Nigeria/MEMS Brown Bag Presentation: Elicitation Techniques May 31,2006

What is an elicitation technique? e-li-cit (v): to ‘draw out’ or “bring forth” latent, or unexpressed information. An elicitation technique elicits local, or indigenous knowledge, from the natives’ point of view.

Definition: Indigenous Knowledge Knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. It is the basis for local decision-making in agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, natural resource management, and host of other activities in rural communities (Warren 1991) Indigenous knowledge is an integral part of the culture and history of a local community. We need to learn more from local communities to enrich the development process (James D. Wolfensohn President, World Bank).

Elicitation techniques reveal cultural domains Definition: A cultural domain is an organized set of words and/or concepts that refer to a single conceptual sphere – or ‘things that go together’. Examples:wealth illness symptoms emotions animals colors All these concepts are grounded in physical reality, but people in different cultures interpret physical reality differently (Bernard 2000)

Often, evaluators assume they know what and how people think... and they are wrong! We want to get an ‘insiders’ view, to see the world as others see it program beneficiaries community members program implementers Service providers Why should we understand local knowledge?

Elicitation techniques are used for: Formative research/program planning Types of health problems in village Process evaluations/trouble shooting Malaria symptoms Outcome/Impact evaluations Ranking health problems (best to worst) Rapid Assessments Social mapping of health clinic locations

Types of elicitation methods: Freelists Pilesorts Ranking Frame elicitations Triad tests Paired comparisons

Freelists Elicit elements of a cultural domain Show the way groups of people think about the world Tell the ideas, concepts people have in common Identify what elements ‘go with’ each other

Freelist vs. Survey Questions: Type of questionExampleObjective Freelist questionWhat kind of illnesses are there? Learn about the domain (eg. Develop list of named illnesses Survey open-ended question What illnesses have you had? Learn about the respondent (eg. Obtain patient history Good freelist questions elicit information ‘outside’ the respondent Survey questions elicit information about the respondent

Freelist Examples: What kinds of tree are there? Name all the home remedies you can think of. What are the different Nigerian ethnic groups? Name all the places people go for the treatment of illnesses. Name all the ways people get information about contraceptives

Analyzing freelist data: Step 1 Create a table in Excel or Word Make a column for each person (number) List terms in rows 1 Sedan 2 Jeep 3 Toyota 4 Peugeot 5 Volkswagen 6 American 7 SUV 8 Cadillac Name the different kinds of cars

Analyzing Freelist data: Step 2 From the respondent lists enter the term order number in the corresponding box Respondents Terms1234 Sedan21173 Jeep Toyota1432 Peugeot7618 Volkswag en American SUV16598 Cadillac

Analyzing freelist data: Step 3 Respondents Terms1234RankingFreq Sedan 21173(23) % Jeep (39) % Toyota 1432(10) % Peugeot 7618(22) % Volkswagen (38) % American (66) % SUV 16598(38) % Cadillac (51) %

Pilesorts Elicit judgments of similarity among items in a cultural domain, and the attributes that distinguish between items Shows ‘what goes with what’ Creates a cultural map of local knowledge

Collecting Pilesort data Start with a freelisting exercise to obtain terms: What different animals are there? Write the terms on cards: on one side, write the term and on the reverse side, write the corresponding number dog 1

Pilesorting Ask participants to place the cards in piles – any way they want. Rule: can’t put all the cards in one pile or each card in a separate pile

Pilesort analysis On pilesort form, write the number of each card Cards: Animals Pile

Pilesort analysis: Anthropac Results of a pilesort of animals

Pilesort applications: Formative research Name the different types of drugs people use here Name all the different terms for sexually transmitted diseases Program planning What ways do people get information about contraceptives? Where do people go to get treatment for sexually transmitted diseases? Evaluation Name all the terms you can think of for the word ‘governance’ What kinds of leaders are there in this community?