Rapid Assessment Process (1st Edition)
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Transcript of Rapid Assessment Process (1st Edition)
Rapid Assessment Process RAPBased on First Edition. Please see
Rapid Qualitative Inquiry for the Second Edition
Rapid Qualitative Inquiry: Field Guide to Team-Based Assessment
James Beebe
SfAA March 2013
SECOND EDITION
Rowman and Littlefield have announced a release date of mid-October for the Second Edition. It can be preordered from Rowman and Littlefield or from Amazon.com
The Rowman and Littlefield web site includes prepublication reviews and other updates.
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759123212
Rapid Assessment Process
A way to investigate complicated situations: Where issues are not yet well
defined.Where there is not sufficient time
or other resources for long-term, traditional qualitative research.
Rapid Assessment Process
Is Qualitative Research.Shares many of the
characteristics of case study and ethnography.
The goal is better understanding, not truth.
Differs from traditional qualitative research
INSTEAD OF LONG-TERM FIELDWORK
Uses intensive, team interaction.Explicitly divides time between
data collection and data review/ analysis before additional data collection.
Rapid Assessement Processand participatory research
One approach to Participatory Action Research (PAR).
Both PAR and RAP/RQI share the goal of finding out about local situation, pay attention to context, are facilitated by outsiders, and recognize local people as the main actors and source of understanding.
Rapid Qualitative Inquirydiffers from participatory research
Participatory research focuses more on the empowerment of local participants who have responsibility for changes that meet local needs.
Rapid Qualitative Inquiry focuses more on methodological rigor and producing results for outside decision makers.
Differences are a matter of degree.
RAP is defined as:
intensive, team-based qualitative inquiry based on a case study approach using multiple techniques for data collection and iterative data analysis and additional data collection to quickly develop a preliminary understanding of a situation from the insider’s perspective.
RAP cannot be done by one person.
RAP can be used
• to make preliminary decisions about interventions or changes.
• to make decisions about additional research.
• for monitoring and evaluation.
Usually RAP should NOT be used
for estimating numbers or percents.
Results can be produced in
• as few as about five days, • but usually requires several
weeks.• Longer time in the field
produces better results.
Definitions of rap that apply to RAP
To talk freely and frankly.To communicate with participants
using their vocabulary and rhythm.
Stories NOT Answers
The goal is to get the insiders to tell their stories and NOT answer the questions of the outsiders.
RAP as a Case Study Case studies seek to provide an in-
depth understanding of a case or a comparison of several cases.
Cases have identifiable boundaries. Cases can be an individual, several
individuals, a program, an event, or an activity.
RAP as a Case Study
Cases are selected to show different perspectives on the problem.
Purposeful sampling is used to select cases.
Data typically is drawn from multiple sources including observations, interviews, documents, physical artifacts.
RAP as a Case Study RQI/RAP analysis often focuses on
specific aspects of a single case. The goal is to increase understanding
and produce lessons learned from the case that are sometimes called assertions, patterns, or explanations.
The RAP/RQI and Purposeful Sampling
As part of Purposeful Sampling, the team should seek out:• the poorer, • less articulate, • more upset, and • those least like the members of
the RQI/RAP team.
Teamwork
The success of RAP depends upon the quality of the teamwork.
Intensive teamwork
Intensive teamwork for both the data collection and analysis is an alternative to prolonged fieldwork.
Intensive teamwork
Intensive teamwork helps produce an improved preliminary understanding of a situation from the insider’s perspective.
Team interaction
• Team interaction is critical for having multiple approaches to data collection.
• Team interaction is critical for understanding the insiders’ categories and definitions.
Team interaction
• The RAP team should be together most of the time.
• All team members should be involved in data collection and data analysis, including the preparation of the report.
Team interviewing
RAP uses group discussion involving the entire team and the local participants (team interviewing),
NOT sequential interviewing by individual members of the team.
Teams should be composed of insiders and outsiders.
• At least one team member of the RAP team should be an insider.
• After the rest of the team leaves, the insider continues to be called upon to clarify results, resolve pending issues, and help organize local responses.
Cultural differences and diversity
• Sensitivity to cultural differences is essential.
