Jumat, 30 September 2016

Development Research Methods: Group Project

Development Research Methods
Group Project

Lecturer
-    Dr Joyce Wu

Group Members:
     Muhammad Kholis Hamdy (u3135540)
     Dendup Chophel (u3135901)
     Nur Arifina Vivinia (u3149668)
     Saherman Saherman (u3140569)
     Vo Ngoc Thanh Thai (u3132379)



Words count: 4,935 
Student declaration

I certify that this essay is entirely my own work, except where I have given fully documented references to the work of others, and that the work contained in this essay has not previously been submitted for assessment in any formal course of study.

1. Introduction  
What we think, we become! This is the inspiration that we took while designing this study to assess the University of Canberra’s (UC) Master of International Development (MID) students’ awareness of and disposition towards the concept of ‘community vitality’. A part of the ‘nine domains of Gross National Happiness, which is Bhutan’s famous middle-path development philosophy that seeks to balance material improvement of people’s living condition with the concern for their living culture and the earth’s ecology, community vitality - or variants thereof - is a mainstay of the wider global discourse on development (Ura & Penore, 2009). This approach to development puts the people at the centre of policy and programme agenda and articulates the socio-economic and environmental dynamics that make people and their communities stronger, investing in them the anthropological ‘agency’ in bringing about improvements in their living conditions as they deem necessary and desirable. The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals dwells on this thematic and practical concern in development.[1] What this study seeks to achieve is to understand the level of awareness among student of MID on this concept. The concept began with a simple concern for the people’s life choices which became constraint under supposedly enhanced levels of development because quite contrary to the ideals espoused by this model - now seen as an alternative development paradigm - international development was fixated on the dominant development model of Gross Domestic Product that was promoted since development cooperation began with President Truman’s Point Four agenda (Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi, 2008; Halle, 1964). As disenchantment sets in with GDP as a viable model of development, which the growing volume of detractors argue ‘measures everything but which counts in life’, community vitality with its accompanying development ideals like education, health, conservation, etc. has gained increased methodological sophistication to complement, if not completely supplant, GDP as the right guide of people’s progress.
Therefore, it is important to see the level of engagement of the MID students with this concept and other alternative models of development as what they are aware of, will most likely shape their approach once they become development professionals, that is if they are already not one. Different research methods have been adopted for this study based on feedbacks from our rigorous testing schedule. It is rightly observed that development research is still a dynamic field where dogmatic methodological posturing has yet not been adopted in conducting both theoretical and applied development studies. So, on the one hand, researchers have more flexibility in choosing their preferred and appropriate approach, while on the other, because they do not have resort yet to set principles and standard, they have little option but to be heuristic and fluid in their use of methodologies. This study has consequently used Focus Group Discussion, which was the preferred approach in order to elicit in-depth views, and individual interview was used to validate the research questions and design. Questions were self-critically tested, and where complications were identified, changes were incorporated based on findings and feedbacks. This report is restricted to discussing the rationale, objective, goal and context of the study; and clearly elucidating the process of research design and question testing. Discussion of findings and results are beyond the scope of this report. Discourse analysis has been considered for this research because of the discursive approach we took in the design and structure of the questions though no effort was made at rigorously adhering to its methodological principles (Philips & Hardy, 2002).              

2. Goal

2.1  Solicit educated opinions and judgements of MID students as post-graduate scholars with background in development or future potential to be in the field on Community Vitality as a concept and as a viable model that can be replicated universally.

3. Objective

3.1  To explore students’ cognitive level on the concept of community vitality that consists of knowing, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and last, creating elements.
3.2  To seek students’ appreciation of the concept as a way of identifying possible application of the concept in later policy decisions and implementation because what they are aware of and believe in, they act on; Cogito ergo sum, as stated in the Latin philosophical propositions.

4. The thick description of Community Vitality and research background

Without benefit of the ontological and epistemological premise on which this group of Happiness researchers[2] based our research and question design, the subject matter under consideration, namely community wellbeing, may well seem discordant with the choice of participant sample, or even the research method adopted. That is why we propose to introduce here an epistemological approach to outline the context within which we can understand why Community Vitality (CV) assumes significance in the wider development discourse on alternative development paradigms and how gaining an understanding of this development framework will enable development students to take cognizance of sustainable development issues, which has gained prominence since the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals as the UN’s post 2015 agenda. Having this awareness will help the students to imbibe alternative sensibility in their work as development scholars and practitioners.    
British philosopher Gilbert Ryle has propounded thick description as a way of meaningfully conceptualizing research subject so that it becomes not only accessible and intelligible, but also relevant and interesting to outsiders (refer Geertz, 1973). Without a statement of its background, CV will meet indifference or mere cursory interests within the broader development discourse, and hence, be relegated to lowly policy priority for development thinkers and policy makers. The world is becoming ever more aware of the limitation, indeed the danger, of following the conventional development model of gross domestic production, with its misguided valorization of consumerism and exploitative tendencies. GDP as a development measure and indicator misleads policy makers across the world into thinking economic progress as development of the people.[3] Recognizing this, world leaders have been exploring alternative development indicators and models. The high profile Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress was one such valiant attempt at remodeling the development of this world along values and aspirations of sustainability (2008). As momentous as the recommendations of this commission was on measuring and valuing the ‘well-being of the people’ was, the world was introduced into this line of thinking, albeit less successfully, by the reports What Now: The 1975 Dag Hammarskjöld Report on Development and International Cooperation and 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development on Towards Sustainable Development. Both these reports pushed sustainable development agendas into mainstream development planning and programming, and culminated in the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the UN. The concept of Community Vitality is both a harbinger and product of these alternative development movements, and will be discussed briefly here in this context.[4]      

4.1 Gross National Happiness Index

Although the first quantitative Gross National Happiness (GNH) index was released in 2008, the concept of GNH was first proposed in 1970s by the fourth King of Bhutan. Indeed, because of the missing of social and environmental aspects in the popular Gross Domestic Product (GDP) index, the GNH was developed in term of focusing on non-economic aspects of well-being rather than increasing in economy statistics in development paradigm (Ura & Penjore, 2009). Moreover, the raising awareness in changing living environment might lead to the need of searching for an alternative measurement in order to capture the whole picture of the development process in order to achieve sustainable development. As a result, GNH has been put to wider application since the Millennium Development Goals was set by the United Nations. According to Munro (2016), there are four pillars in GNH, which are (1) good governance, (2) sustainable socio-economic development, (3) cultural preservation and (4) environmental conservation, that are more specifically classified into nine domains, which are (1) psychological well-being, (2) health, (3) education, (4) time use, (5) cultural diversity and resilience, (6) good governance, (7) community vitality (CV), (8) ecological diversity and resilience, and (9) living standards. In addition, within each domain, there are several indicators which are used to measure the degree of change in the people’s perceived and actual wellbeing.

