A presentation from the CIES 2019 Time-to-Teach Panel CIES Conference April 17, 2019 San Francisco

1. Doing school-based research in Sub-Saharan
Africa: practical issues, ethical challenges,
and mitigation strategies
CIES Conference
April 17, 2019

2. Why a session on fieldwork?
Nature of TTT study
- Multi-country and multi-site
design
- Qualitative methodology (IDIs,
FGDs, non-participant observation)
- School-based data collection
- Under-aged participants
Contextual challenges
- Developing settings
- Conflict-affected regions
- Climatic, geographic and cultural
specificities

3. Fieldwork preparation

4. Planning ahead
• Developing a fieldwork plan
• Training field teams
• Pre-testing / Piloting
• Securing ethical clearance

5. Fieldwork Ethical Principles
Do no Harm
Confidentiality
Privacy
Voluntary participation
Informed consent

6. Challenges during fieldwork &
mitigation strategies

7. Gaining Access to Schools
Challenge
Gatekeepers denying access
 Study seen as inquisitive
 Survey fatigue
 Suspicion towards outsiders
Response
 Introductory letter by MoE (REOs/DEOs and HTs)
 Village chiefs informed verbally (by DEOs)
 School visits prior to data collection

8. Gaining trust & eliciting participation
Challenge
 Teachers unwilling to participate
or answer truthfully
Response
 Explain study objectives & costs
and benefits of participation (no
material rewards)
 Stress principles of privacy,
confidentiality, consent
 Avoid use of negatively charged
terminology (e.g. absenteeism,
sanctioning, etc.)

9. Clearing up misconceptions & managing expectations
• Rwanda (public, rural school):
• Former headteacher accused of corruption and temporarily removed;
• Enumerators perceived as audit officers;
• Teachers hesitant to share information thinking an investigation was
going on
• South Sudan (public, urban school):
• Enumerators perceived as school inspectors;
• Teachers asked enumerators for feedback
• Uganda (public, rural school):
• Expectation that the study would result in fast interventions

10. Instrument administration
Challenge
 Lack of spaces that ensured privacy and confidentiality
 Constant interruptions
 Non-participant curiosity
 Noise (e.g. from ongoing road traffic, during lunch
breaks, etc.)
Response
 Puntland: Some field teams resorted to nearby mosques
to conduct FGDs/IDIs
 Uganda, Tanzania: Some interviews conducted in
residential homes or at night
 Comoros, Rwanda: Surveyors placed outside of
classrooms/management offices to monitor entry

11. Avoiding selection bias
Challenge
 Teachers attempting to interfere with selection of students for the FGDs
 HTs attempting to influence the selection of teachers for the IDIs
 EDU officials nominating themselves for participation in the study
Response
 Enumerators explaining the selection process and rationale;
 Interviewing multiple individuals (targeted and volunteer) or organizing
small FGDs

12. Managing unforeseen events
Challenge: Changing conflict dynamics
 South Sudan: conflict suddenly erupted in Maban county (July 2018)
Response
 Security assessment & sample adjustment
 Data collection sites relocated to Renk County
Challenge: Unreliable school data
 South Sudan: Targeted schools closed or non-existent
Response
 Back up schools (with similar characteristics) selected in all targeted states
and paymas

13. Terrain and Climate
Challenge
 Delays in fieldwork due to remoteness, poor
infrastructure & weather conditions
 Rwanda, Kenya: Moderators walked to reach schools
& relied on locals to locate schools
 Puntland, Rwanda: Recording of interviews difficult
when it rained (too noisy)
 Puntland, N. Kenya: Data collection impossible in
the afternoon (too hot)
Response
 Fieldwork avoided during rainy season (when possible)
 When delays inevitable, schools and DEOs informed
 School location geotagged and stored prior to travel
 Interviews/FGDs conducted in the evening/early
morning or when rain subsided.

14. Cultural specificities
Challenge: Verbal and non-verbal communication (Comoros)
 Respondents took exceptionally long pauses when speaking (very common in Comoros)
 Moderators interrupted participants several times (perceived as disrespectful)
Response
 Field team sensitized on pauses
 Eye contact used to verify that a participant has finished talking
Challenge: Religious practices (N. Kenya, Comoros)
 Delays in starting interviews and FGDs on Fridays
Response
 Adjust fieldwork plan
 Moderators kept busy with observations around the school until participants were done
with Friday prayers

15. Surveyors’ safety & well-being
Strains during fieldwork
 Remoteness and poor infrastructure (roads, signs, internet)
 Unsuitable accommodation / insufficient commercial activity
 Fatigue (long working hours, excessive heat, etc.)
 Emotional distress (narratives/images of poverty and abuse)
Management strategy
 Improve field supplies (maps, food and drink, mosquito nets, power
banks, etc.)
 Introduce free days & lunch and tea breaks
 Daily debriefings with team leader
 Follow ups with heads of schools and community leaders

16. After the fieldwork

17. Giving back
Challenge
 School administrations expressed fatigue
over continuous assessments (INGOs,
NGOs and UN) that rarely feedback and
bear little fruit
 Teachers wanted to know how they could
find out whether their contribution made a
difference
Response
 Contact details of research team shared
with all participants
 National dissemination plan includes
delivering simplified summaries of
findings to participating schools

18. Thank you!