• Team diversity improves cultural sensitivity and helps establish credibility with local communities.
Flexibility critical for use in a variety of situation.
Some specific techniques have proven to be especially effective, but they are NOT the only techniques that can be used.
Flexibility critical for use in a variety of situation.
Relaxed, semi-structured interviewing that provides respondents with time to think is often effective in eliciting stories.
Several hour-long or shorter interviews are usually more productive than single interviews that are very long.
Flexibility critical for use in a variety of situation.
There may be limited situations when interviews or other data collection is done by less than the full team. These situations should be documented.
Data analysis and the write up of results should be a team effort.
Audio recording of interviews
• Usually interviews should be tape-recorded.
• Tape recorders should be expected to fail.
• Digital recorders allow overnight transcribing.
RAP Sheet
• A “RAP Sheet” should be used to document what was done.
• A RAP Sheet allows the reader of a RAP report to judge the quality of the work.
Successful RAP
Members of the RAP team need to recognize:
• They don’t know enough to ask questions,
• They don’t know enough to provide the answers, but
• They do know enough to want to empower others to solve their own problems.
Iterative Analysis and Additional Data Collection
Time is divided between • blocks used for collecting information
and • blocks when the team does data
analysis and considers changes in the next round of data collection.
Iterative Analysis and Additional Data Collection
Team interaction before each new cycle of data collection is essential.
Analysis
Analysis begins with the first round of data collection.
Analysis involves:• Coding the data,• Displaying relationships in the data,
and• Drawing conclusions.
Field Notes: Critical beginning point for analysis
“Jottings” or “memos” by RAP team members to recall memories.
Notes taken in the field to capture details about events, people, places, meaning attributed to interactions, and researcher reflections.
Need to differentiate observations from reflections.
Text as proxy for experience: Transcripts of interviews as data for
analysisWhen transcripts are not
available, the first step is consolidating the field notes from all team members.
When transcripts are available, the first step is review by the entire team and the addition of information from field notes.
Transcripts are more useful
If typed, double-spaced with every sentence beginning on a new line.
With VERY wide margins on both sides
Often codes are placed in the left margin and comments in the right margin.
Coding
Coding involves dividing what participants have said into thought units and applying a few labels to selected units.
Some techniques for understanding data
• Identifying patterns and themes• Seeking plausibility• Clustering• Metaphor making, and• Counting
Member checking
Sharing conclusions before they are final with the people who have provided the information is a critical part of the iterative analysis process.
Ethical Issue: Involving outside decision makers
RAP assumes non-local decision makers should be part of the research effort.
Even when outside decision maker are not part of the team, research should be designed with sufficient rigor to inspire confidence in the results.
Ethical Issue: Shifting Burden
Excessive focus on local participation can lead to shifting of the burden onto the poor and the relinquishing by outsiders of their responsibilities.
Ethical Issue: Unrealistic Expectation
Research can raise unrealistic expectations about future actions.
Ethical Issue: Bogus Empowerment
Encourages people to falsely believe that their input will be acted upon.
The RAP team needs to keep their promises and make promises that they can keep.
The RAP team needs to avoid the temptation of engaging in hyperbole about the democratic nature of the situation.
The major challenge
Confusing rapid with rushed.
RQI/RAP is an idea whose time has come.
?Only if it not oversold and only if it
is implemented rigorously.
Learning to RAPMini-RAP
A Mini-RAP is not research, inquiry, or a way to collect or analyze information.
A Mini-RAP is an educational activity for learning how to do a RQI or RAP.
Learning to RAPPractice Team Interview
Practice team interviewing before doing the Mini-RAP.
Participants are divided into teams with at least three members. One member becomes the person being interviewed. A topic is agreed to. A topic that often works has to do with changes in how gender equality is defined in institutions.
Learning to RAPMini-RAP
ONE POSSIBLE MODEL Team of two or three people. 15 minute interview with two individuals
(Informed consent, etc.). A minimum of two cycles of data collection
analysis, with review of process. Identification of one or two VERY
TENTATIVE conclusions.
Additional Information
Visit the web site: http://www.rapidassessment.net
Contact me:[email protected]