4.2 Definition of Community Vitality and its indicators

Among these domains, CV appears as more debatable as there are few discrepancies in its definition and conceptualisation depending on the discipline of the proponents (Dixon, 2006; Givel, 2015). However, it is as the popularly accepted as the community’s collective capacity to respond to change with an enhanced level of participation with aspirations for a healthy and productive community. In other words, it is the relationship between each individual with their family and their community in the context of living within such community in the period of time. Moreover, it shows the strength of community when facing with the changing livelihood. CV has been assessed based on seven indicators, which are the (1) length of stay, (2) volunteering, (3) donation, (4) the sense of belonging, (5) the sense of trust, (6) family relationship, and (7) crime and safety.
A brief discussion on the indicators, which are used as the primary basis for the construction of our questions, shows that the length of stay indicates how long an individual live in that community. This is an important consideration since empirical findings present a strong correlation between longer stay and more intense sense of belonging to the community, and thus the willingness to contribute towards its wellbeing. The volunteering (in terms of services) and donation (money) indicators gauge the network of social support existent in the community. In good times as in desperation, strong social support gives people hope and confidence which are crucial components of their wellbeing. Measuring sense of belonging is perhaps the most important indicators as it may be argued that the outcome of all other indicators rest on this in as much as sense of belonging conditions a person’s outlook and disposition towards meaningful engagement within and outside the community. Sense of trust is an important building block of belonginess and as such, it indicates the ease with which a person can reasonably feel supported by the community in times of need while reciprocating such support in return. Crime and safety illustrates the effectiveness of local authorities in term of protecting their citizens and this is a critical indicators as widespread perception of lawlessness and chaos can be detrimental to community vitality. Family relationship as an indicator and means of mutual support and affection is vital as it present an unconditional source of wellbeing. Taken together, we can see a strong interdependence among all these indicators suggesting that, a person’s sense of wellbeing, and feeling of and aspiration for accomplishment (or development) are conditional and incumbent upon a holistic measure of Community Vitality.

5. Methodology

This research is inductive in its theory orientation, and attempts to use interpretative and constructivist considerations in order to assess the educated opinions and perspectives of the our interviewees and participants who are selected from among graduate students of Master of International Development (193JA).[5] The choice of this sample population is linked to our Research Goal which has been stated above.  
Homogeneity of background of researchers, participants and interviewees is thoughtfully considered to leverage the quality of the intended result in this research. However, researchers fully realise the potential biases not only during the implementation of data collection but also in the process of analysis, interpretation and report writing. In choosing of sampling for interviewees, researchers use a purposive sampling; a non-probability with gender perspective as a thoughtful consideration (Neuman, 2011). We employed qualitative approach, and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) as a technique to test our research design and questions while semi-structured interviews were preferred as a means of validation in tandem with further FGD sessions. In depth and diverse data were sought on the key concept of community vitality in particular, and alternative development frameworks in general. For meaningful discussion and informed policy recommendations on this important subject, FGD is chosen in light of the researchers’ recognition of our selected participants as having the requisite educational background and related experience in development studies; with appropriate exposure to development theories and practice during their academic encounters at campus. In addition, we intended to use FGD as a means of dynamic discussion that may bring to fore the issues participants deemed important and significant, without having too much power to instigate topic or questions. In this way, researchers serve as facilitators, guiding discussion flexibly but within the grid of our stated research purpose. One important limitation is the laborious nature of the transcribing process. There are several steps in the actual performing of FGD. First, the discussion starts with introduction, expressing appreciation for coming and introducing the stakeholders. Second, the goal of the discussion is articulated, and statutory disclamation is made on the use of recording and other ethical considerations. Guarantee of privacy of respondents and their right to limit the use of any data deemed sensitive by the researchers were issued. Actual discussions then ensued, followed lastly by felicitation and expression of gratitude.  
The use of semi-structured interview offers interviewer a set of guiding questions, while at the same time providing significant leeway for interviewees to reply. Necessary flexibility in data collection is a quintessence of qualitative research approach with use of varying preliminary and supplementary probing questions. The limitation of this is quite similar with FGD; namely transcribing issues (Bryman, 2012). Semi-structured interviews emphasize how interviewees frame and understand issues, topic, and concepts. Therefore, as a primary source of data collection, semi-structured interview will be specifically designed to answer research questions. Community vitality, both as concept and research subject, will be examined through selective indicators derived from the Gross National Happiness Survey 2015. This survey questionnaire is used as a companion text for our principle questions[6].  The adaptation is based on the different method researchers employ, which is qualitative; leaning towards conceptual comprehension. The selected indicators were expected as an instigating approach towards general conception of community vitality. For example, the length of stay is not specifically designed to obtain quantitative data on how long individual actually live in the community as that will make our research only a replication of GNH survey, which is primarily a concern of quantitative approach and hence, will not lead to any value addition. At best, it will lead to a heuristic exploration of the universality or applicability of the GNH survey in diverse socio-cultural background. While this is also an attempt of the research, the real information we seek goes beyond that, which is to explore ‘cognitive’ of respondents and participants (knowing, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating elements) on the indicator and its relational meaning with the research subject. The same approach goes to the rest of the indicators; volunteering, donation, sense of belonging, family relationship, sense of trust and crime and safety.
Upon finishing the data collection phase, the research process moves onto data analysis, interpretation of findings and then wrap up with the final report writing. Researchers propose not to utilise any program for analyzing the data thus as the discursive nature of data collected will lend itself more favourably to and narrative reporting on the recurrent trends and patterns. The analytical approach and interpretation will use postmodernism as a theoretical lens since this research topic intends to contest and discuss with the established metanarrative regime in development thought, policy and practices (Rist, 2014).

