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Globalhood Ethnography Project: Participatory Research Revised

Friday, July 11th, 2008

Social Marketing

Participatory Research

THE PROBLEM

The problem our project is addressing is how to gather and analyze data. Specifically, asking how Globalhood’s participants can develop and analyze tangible data about the effectiveness of their efforts. The participants of this program include first-generation American young adults of low-income urban families and marginalized rural communities in the Dominican Republic. The focus of the program is to help young people and communities develop new perspectives on social welfare, life skills and community.

Globalhood advocates change of perspective. Many of the participants are from low-income areas, often receiving assistance of some kind (socially, governmental, etc). This program’s aim is to empower those who receive help to give help and education to others less fortunate than themselves. Our project will attempt to cultivate these efforts into measurable results.

POTENTIAL BARRIERS

Barriers for our program implementation include properly educating the young people in the technology and processes involved with ethnography. Practical barriers also include access to the young people, including before their trip to the Dominican Republic and afterwards. Additionally, barriers may include making data collection interesting for them, as well as determining what to analyze.

WE ARE SELLING AND TEACHING…

  • An opportunity to teach technology as well as data collecting and analysis.
  • How to read information as researchers.
  • How to sell Globalhood’s message based on the data they collect and interpret.
  • They will become active participants in the marketing of the program in which they are involved, the reward then being a sense of ownership, investment and responsibility toward the program and its message.
  • A more developed perspective about their surroundings and the communities in which others live.
  • How to set objectives and measure their efforts.
  • How to teach others the ethnographic skills they are practicing and have learned.

THE COMPETITION

Competitors to this project include other groups in our Social Marketing class as we are all working to drive results for the same organization. Which is admirable in theory but somewhat chaotic and repetitive from a management perspective for the organization. To combat this, one proposed solution could be to work in tandem with the other groups. More specifically to Globalhood, though, are other nonprofit organizations that have increased funding, resources and marketing programs in place already.

ENGAGING AND EFFECTING

Participatory research will assist young people in focusing attention on how their efforts can affect others. With research and analysis, the young people will be able to develop additional perspective on their community and others. With this new perspective, the young people can take a more involved approach to community involvement and activism. We’re asking them to step out of the world they know and put forth new ideas to handle a situation through proactive interaction. Their attitudes and behaviors will be affected by this new process and corresponding tasks. Specifically, through ethnography, the students will be able to quantitatively see the impact of their efforts. Secondarily, the young people can implement those results into positive buzz for Globalhood, making the program’s initiatives more developed and marketed.

HOW YOU’LL KNOW WE ARE EFFECTIVE…

The measure of our project’s effectiveness is two-fold. The effectiveness of what the young people learn from us as well as the value of their ability to teach to their own students in the Dominican Republic. As we teach the young people about ethnography and empower them with the skills to gather and analyze data, subsequently they get to implement those skills, as they will have to teach their own lessons. Our effectiveness will also be part of the measurable data analysis.

OUR PLATFORMS

We have chosen to utilize multiple platforms including photography, video, paper logs and electronic blogs. Photography will be included in the first part of the teaching, as a way to assist the students with the transition of participant to researcher. Daily logs and blogs will help the students to clarify their efforts, as well as put their data in a specific location. As ethnographers, data is paramount, so we want to empower the young people with as many resources as possible. Observations are a key component.

THE STEPS

Remaining Steps needed to develop and complete this project:

Phase One – PRE-EXCURSION:

  1. Submit revised proposal to Globalhood for review
  2. Receive approval from Globalhood
  3. Participate in Panel discussion of student’s independent projects (6/30)
  4. Supply students with tools (cameras) for their trip (6/30)
  5. Set post trip agenda for return meeting, develop lesson plan,
  6. Meet with young people, instruct them in ethnography, provide project details for measurable exercise intended to familiarize young people with ethnography tactics, training (completed 6/24)

*Please note that this may have cost implications, TBD

Phase Two – POST-EXCURSION:

  1. Collect and develop film (upon return)
  2. Follow-up meeting with young people to discuss data collected and collectively analyze
  3. File and data sharing with other Social Marketing groups, as information maybe helpful across groups. As to not duplicate efforts, encourage efficiency of projects and time limitations

Project Roles:

Each group member will be a part of each activity, with the exception of attending in-person meetings. Billy and Emogene will attend all meetings, as they are local to the nonprofit. Sarah will handle administration and the blog, as she is located on the West Coast.

Timeline:
June 24, 2008: Pre-excursion training with young people (focus on the meaning of Ethnography, tips, etc.) DONE

June 27, 2008: Meet with Globalhood Coordinator to submit revised proposal and discuss next steps

June 30, 2008: Pre-excursion meeting with young people (focus on independent projects and distribute cameras for observations during trip)

July 2008: Post-excursion follow-up with young people 2-3 days after their return from DR (focus on their data and analysis)

WE ARE…

Project contributors are Sarah Haas, Billy Paretti and Emogene Shadwick

The Project manager is Emogene Shadwick.

Originally from http://4globalhood.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/participatory-research-revised/

Categories: projects
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Globalhood Ethnography Project: Progress Posting

Friday, July 11th, 2008

Accomplishments:

Our group has devised and implemented a lesson plan to help the young adults at Globalhood understand ethnography and the practices surrounding it. Additionally, we have donated cameras and provided questionnaires to the young adults to assist them in gathering data during their time in the Dominican Republic.

Future Goals:

By the end of this semester, our group intends to have representative data of the young adults’ experience in the Dominican Republic. We hope that the young adults will have a better understanding of ethnography, as well as its importance. Additionally, we intend to use the data collected – once analyzed – to the benefit of the nonprofit, Globalhood, to further its goals.

Post-Semester Goals:

We intend to have our data collected and analyzed before the end of the semester. However, should timing/coordination prevent that, we would want to at least have the data collected and work with the young adults on its analysis, intending to reach the goals that noted previously post-semester.

Platforms of Communication:

Our group has utilized multiple platforms for communication and collaboration. We have used in-person, mobile phones, e-mail, digital pictures, blogging, texting and Second Life, and plan to use Skype before the semester’s end. In terms of communication effectiveness, the phone and Second Life seem to work the best, as they exist in real time. Face-to-face has been effective for two of our group members, as both live locally in the New York City area. However, the third person in the group is located on the West Coast. As such, it has been more challenging to integrate her into the in-person requirements, such as meeting with the director of the nonprofit organization. To compensate, we touch base with each other via the listed alternative methods so that everyone is knowledgeable about the events.

Documenting and Sharing Work:

In terms of documenting our work, our group has kept our blog up-to-date, and we continually e-mail each other with information, notes and items of interest as they arise. Since ours is data-driven, we are awaiting the return of the young adults before we will have a substantial amount of materials to share.

Resources:

Our group has used the Internet and our class readings to develop our project. Additionally, we have communicated in-depth with the nonprofit organizers, our teacher, guest lecturers and each other.

Realization Assistance:

The biggest help to our group in terms of being able to complete our project would be to have time with the young adults upon their return from the Dominican Republic. This time would allow us to review the data they collected and to help them analyze it, as well as to help the nonprofit find ways to use it to their advantage.

Originally from http://4globalhood.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/progress-posting/

Categories: projects
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