1. Qualitative Methods to Assess Community Issues

2. What are qualitative methods of assessment? Qualitative methods of assessment are those whose results can’t be expressed in numbers.

3. Qualitative methods include: Individual and group interviews Observation Focus groups Community meetings Interpretation of records, transcripts, and other quantitative data

4. In order to make your qualitative results as reliable as possible: Report accurately and completely Frame the right questions and direct them appropriately Use qualitative methods specifically to obtain information you can’t get from quantitative methods

5. In order to make your qualitative results as reliable as possible (cont.): Use the method that can best help you answer the questions you’re asking Sort out your own and others’ subjective feelings and comments from objective reality, and try to make sure that your findings are objective

6. Why use qualitative methods of assessment? They answer questions that quantitative measures can’t. They connect directly with the population and the community you’re concerned with. They can get at the underlying realities of the situation.

7. Why use qualitative methods of assessment? (cont.) They involve the population of interest, or the community at large, in helping to assess the issues and needs of the community. They often allow for a broader examination of the situation or the community than quantitative methods do. They allow for the human factor.

8. When would you use qualitative methods of assessment? When what you need is qualitative, descriptive information. When you’re trying to understand the reasons and motivations for people’s behavior, or how they operate in particular situations. When you’re analyzing quantitative data.

9. When would you use qualitative methods of assessment? (cont.) When you’re trying to develop suggestions and recommendations. When you want to involve the community in assessment as directly as possible. When you’re doing community-based participatory research (i.e., involving the community directly in planning and implementing assessment).

10. How do you use qualitative methods of assessment? Decide what it is you want to know Choose the method best suited to finding that information Choose the people who will gather the information, and, if necessary, train them Determine from whom and from where you need to gather the information Gather the information

11. For interviews: Let the interviewee(s) choose the space Dress for the comfort of the interviewee(s) Get permission beforehand to tape, photograph or videotape the interview Record carefully the time, place, circumstances, and details of the interview. Think out and frame your questions carefully, and ask directly for the information you’re seeking.

12. For interviews (cont.): Ask open-ended questions. Probe. Don't cut people off too quickly. Confirm what you're told by checking with others to the extent that you can. In group interviews, facilitate by encouraging everyone to participate, preventing any one person from dominating, and keeping the focus on issues and opinions rather than personalities

13. For observation: Think carefully about the questions you want your observation to answer. Determine where and whom to observe to answer these questions Determine when and for how long observation should take place

14. For observation (cont.): Determine what you should observe and record Record your observations. Analyze the information Make and carry out a plan to address the issue or problem you’ve identified