6. Focus Group Discussion

Since the primary research method employed is Focus Group Discussion, it will be discussed in a little detail here. FGD is a particular research technique in qualitative research to interview some informants in an informal way (Neuman, 2006). It has been suggested that focus group discussion engages participants from homogeneous background who do not necessarily have close relations and the discussion itself can be conducted for about 90 minutes. A moderator should not be directive and instead facilitate the discussion to ensure that all group members can participate in free and open discussion (Bryman, 2012).
Within this broad framework, we will now discuss the theoretical and practical considerations we made while we conducted our FGD. In our FGD sessions, although participants are moderately homogeneous, it was important to understand that they can be reluctant to share their beliefs and opinions. Therefore, care was taken to provide moderate privacy and space within which to express their views. We also realised that it was important to record and transcribe the focus group process. Therefore, the following four measures were taken. First, we noted who said what and how because it was not easy to write down during the discussion process with some participants. Second, we analysed the ranges of opinion which came from one or some participants who dominated the forum, and often, from all stakeholders. Third, our record and transcription enabled us to keep the dynamism of the process which cannot be done by note taking when the FGD was in session. Lastly, this documentation enabled us in recording the nuance of the language used by participants.
In determining the right size of our group discussions and the research schedule, we took into account suggested how many discussions were needed and feasible within the temporal and spatial limits besides resources. As Calder (1997; as cited in Bryman, 2012) suggested, our conceptual and practical awareness enabled us to fairly predict the range of data that has been collected and determine if that was enough for the purpose of the research especially at the stage of research design and question testing. In view of research ethics, consent forms were administered, and demographic information were collected selectively.

7. The Research Process

The group Happiness research scheduling included dividing the work into several components such as topic selection and preparation, the development of term of reference (TOR) and questionnaire, research methodology designing, testing and consultation, validation, data collection and findings. This schedule began with a brainstorming session on the several prospective topics.[7] The primary consideration while choosing the research topic or subject, which was community vitality from a variety of others, was the fact that this course unit Development Research Methods (9429) was on conducting research on development issues.[8] Thus, community vitality was a natural choice since it is an emergent development issue. The topic was duly deliberated and final approval sought from the Unit Convenor, Dr Joyce Wu. Other secondary considerations included availability of literature on the topic besides the feasibility of primary data collection. Therefore, exploration of materials and texts, and preliminary conceptualisation and selection of indicators were also conducted during this research cycle.

7.1 Research and questionnaire design

The second session of the group deliberation focused on the development of term of reference (TOR) and drafting of the preliminary questionnaire.[9] A Consent Form was also prepared at this stage to fulfil statutory ethical prerequisites in conducting such research on human subject. It may be noted here that several rounds of deliberations were needed to refine the question, with each session providing new insights and exposing new flaws and loopholes in our research model and key questions. The questions themselves were, as discussed in the preceding sections, were based on the companion Gross National Happiness survey questionnaire. An important point to be noted here was that our first set of questions (presented in Annexure 1) was primarily focussed on the seven indicators (emphasis added). This was later found to be inadequate, if not counterproductive for the purpose of in-depth discussion and conversation-style interviews.  

7.2 Testing: Indicator bias

The third project cycle of the collaborative group research was the questionnaire testing and consultation.[10] It is considered as one of the most significant phase of this process since the questionnaire was the primary tool of data collection. The TOR and draft of the questionnaire are sent to the target participant, along with the companion GNH survey questionnaire, before the consultation and testing day. This was to allow the participants to get a better understanding of the topic and its objectives. The testing and consultation were divided into several phrases, which were generally focused on the Master of International Development (MID) students as the target participants. The first stage of the testing and consultation process was limited to a group of six Bhutanese students whose demographic details, including names, were coded into anonymity for ethical considerations. The group was composed of mixed gender, namely male and female students. The main reason to target the Bhutanese students was because Community Vitality is a concept predominantly inspired by their development philosophy of GNH and hence, it was hoped that they will be the entry point to further deliberations which were meaningful and informative. This students group, by default also, represented the Asian perspective with its distinctive socio—cultural sensibilities and aspiration. The first consultation and testing session with Bhutanese group went very well and positive feedbacks were received which were incorporated partially, or in full where appropriate, to refine the research method design and questions. However, the process dominated by the male participants with female participants being rather meek. It was felt that the lone female facilitator should encourage female participants to speak more during this session.
In order to have conveniently differentiated and meaningfully opposing views, the second step of consultation and testing was targeted to the western students composing of females only.[11] As expected, this participant group (composed of one female Australian student and one Spanish student) were vocal and expressive  in stating their opinions clearly and firmly, and provided positive feedbacks on our process. They also exposed flaws and other areas for improvement, including the lopsided attention on indicators which prevented meaningful discussions and deliberation on the concept of Community Vitality and its desirability as a alternative development model, which of course was our primary research objective. Therefore, the testing sessions were generally very meaningful and constructive experience having two different perspectives and views from the different cultural background, nationality and gender to discuss the community vitality indicators.

