Lena: My Research Progress

Posted 12:40 AM, November 16, 2007, by lenawine

Some of you may at this point be wonder how my research is going, as that has been conspicuously absent from my posts. To be honest, I’ve been wondering the same thing. I was really ready to hit the ground running because my ultimate amount of time in country was not as long as I had initially hoped it would be. Unfortunately, and as expected, I’m the only one who seems to feel this sense of urgency. I’ve been trying to be patient and remember that laying a solid groundwork is essential to the success of future endeavors. For the past week, I have been introducing myself to healthcare providers at the facilities where I will be conducting my interviews. I call this building social capital and I guess we will see if it pays off next week, when I am scheduled to actually start interviewing people. ...

I pre-tested my interview guide and questionnaire with a nurse who works at the district hospital on Friday. I was pleased with how it went. It took approximately 50 minutes and seemed to get at most of the issues in which I was interested. Still I found a few areas that may require clarification and I was glad to identify them ahead of time.