’.
QUALITATIVE DATA MANAGEMENT
 Transcribe interviews verbatim
 Jot down notes after the interview about how it went. Keep a diary.
 Bring a small questionnaire to gather core characteristics.
 Can use timelines and charts to map events, then ‘depth’ questions to
illicit meanings and views around events.
 Collecting histories – start in the present, go back.
To set up the data management.
 Codebooks in and sub-code books. NVivo, Sensemaker, WeftQDA.
Word. Excel.
 Don’t be afraid to set up your own system in hard copy or Word if
you prefer this.
- Pull apart and label the text you want. Multiple bits of text can be
used.
QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Read within case, read across cases and within themes.

Quantify (‘Count’) some of the data: use a questionnaire in the interview
or focus group to gather some basic information

Some of the best analysis is done early on, so do start once you have
settled into the data collection

Gerunds – keeps a sense of activity (analysing processes and change).

The importance of memos for developing your ideas: building blocks of
your write-up.
EXAMPLE:
THE HOUSING ‘PATHWAYS’ OF ‘NEW’
IMMIGRANTS
 Counting how many moves people had made in a certain number of
years.
 Looking at the greater number of moves: turbulent or circuitous
pathways through rent supplement properties.
 Counting their characteristics compared to the entire sample:
- female, one-parent families, of non-white ethnicity
 Deeper analysis: the intersection of ethnicity, gender and family
status. Statistical studies typically focused on ethnicity.
 Later insights revealed that lone parenthood mediates the role of
ethnicity in unequal housing outcomes.
 Analysing process: changing orientations over time and impact on
identity – being “always in the bags”
VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
 Rigour
 Credibility
 Dependability
 Transferability
 Confirmability (Taylor, 1991).
 “Thick Description” (Geert, 1973)

Minimum of a year in the field.

Means knowledge can be tested and assessed with applicability to other settings
COMPLETION
 The process of exiting the field is delicate.
 “One does simply not grab the data and run” (Marshall and Rossman,
2011: 130).
 Manage relationships as you exit the field
 You will stay in contact while you write up the results
 Presentations and dissemination of your findings
 Responsibilities to those who live in your ‘field’
USE OF FINDINGS
 How to translate evidence into a tangible policy change…let alone a more
fundamental social change…..?
 Needs a clear commitment
 Resources?
 Relevant People?
 Resistance or Objections?
 Dissemination / Output
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Publications
Advisory Roles
Media coverage
Partnerships and Collaborations
Presentations with Industry / Government / the Public
Online tools
The risk of taking one less controversial finding to act on, claiming something has
been changed, but leaving the more fundamental findings out of the equation.