7.3 Validation: Conceptually Holistic 

The feedbacks received from these sessions, and our own reflections, resulted in a comprehensive, but constructive revision of our questions and the way of administering them. Displaying what we would like to believe is impressive self-reflexivity, a hallmark of great researchers, we were humble in admitting that our first question diverted our attention towards an ungainly replication of the GNH survey. It was felt that discussion structured around the seven indicators, enumerated earlier, restricted time and focus from what could otherwise become more meaningful deliberations on the development students’ informed and educated opinions and views (refined by advance preparation allowed by the research design and process) on the concept of Community Vitality. We observed a profusion of views on the indifference in dominant development research on these alternative development paradigms. We also noticed that the students were palpably frustrated with the fact that our own course, MID, did not have a course unit on alternative development paradigm, though it made tokenistic gestures by including units on agro-forestry and micro-finance, for example, though these subjects can at best be seen as palliative care of the symptoms of the disease that is afflicting the development landscape. Our participants informed us that what was required was structural and systematic change to what is now called ‘development industry’, and this could only be effected by changes at the level of ideology and policy, which the discourse on Community Vitality seeks to do. Unfortunately, our question design failed to make these observations possible because it was inadequate for the purpose we sought, and was rather too rigid.
The refining process thus involved comprehensive change on the focus of our questions. From a limited focus on indicators, our semi-structured questions now focussed on conceptual concerns and sought to truly draw out intelligent deliberations from current and prospective development scholars that MID students are. Since the group mainly met on a weekly regular basis, before the data collection was conducted, the group member also discussed the report outline and individual tasks and responsibilities that was not only limited to the conduct of interview and FGD, but also on writing up the final report.
The last two steps of the group research process focussed on validation of the questions and research design. It was agreed that semi-structured interviews will be held with our questions serving as guides, rather than fixed points of analysis. The name of respondents was selected and listed during the group meeting.[12] Ten individual interviews were scheduled to be conducted by the five researchers, with one researcher conducting two interviews. Considerations were made for gender and cultural representativeness, or decomposability in research lexicon. However, while the interviews were actually conducted, six individual interviews were conducted besides another session of FGD with six participants.[13] Thus, from the target participant sample, two extra respondents were included at this stage of the research schedule. Various convenience research ploys were used. Interviews were conducted by the researcher as both interviewer and note-taker, though this modality was swiftly replaced by adding an assistant who took the interview note. All interviews were systematically recorded and documented using voice-recorder, photographs, and in some case, videography. All respondents were given advance briefing on interview backgrounds with appropriate materials. The flow of interviewing went very well and easy as facilitator asked the questions by using the open-ended questions with the keywords as well as using the probing strategy that helped to get more data and information beyond the bare minimum.
The other researchers jointly conducted a FGD session with the mixed group of male and female participants.[14] It was felt that both male and female could be safely interviewed together because of an gender insensitive questions. The consent letter was distributed and signed by the participants before the FGD started. The female facilitator has facilitated the discussion with the support of the other two researchers who helped to co-facilitate and record the process. The number of male participants was less compared to females even though the male continued to assert more dominance. Therefore, the decision of mixing the male and female participants into a discussion may not have bee that sound after all. Cultural background might be assumed to be the main reason of the male predominance in the discussion that assured them of having more rights to talk in public forum compared to women. It is sad to notice that even with the benefit of a Masters degree in development and gender studies, this stereotype continue to persist. Moreover, the other challenges include one male participant hijacking the space and time with what seemed like monologue rather than discussion. However, facilitators duly interjected so that no major digression occurred. In addition, the facilitator also encouraged women participants to engage more. Overall, this was an enriching experience that helped the discussion and growing understanding on this subject among our participants and us.

7.4 Working modalities and tools

Finally, it was found that during the process of the research, intensive meeting and discussion was essential to achieve the overall goal of group work. Furthermore, the effective use of technology such as email, Google Doc., Facebook Group Chat and WhatsApp was very helpful to maintain regular and real time communication. It must be maintained that shared and collaborative drafting and editing of all our documents, including this final report, were done using Google Doc. application.

8. Conclusion  

Through a fluid use of qualitative development research methods, our study has created a research design that has inbuilt a set of questions that act as prompts and talking points in extracting exhaustive discussions on the critically important development issue of community vitality. From a preliminary questionnaire draft that narrowly limited the discussion to the indicators, our revised questions enabled meaningful concept and indicator level discussions on community vitality, which is subsequently situated within the broader discourse on alternative development paradigms like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness. As conceded by the renowned anthropologists James Clifford and George E. Marcus (1986), our report inevitably reconciled inconsistencies and probable contradictions that not only challenged its logical structure, but also made reading the report difficult to access for its unacquainted readers (p. 10). It was for this reason that ethnographic writings were considered ‘new novels’, which were pleasant to read, but within its stylistic conventions, withheld inconvenient facts and analysis. Notwithstanding inherent ‘ex-post rationalisation’[15], as discussed by Gobo (2008), we have made every effort to present our experience of the research process as accurately and coherently as possible.   


9. Reference List
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Clifford, J. & Marcus, G. E. (1986 c.a.). Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. 
Clough, P. & Nutbrown, C. (2012). A student's guide to methodology: Justifying enquiry (3rd ed.). Thousands Oaks, Calif, London: SAGE.
Dixon, F. (2006). Gross National Happiness: Measuring What Matters. Reflections, 7(3), p. 15-24.
Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Culture: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz. New York: Basic Books.
Givel M. (2015). Gross National Happiness in Bhutan: Political Institutions and implementation. Asian Affairs, 46(1), p. 102-117.
Gobo, G. (2008). Doing Ethnography. Milan: Sage Publication.
Halle, L. J. (1964). On Teaching International Relations. The Virginia Quarterly Review, 40 (I). p.11-25.
Munro L. (2016). Where did Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness come from? The origins of an invented tradition. Asian Affairs, 47(1), p. 71-92.
Neuman, W. L. (2011). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (7th, international ed.). Boston, [Mass.]: Pearson.
Pellegrini, L. & Tasciotti, L. (2014). Bhutan: Between Happiness and Horror. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 25(3), p. 103-109.
Philips, N. & Cynthia, H. (2002). What is Discourse Analysis. In (eds. Philips, N. & Hardy, H) Discourse Analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Rist, G. (2014) The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith. (4th edn). London: Zed Books.
Stiglitz, J. E., Sen, A. & Fitoussi, J. P. (2008). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Accessed from www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr   
United Nations. (1975). Towards another development. In What Now: The 1975 Dag Hammarskjöld Report on Development and International Cooperation, published as a special edition of Development Dialogue.
Ura, K. & Penjore, D. (Eds). (2009). The Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Gross National Happiness. Thimphu, Bhutan: Centre for Bhutan Studies.
World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Towards sustainable development. In Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.





