1. NetACT Community Development Conference 28 January 2015 Johannesburg Understanding the community: the importance of research for community development

5. To develop the community, you have to understand the community

6. “Research is listening to people”

7. Unit for Religion and Development Research (URDR) Research partner for faith communities Understanding your context, understanding your issues With the goal being change

8. Tearfund sexual violence research

9. We will speak out international coalition IMA World Health, Christian Aid, WCC, WVI, CAFOD, UNAIDS UNAIDS working with churches Further research: SA, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea TF HIV&SV Unit

10. You have to give the community a voice, and listen to it

11. But what is empirical research?

12. In general… Decide on the focus of the research What is the question you want to answer? Get a grip on it Do not make it too big Make sure you understand all the relevant concepts Choose a research design E.g. Surveys? Case studies? Decide on population and sampling Population = the people you are going to listen to Sampling = the specific types of individuals (e.g. age, gender, employment status, etc.) Choose your research methods E.g. interviews? Questionnaires? Focus groups?

13. Fieldwork Data processing Typing it up/ Putting it in Excel/ Transcribing/ etc. Coding Qualitative data: looking for the general themes Data analysis Putting it together: what does it tell us? Compiling findings and conclusions General findings, drawing conclusions, making recommendations Report

14. The biggest challenge : your worldview

15. How to overcome our biases Who determines the focus of the research? Literature review Group research Discussing it with others Open-ended questions Others’ input during interpretation phase Getting others to do fieldwork

16. What does PAR teach us? Collaboration between researcher and research subject Knowledge is generated for the purposes of action

17. Doing ethical research

18. Ethical research practices Asking for consent/permission Full information about the project Permission to withdraw Anonymity Confidentiality Safe storage of data Sharing of research results

19. Empirical research is the first step to doing community development Because you cannot develop a community if you do not understand the community