FIELD METHODS : SURVEY,

PRA, FGD AND OTHER

TOOLS
Dr Raj Shree Verma
Rural Management Programme
Xavier Institute of Social Service
Ranchi
 Field Methods
◦ The field/ survey method is the practice of gathering data for a study by
asking people questions related to your research.
◦ Personal Interview- Interview Schedule or Questionnaire
◦ Participatory Rural Appraisal
◦ Focused Group Discussion
◦ Other:
◦ Case Study
◦ Observation
 Personal Interview-
Interview Schedule or
Questionnaire
◦ Specific to Rural Research:
◦ One to one
◦ Snowball effect
◦ Literacy level of respondent
◦ Context to issue in question matters
 Focused Group Discussion

Only Male respondents

Only Female respondents

How to conduct FGD???
• Facilitator
• Attire and
appearance
• Language
• Time of visit
• Behaviour
Focused Group Discussion on Status of Literacy
Villagers Teachers Youth
• When the school was established, • Total no. of students 318 • The average education level of girls
the no. of male students were high (including neighbouring villages) is around standard 12. Yet there are
in comparison to that of girls. • 90% of students come to pursue instances of dropout before
• At present, no. of female students education whereas remaining 10% intermediate.
are higher in comparison to that of for availing free Aids provided by • Reasons for dropouts:
male students. the schools/Govt. ➢ Lack of finance
• According to villagers, boys are • Avg. no of dropouts 10% of total ➢ Lack of documents
preferred more by their parents to students ➢ child marriage
➢ Engagement in agriculture
go for higher education. (reason being engagement in
and other household
• Child marriage serves to be one of agricultural and other household
chores.
the most prominent reason for the chores) ➢ Migration of male members
dropouts. • Lack of interest in students in search of employment.
• Awareness regarding child ➢ Alcoholism among both
marriage, other prevailing social male and female.
issues and Govt. schemes. • Among the boys, the average level
of education is up to graduation and
for higher studies.
 Key pointers of FGD
1. Not more than 10-12 persons
2. If the topic is highly gender sensitive or culturally sensitive, the group should be comprising of
women only or boys only members.
3. The facilitator should ensure that everybody or most in the group get to speak. If needed,
paraphrase the question for them to understand your questions more clearly.
4. Questions should be open ended to enable people to speak and participate.
5. Responses must not be countered by the facilitator, even if it is culturally or socially
insensitive. Countering them or expressing your reservation may just shut them up. You are a
researcher and not a reformer.
6. Take a note -taker along. Look for the trigger responses, as that may generate responses on
thoughts which people actually hold in their mind and not the ones which are tailor-made as
per the situation.
7. Leading questions in a FGD should not be more than 7.
8. May be Different FGD with different Stakeholders will be needed to have better perspective
 Other methods
Case Study Observation
◦ A case study is a research approach ◦ Observation is way of gathering data
that is used to generate an in-depth, by watching behavior, events, or
multi-faceted understanding of a noting physical characteristics in their
complex issue in its real-life context. It natural setting. The benefit of covert
is an established research design that is observation is that people are more
used extensively in a wide variety of likely to behave naturally if they do
disciplines, particularly in the social not know they are being observed.
sciences. ◦ chrome-
◦ [Link] extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http
41799/#:~:text=Discussion- s://[Link]/healthyyouth/evaluation/pdf/brief
,What%20is%20a%20case%20study%3F,particular [Link]
ly%20in%20the%20social%20sciences.
 ▪Of modes :
▪ From individual to
group
▪ From verbal to visual
▪ From measuring to
Participatory comparing
Rural Appraisal
▪Of relation: a
rapport building
▪Of power:
imposing to
Reversal Process: extracting
from Interview Schedule to PRA
 Key pointers for PRA
➢It encourages group participation and discussion
➢The information to be collected from group of members
➢It is presented in highly visual form, usually out in the open and on the
ground, using pictures, symbols and locally available materials like sticks,
leaves, pebbles etc
➢Once displayed, the information is “transparent rather than hidden” - all
members can comment on it, revise it and criticize it. This assists in cross-
checking and verifying collected data, known as Triangulation.
➢It’s an interactive process
➢Inspite of preset questionnaire, lead questions are used.
➢Flexibility lies in choosing method from a bunch of PRA excersises
 ◦ Team-leader: Every PRA team has one
person who serves as the team leader during
the PRA field workshop.
◦ Facilitator: who facilitate a focus group
discussion with the drawing a map or using
Role other PRA tool.

Description ◦ Note-taker: When drawing a PRA map, one

person from the PRA team is the note-taker
who writes down all important information
and relevant observations.
◦ Observer: Observation of the work done as
well as looking for more resource person to
join and hold those involved in discussion
 Team Leader

Facilitator

Note Taker

Observer
 Temporal PRA

1. Time Line
2. Family Line
3. Trend Analysis
4. Historical Transact
5. Seasonality Analysis
6. 24 Hour Wheel/ Daily Activity Chart
7. Migration Mapping
On the basis of the methodology, PRA are classified as :

I. Temporal PRA

II. Spatial Related

III. Relational method

Family
Line
Time Line
 Trend
Analysis
Historical
Transact
Seasonality Analysis
24 hour
wheel
Migration
mapping
 First
construct a
basic map
 Spatial Related

[Link] Map
[Link] Map
[Link] Map
[Link] Analysis
Resource
Mapping
Mobility
Map
Transact
Analysis
 Venn
Diagramming/
Chappati
Diagram
 Relation Method
1. Venn Diagramming/ Chappati Diagram
2. Pie Chart
3. Pair wise Ranking
4. Well Being Ranking & Scoring
5. Body Mapping
6. Problem Tree
7. Solution Tree
Pie Chart
Pair wise Rankin
Well Being
Ranking &
Scoring
Body Mapping
Problem
Tree

Solution
Tree
Chart Preparation
T
R
With individual
A
I
N
G
U
L
A
T With Group
I
O
N
Format of documentation
◦Purpose
◦Approach
◦Lead question
◦Finding and analysis
◦Triangulation
◦Difficulties
Thank you……
rajshreeverma@[Link]
9931907394