[1] Refer the UNDP website for a fuller discussion of these goals even though a brief overview is presented in the subsequent sections. http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda.html
[2] This is our group name for this project assigned by our own choice.
[3] Needless to say, there is a distinction between this two, which is the same as a mistaken equating of the acquirement of wealth for health. GDP in fact fails to distinguish productive economic activities from destructive human dispositions and tendencies. So, for example, by accounting the unmistakably profitable militarization of economy or the damaging exploitation of fossil reserve as growth and development, GDP is holding the world’s wellbeing at ransom of the profiteering elites.
[4] Refer Brooks J. (2013). Avoiding the Limits to Growth: Gross National Happiness in Bhutan as a Model for Sustainable Development. Sustainability, 5(9), p. 3640-3664.
[5] This course is offered by the Faculty of Arts and Design in the University of Canberra.
[6] The section on Community vitality runs from questions 89 to 104; pages 18 to 21 of GNH questionnaire booklet which is available on http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/Questionnaire/Questionnaire2014.pdf
[7] Session conducted on 25 February 2016 in University of Canberra (UC) building 5B55.
[8] Other topics considered included non-traditional development issues like crime, customer satisfaction, employee retention, etc.
[9] Session conducted on 3 March 2016 in UC Library Group Study Room 1 at Level A.
[10] Session conducted on 10 March 2016 in UC Library Group Study Room at Level A.
[11] Session conducted on 17 March in UC Library Tutorial Room.
[12] Two sessions were held on 24 March 2016. One was conducted in UC building 1C77 between 11-12 PM and the other, in UC Library Study Room 1 at Level A between 1-2 PM.
[13] Two interviews, one male and one female were conducted by Hamdy on 21 April 22 April 2016 respectively in the Foyer of Building 5, while Dendup conducted two interviews with two males on 20 April 2016 in the same venue.
[14] Session conducted by Vivinia, Thanh and Saherman on 22 April 2016 at the Foyer of Building 5.
[15] Writing about drafting jury judgment, Gobo (2008) says, “They therefore used the rules to perform an ex-post rationalization whereby their accounts would show the good sense of any outcome, rather than reproduce what people thought at the time of the deliberative process” (p. 6).

Analytical Response on Research Methods

Analytical Response on Research Methods
Introduction & Research Methods
This paper briefly analyses two different methodological researches, qualitative and quantitative, on the topic of violence against women in Indonesia and domestic violence in the United States, from one source online journal; Violence against Women. The qualitative one is a report research that explores male perceptions and attitudes towards the topic. It analyses interview data from Indonesian men collected as part of a large multi-method Australian government–funded project on masculinities and violence in two Asian countries; a mix method research (Nilan, et al. 2014) while the second one employs quantitative research based on sub sample primary respondents of the first National Survey of Families and Households. The general aims at the exploration of the relationship between religious involvement and intimate partner violence (IPV) (Ellison, et al. 2007). As for this specific assignment, the writer uses qualitative by means of literature review; based on online report article and journal articles.  
Theories or Assumptions
The former article explains research under the assumption of how deep cultural aspect of the society influence perception of men’s rights to lead and discipline women resulting the need for continuation of women empowerment and men re-education. As for the later research, based on literature review, there is a tendency of higher level of religiosity especially among women and African Americans (Taylor, Chatters, & Levin, 2004) in contrast to previous findings that domestic violence is more common for African Americans and Hispanics (Lockhart, 1987). Thus, the research aims at addressing this contradiction by presenting assumption whether race/ethnicity, especially religious involvement (attendance frequency at religious services) inversely associated with domestic violence.
Method Adequateness and Appropriateness, Tools, Techniques and Limitation
The report uses a qualitative methodology by means of literature review method emphasising on interview data through desk research technique. In my opinion, the report is fairly adequate as it is meant to describe the findings of research, utilising primary source supported by secondary sources mainly journal articles. However, in the literature review, the researchers have not referenced any similarly previous researches finding with on the subject. By doing so, readers of this report may have to assume that this research is probably the first of its kind which is doubtful in nature.
The research itself employs two different methodologies; a qualitative in the form of semi structured interview, on the other hand, a quantitative in the form surveys. The later were composed of 1,004 men and while the former were performed by interviewing 86 men in addition to 18 nongovernmental organization (NGO) workers in Indonesia. The examination itself is based on masculinity and violence against women. The possible link between this research and the report lays on the discourse of culture, specifically patriarchy notion, thus, this reflects sociological nature of both research and the report. Masculinity means the relation between the perpetrator of violence and justification toward women is strong. Using both methodologies seem important in this research for function purpose; one as means to supplement each other weakness. However, the report mainly focuses on the semi-structured interview solely due to magnitude set of outcome of using both methods.
There has been no clarification on the basis of cities chosen in the research. Conversely, the number of interviewee seems does not representing the cities as well, thus, it is unlikely categorised for generalisation. This condition could be understood when probability sample is impossible or not feasible. Moreover, the saturation process is not clearly stated on the sample size. The use of snowballing technique may simply indicates access to possible interviewees based on networking or social link means resulting  86 men who initially accepted to be interviewed as a result of subsequent 1004 survey respondents. This small numbers seems a worldwide phenomenon and in line with research finding in The United States that talking about violence against women is considered ‘taboo topic’ among men (see Neighbours and colleagues, 2010, Ambrosetti, et. al. 2013).
Considered as a powerful tool that produces in depth information and understanding, the strength of semi structured interview bases on its structure and flexibility. Probing technique is very likely used for extracting a deeper meaning through an informal interviewing style. However, the limitation of the report is mainly due to inaccessibility to actual research findings article which prohibits readers to further seek a deeper insight on the research findings. Conversely, the report is merely a repetition of research finding, thus there is no significant implication on practical basis. However, different analysis approach may implicate to a more enrich academic and theoretical discussion. In policy and practice perspective, the report suggests the important of continuous role of government stakeholders to generate significant dialogue and public awareness.
The second research has a strong theoretical frameworks on the issues discourse through heading title consisting religion and domestic violence, race/ethnicity and domestic violence and race/ethnicity and religion to come up with 3 hypotheses questions (Ellison, et. al., 2007, p. 1095-1100). The selection criteria seems to be appropriate resulting to 3.134 men and 3.666 women from 13.017 men and women who were married to, cohabiting with, a person of the opposite sex at the time of National Survey Interview. This type source of data is reliable and rich in information quantitatively and qualitatively, respectively.
Although the questionnaires were self-administered and for both partners to reduce biases, a follow up interview would at least ascertain quantitative findings in addition to enriching information from respondents, especially on the religion involvement as dependent variables. In addition, there are several disadvantages of self-completion compared to structured review namely, inability to prompt when respondent having difficulties to answer the question, no opportunity to probe for an elaborate answer, cannot ask many questions that are not salient to respondent, unable to ask many open questions as respondent frequently do not want to write a lot, difficult to determine who actually answer the questions, greater risk to lose data, etc. (Bryman, 2012).
Furthermore, this article mentions the use of mean, standard deviation, and logistic regression (odds ratios) as a tool and technique to describe and analyse data. For example, findings through the above techniques suggest that African Americans indicates having greater levels of domestic violence and are more likely both to perpetrate and be victimized by this sort of violence in comparison to other ethnics. On the other hand, religious involvement, in terms of church attendance, is found protective against domestic violence for three ethnics with African American is higher. As the researcher mentioned, the limitation of this research is the result of the finding itself where the involvement of religious is still considered as an indicator or a proxy means and frequent attendance is not a key aspect of religious involvement in affecting pattern of domestic violence, thus, they seek for further research based on potential roles of multiple dimensions of religion and spirituality in this subject. The research’s results may not be considered as generalisation or solid causality argument but rather as basis of for extra research.


