1. Qualitative methods in health equity research
Arima Mishra, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
Pre-conference workshop on “Cutting Edge Research on health inequities: Concepts and Methods”, 7 July 2016

2. Focus on…. Why a qualitative mode of enquiry
What such an enquiry entails
Implications on research process

3. 1- Research Question
Why do poor women delay in seeking care for their sick children in rural Tanzania?

4. Beware of Immodest claims of causality!
Why immodest?
Misleading
Tendency to blame the victim
Assumes the given categories
Naturalizes outcomes
Exaggerates individual agency
Distracts attention from social forces/processes
Process of ‘othering’
(*Paul Farmer 1999)

5. ‘Social fault line’
How we respond to practices and outcomes of inequities
Role of researchers

6. Framing matters
Do health systems delay the treatment of poor children in rural Tanzania?
Social locations
Role of actors/social forces
Processes of exclusion
Unfavorable health outcome
How do social forces act on unequally positioned individuals/groups creating and reinforcing inequitable health outcomes?

7. Sites
What are the methodological sites to answer if and how health systems delay the treatment of poor children?
How does one go about capturing these sites?

8. Inequities in practice
Complex
Subtle/invisible
Everyday practices
Lived experiences
Multiple sites

9. Methodological sites Clinical encounters at multiple points
(consultations, arrangement of physical and social space, language)
Health care journey
Lived experiences of care and loss

10. Tools Interviews Observations Case studies
Photo by Damini Sharma, student, APU

11. Technologies of exclusion
Systematic processes of exclusion
Communicative practices
Confusion over payment
No or delayed referral
Inefficient organization of services
How these impacted on structural locations of gender, rural, women, children and poverty
Pathways are complex – far from linear

12. Key takeaways Framing research questions
Sensitive to the study of everyday practices and mechanism of inequities
Explore deeper methodological engagement through studying multiple sites; qualitative methods help
Reflective and critical thinking ….