Focus Groups
I held my first focus groups on Monday. With the assistance of the sector leaders 3 groups were scheduled and invited to participate. The groups were Cell Leaders, Primary and Secondary school Teachers and members of the Parent Teacher Association. The purpose of these purposefully selected focus groups was to gain an understanding of the perceived situation in Muko regarding child labor and education. Unfortunately (but unsurprising), the organization and scheduling of the groups was not as planned. Instead of having participants arrive at a designated hours throughout the day, all of the participants arrived at 9 am, which was the first time slot. I had no choice but to apologize to the participants and explain the misunderstanding.
Each focus group lasted between 1.5 and 2 hours. Despite knowing that Rwandans are reserved, we opted for focus groups (rather than semi-formal individual interviews) in order to gain a greater initial amount of data. As we are employing Grounded Theory, this data will be used to adjust our focus and related questions. The focus groups did not generate as much discussion and data as I had hoped, but they definitely opened the door to the understanding the perceptions held by the community leaders.
Defining Terms
The purpose of the focus groups in part was to define terms such as; at what age does a person become an adult, what is a Child-Headed Household, what is domestic (unpaid) labor, and what is agricultural (unpaid) labor. It was relativity easy to define the age of adult hood as well as what considered to be Child-Headed House. It was much more difficult to draw a line between agricultural work and domestic labor. It may prove difficult to differentiate between the two as our research continues as it is very easy for conversation to switch between the two. We will have to consider how to deal with this issue as we move forward.
Children Focus Groups
Hopefully before the end of this week or at the beginning of next week I (we if it is next week, Emily will return to Kigali this weekend) will return to Muko to conduct focus groups with children. As with the adult focus groups, these groups will not be for gaining in-depth information. They will serve as an introduction to the perceptions and realities that the children are facing. I have set aside more time to work with the children as it is important to make them feel comfortable as well as to make sure they understand the purpose of the research. I will also use games at various times of the discussion to keep them interested and active. This will also help create a higher level of comfort and interest.
At this point we have divided the children into children from Children-Headed Households and children from Adult-Headed Households. The ages of the children are to between 12 and 15. I have opted not to divide the children into male and female groups. If this proves to be hindrance on participation I will further divide the groups into male and female groups on any subsequent group discussions.
I am hopeful the children will be less guarded then the adults and more willing to openly talk. Given that the research subject is child-centric they may find the topics more interesting and worthwhile then the adults.
Semi-Structured Interview with Officials
While the Officials of Muko Sector have been supportive and have approved our research they have been a bit illusive when it comes to interviews. We may have to change tactics for gathering the information we hoped to gain from them.
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