Conclusion
To sum up, in my opinion, it is very difficult to analyse any researches as a whole or their methodologies in particular. Any research articles seem to run smoothly and it is difficult to sense ‘abnormality’ in the process of research. As Bryman (2012) states that researchers tend to focus on specific findings then back them up with a soundly standard methodological terminologies to emphasise principal process. This does not mean there is a perfect research since every means is possible to challenge research report. The most crucial thing is that principles of performing research should maximally be applied while at the same time bearing in mind the nature of flexibility of social research is ever-present (Bryman, 2012). Neither qualitative nor quantitative is perfect, as any research process has its own nature of progressing.






















References
Primary
Nilan, P., Demartoto, A., Broom, A., & Germov, J. (2014). Indonesian men's perceptions of violence against women. Violence Against Women, 20(7), 869-888. doi:10.1177/1077801214543383
Ellison, C., Trinitapoli, J., Anderson, K., & Johnson, B. (2007). Race/Ethnicity, religious involvement, and domestic violence. Violence Against Women, 13(11), 1094-1112. doi:10.1177/1078012073082591
Secondary
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lockhart, L. L. (1987). A reexamination of the effects of race and social class on the incidence of marital violence: A search for reliable differences. Journal of Marriage and Family, 49(3), 603-610.
Neighbors, C., Walker, D. D., Mbilinyi, L. F., O'Rourke, A., Edleson, J. L., Zegree, J., & Roffman, R. A. (2010). Normative misperceptions of abuse among perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 16(4), 370-386. doi:10.1177/1077801210363608
Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., & Levin, J. (2003). Religion in the lives of african americans: Social, psychological, and health perspectives doi:10.4135/9781452229782



Concept Analysis Paper on Change, Community and Community Development

Concept Analysis Paper on Change, Community and Community Development
Introduction
This paper aims at providing brief exploration on the notion of change, community and community development. The definition of these is malleable in addition to short and brief analysis characterize the limitation of understanding the complexity of those terms from several perspectives. Essentially, these are neutral terms that open up to different attributing components especially on change and communities. Each is best understood as ideas that embed a continuing process of comprehension; contested, debated and refined to be utilised for the best outcome of human’s survival in relation with nature and between themselves. However, these concepts may swing one’s perception and understanding, either positive or negative, depending agency’s precedence, this short paper offers exploration based on specific intellectual scholarship, the West, excluding other possible narratives derived from local or regional knowledge that may have a share of truth based on their distinct and respective views.
The Concept of Change
There is no universal definition on the term since there is no single form and one type of society. Change is partly considered as a form of accommodation to realities, for example, political, social and cultural changes, means that people or communities (individual and institutions) are considerably forced to be flexible and adaptable (Brokensha & Hodge 1969). Krznaric (2007) suggests at least four aspects in defining the idea of change or ‘how change happen” across disciplines consisting agency, instrument, context, and process in questions form that may navigate understanding on change. In human geography and environmental geography perspective, change is perceived through how human shape environment and vice versa, both as individual and as human societies (p. 22) or as a process of learning, co-transformation reconstituting the world, comprising human and more than human (Gibson-Graham & Roelvink 2009). 
The need for a change can be perceived as having a better life from the voices of the poor although their multiple dimensions of deprivation may require multiple interventions, thus, acknowledging issue such as power, providing voice and priority to achieve what they perceive as a better life by empowering them with freedom to choose and act (Narrayan, et al 2000). Sen presents framework of Capabilities Approach to address issue of poverty, inequality and human development emphasizing on choice (freedom) and participation (empowerment-power shifting) to initiate change (Clark 2005a). Both are crucial for change which can be exemplified with the choice of social activists and civil society (Green, Mercer, & Mesaki 2012), Non-Government Organisations, Faith Based Organisations (Clarke & Ware 2015) to be outside the system in an attempt to make changes. The freedom to choose is also applicable for individual or community context, the freedom to change their ‘disadvantaged,’ ‘underdeveloped,’[1] ‘oppressed’[2], ‘discriminated,[3]’ ‘marginalised[4]’ conditions. Conceptually, as Clark (2007) infers, Sen’s capability refers to ‘to function’ means human functioning to approach commodity or ‘commons’ is differ and this may require participation of individuals in community to acknowledge sense of power dimension to change. The essential of Sen’s approach to change is to reflect on what people are truly able to and capability to do, rejecting the focus on commodities and their utilities (Clark 2005b). In addition, the need for a change is sometimes realized when commons that have been taken for granted become diminished, close to extinction and degraded and potentially affect the survival of human as species on earth (Gibson-Graham, et al 2013, Gibson-Graham & Roelvink 2010). The realization of possible loss eventually triggers sense of caring and responsibility, as a choice or freedom, to instigate change through participation as individual or as a hybrid collective.
Community
Although labelled as an ambiguous concept, social scientist consent community as a constructed social reality that is based on social interaction and negotiation (Mannarini & Fedi 2009) that shape sense of togetherness or beings in common (Welch & Panelli 2007). This definition refers to the nature of human as entity in which individual still persistently seek for shared values, high degree of interaction, similar interest and identity that could be found on restricted circumstances or collectivities (Mannarini & Fedi 2009, p.212). However, critics argue that the current definition of community based on set of assumption of values, norms and individualistic nature of modern societies, ignoring locality division such as race, gender and class (Robinson & Green 2011).  Nevertheless, those psychological desires shape sense of power in the form of sense of solidarity (Bhattacharyya 2004, p.11-12) and sense of significant, as two fundamental elements of community, that emphasise on how the members of the group themselves feel. In this sense, boundaries are clear in perceiving individual as autonomous, separate and atomized entity and community as embedded selves that embraces collective identity, determining the self and the others (Lesbirel 2011)[5].
In another perspective, the term should be a seen as a concept that in need of modifier to serve a greater effect such as ‘imagined community’, “organic community”, “inoperative community” or “the little” communities’ rather than described as entities at various scales and meaning such as white communities, indigenous community, environmentalist community simply refer to place one’s belong (Williams 2002). In a different view, community may become modifier such as the idea of community economy[6] where individual’s responsibility and commons interconnected with another and how a defined “we” inversely constitute and interdependent (Gibson-Graham, et al 2013), borrowing Nancy’s concept of being singular plural. In this sense, community is seen as in constant shift and incomplete phenomenon; inoperative (Welch and Panelli 2007).
Nancy rejects community as construction, an idealized unity of common beings and experience because community is inaccurate joint beings who has singular finitude experience and understand variously the need of being in commons (Panelli and Welch 2005). This emphasie on “being with others” means of continual cross referencing, rejecting self and the other as dichotomous or subordinate, but rather as co-existence and co-constitution process (Welch and Panelli 2007). This ontological view influences geographical perspective in the approach of learning together as hybrid collectives and more than human actants to transform and reconstitute process of the world producing so called economic ethics for the Antrphocene (Gibson-Graham & Roelvink 2010) that offers four econo-sociality ethics; common, consumption, necessity and surplus (p. 331-335). Hence, it is interesting to observe Nancy’s post structural approach in defining community has been adapted into more lenient approach toward current economic development. To conclude, it seems that there are two main mainstream in understanding community, one in favor of structuralist approach while the other leans toward a ‘deconstructed’ paradigm that derives from post-structural and post-modernism thoughts.
Community Development
In the beginning of community development as a discourse or as a practice, there was a confusion or problem to define the concept. As Bhattacharyya (2004) states, from 1960-1990s, several scholars offered arguments, for example any claim using community development approaches will acceptably be considered legitimate contribution. He further cited several authors who suggested that the definition reflected as premature closure, no definite explanation, since one’s free interpretation affects one’s orientation to initiate community development depending who practicing it, and even interchangeably regarded as community organisation, from social work perspective (p. 6-9).
After the 1990s, considered as a more viable, sustainable and an alternative approach of development, community development, in nature, is considered as a resentment towards mainstream western-dictated modernization and globalization establishment that is evidently fail in creating harmony between human and environment and between human beings. A critiques, specifically on the term of development, as a bigger concept, is worth abandonment since its deceiving positive implication in reality means justification of exploitative activities driven by greed, or as a “general transformation and destruction of the natural environment and of social relations in to increase the production of commodities” (Rist 2007, p. 488). He further argues that planet’s survival relies on disbelief of deep rooted economic growth is capable of bringing social justice, fair exploitation of environment, and improve human well-being.
In this regard, community development embeds resistant act towards neo-liberalism and neo-colonialism, imagining ‘another world is visible’[7] with a community based approach. This idea of change embraces local knowledge, culture, skills, resources and the importance of process entailing deliberative and participative democracy by challenging individualistic and consumeristic promotion (Ife & Tesoriero 2006). Although community development’s purpose is the pursuit of solidarity and agency by adhering to the principles of self-help, felt needs and participation, community development essentially still has to address macro factors above while engaging microenvironments because local challenges may appear as manifestations of bigger problems that are likely in need of political action, and networking among community organizations (Bhattacharyya 2004). For example, Asset Based Community Development focuses on social assets such as social capital and individual talent to form association and networking, local and informal in nature (Mathie & Cunningham 2003). The concept aims at strengthening the capacity of people as citizens, by building sense of community o claim their rights of access to assets on which they depend for their livelihood may have to perform political advocacy to enhance their livelihood sustainability.
This bottom up approach implies the limit of ‘normal’ approach that constitutes the nature of power relation between the ‘uppers’ and lowers,’ in need of shifting power paradigm (Chambers & Pettit 2004), ‘power to empower’ as a win-win approach (Chambers 2006) that offers a framework power over, power to, power with, and power within (VeneKlasen, et. al 2007, Cahill 2008). This Sen’s influence challenges elites’ world view on economic development and implicate that democratic in growth strategies freedom is possible (Evans 2012). There are five categories of instrumental freedom that may contribute to the expansion of human capabilities such as political freedom, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency and protective security (Sen 1999). To sum up, this idea represents well-being of those in the bottom class of society, not those on top.
These ideas are strongly related with the previous institutions I engaged with, one on the issue of gender; domestic violence and while the other focuses on law and government. Change is the basic component that is expected for the targeted groups such as victims of violence, perpetrators, male, and young judges. These communities are constructed by various components such as identities, norms and values, cultures, and regulations. Former institution implies the use of bottom up approach, empowerment and participation as the core driving values to ‘develop’ their situations in terms of cognitive, awareness, self-empowerment through self-realisation (interactive learning between themselves) and contextual change (social learning) to possibly alter public policy through participatory approach and/or assets based approach. Engaging violence victims to participate is less complicated compared to persuade men to engage in the fights of domestic violence since religious and patriarchal values are strongly intertwined in shaping their perceptions viewing domestic violence reality in the society. On the other hand, the expected outcome from empowering judges through both top-down and bottom up approaches are considered appropriate by involving authoritative structural components where intellectual engagement between ‘superior-inferior’ may instigate a more directive approach. At the same time, through focus group discussion and based on case studies, understanding reality in the lowest part of society could strengthen in the implementation judges code of ethics and quality verdicts.
Concluding Remark
The ideas of change, community and community development are terminologies used across disciplines. It seems that there has been a strong debate especially on the philosophical aspect. Each definition and conception implicate perception on how strong a discourse can be. It embeds power dynamic and power relation in text internally and externally. Discourse cannot exist per se, it correlates with other discourse to understand meanings of concepts in discipline inquiries. Exploring the concept change, community and community development offers an intellectual engagement in binary opposition; governmentality vs locality, top-down vs bottom-up, modernism vs post modernism, structuralist vs post structuralist, equity vs inequity, equality vs inequality, and problems vs opportunities. No matter how complicated the concept is, the wisdom in understanding those terms is very likely to influence one’s approach in doing community-based initiatives for development purposes.





















References
Bhattacharyya, J. 2004, "Theorizing Community Development", Community Development Society. Journal, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 5.
Brokensha, D.W. & Hodge, P. 1969, Community development: an interpretation, Chandler Pub. Co.; distributed by Science Research Associates, Chicago, San Francisco.
Cahill, A. 2008, "Power over, power to, power with: Shifting perceptions of power for local economic development in the Philippines", Asia Pacific Viewpoint, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 294-304.
Chambers, R., 2006. “Transforming power: from zero-­sum to win-­win?”, IDS bulletin, 37(6), pp.99-­110.
Chambers, R. and Pettit, J., 2004. Shifting Power to Make a Difference1. p.137, in Groves, L.C. & Hinton, R.B. 2004, Inclusive aid: changing power and relationships in international development, Earthscan, London; Sterling, Va.
Clark, D. 2005a, The Capability Approach: Its Development, Critiques and Recent Advances, Global Poverty Research Group, GPRG-WPS-032, http://www.gprg.org/pubs/workingpapers/pdfs/gprg-wps-032.pdf
Clark, D.A. 2005b, "Sen's capability approach and the many spaces of human well-being", The Journal of Development Studies, vol. 41, no. 8, pp. 1339-1368.
Clarke, M. & Ware, V. 2015, "Understanding faith-based organizations: How FBOs are contrasted with NGOs in international development literature", Progress in Development Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 37-48.
Evans, P. 2002, "Collective capabilities, culture, and Amartya Sen's development as freedom", Studies in Comparative International Development, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 54-60.
Gibson-Graham, J.K., Cameron, J. & Healy, S. 2013, Take back the economy: an ethical guide for transforming our communities, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Green, M., Mercer, C. & Mesaki, S. 2012, "Faith in forms: civil society evangelism and development in Tanzania", Development in Practice, vol. 22, no. 5-6, pp. 721-734.
Graham, J.K.G. & Roelvink, G. 2010, "An Economic Ethics for the Anthropocene", Antipode, vol. 41, no. s1, pp. 320-346.
Ife, J.W. & Tesoriero, F. 2006, Community development: community-based alternatives in an age of globalisation, 3rd edn, Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.
Krznaric, R. 2007, How Change Happens : Interdisciplinary perspectives for human development, Oxfam GB Research Report, February 2007, viewed on 10 September 2016, <http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/how-change-happens-interdisciplinary-perspectives-for-human-development-112539>
Lesbirel, S.H. 2011, "Project siting and the concept of community", Environmental Politics, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 826-842.
Mathie, A. & Cunningham, G. 2003, "From clients to citizens: Asset-based Community Development as a strategy for community-driven development", Development in Practice,vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 474-486.
Narayan, D, Chambers, R, Shah, M.K, Petesch, P, Voices of the Poor: Crying out for Change, Oxford University Press.
Panelli, R. & Welch, R. 2005, "Why community? Reading difference and singularity with community", Environment and Planning A, vol. 37, no. 9, pp. 1589-1611
Rist, G. 2007, "Development as a buzzword", Development in Practice, vol. 17, no. 4-5, pp. 485-491.
Robinson, J.W. & Green, G.P. 2011, Introduction to community development: theory, practice, and service-learning, SAGE, Los Angeles
Veneklasen, L., Budlender, D., Clark, C. & Miller, V. 2007, A new weave of power, people and politics: the action guide for advocacy and citizen participation, 2nd edn, Practical Action Pub, Bourton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire, U.K.
Williams, B. 2002, "The Concept of Community", Reviews in Anthropology, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 339-350.





[1] The term is famous by Truman’s presidential inaugural speech in 1945.
[2] The term used by Paulo Freire in his work, “the pedagogy of the oppressed.”
[3] Usually refers to class, race and gender discourse.
[4] Mainly used in addressing gender inequalities and minorities discourse.
[5] He introduces the term of vertical community and horizontal community using political boundaries.
[6] An economic ethic emerging among hybrid collectives that have learned to be affected by the conditions of the Anthropocene.
[7] World Social Forum slogan.