1.3 Methodology
The research method was the same as that used in the original project (Boswell et al, 1990:Appendix One) and is based on a participative, qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews. Written feedback was provided to the interviewees who had the opportunity to edit their own interview records, The project was carried out by two principal researchers from the former Planning Council secretariat and two local project co-ordinators from the Employment Monitoring Group of the Planning Council. In addition, two local people assisted with the interviews and administration.
The project methodology attempted to address the inevitable power imbalance between the researchers and "the researched" by using processes that are empowering for those taking part in the project. It provided an opportunity for two-way learning to take place between researchers and researched. It also demonstrated that the Planning Council considered it of value to listen to grass-toots people in two areas with high unemployment, and channel their voices back to policy and decision-makers. The methodology does not pretend to be objective or neutral. Although a wide range of views were canvassed - from district councillors to long-term unemployed people, and from government department staff to voluntary community workers - the prime concern was to portray a grassroots perspective and to contribute to the understanding of ways of reducing social and economic inequities in our society.
The tasks involved in the project were:
- to interview key informants in the two study areas to gain a brief economic overview of each area and an outline of the changes that had occurred since our first study had taken place;
- to interview as many of the original study participants as possible to follow up on their activities and document their successes, the barriers they had encountered and their plans for the future;
- to interview people involved in new initiatives since the last study;
- to ascertain the uptake of government programmes to assist employment and enterprise promotion and to interview a selection of recipients of government funding;
- to write up the interviews, send them to the participants seeking approval to publish the material and revisit the study areas to allow the opportunity for updating and amending the interview notes;
- to analyse and summarise the interview material, drawing out themes and issues for community development and implications for policy.
In the 1989 At the Grassroots study 57 interviews had been conducted following seven pilot interviews. The responses to unemployment were categorised under the headings of job creation, training programmes, iwi development and social support. In the 1991 Grassroots II study 73 interviews were conducted and they focused particularly on job creation, enterprise promotion and Maori development. The majority of the 31 individuals and groups involved in grassroots employment, enterprise or iwi development initiatives in the first study were re-interviewed in the follow-up study. A few, whose small businesses had folded, did not wish to be interviewed and several had moved out of the study areas. In addition to the follow-up interviews, 24 interviews were conducted with people involved in new initiatives and 11 with people who had received government funding to promote small enterprises. For this report, ventures were grouped according to whether they were:
- in the services sector
- in the manufacturing sector
- Maori economic and social development initiatives
- Maori. health initiatives
- Maori education initiatives
- unemployed people aiming to become self-employed
- organised barter systems.
There was, of course, overlap among these groupings. These various aspects of the project are discussed separately in the chapters which follow, and summaries of some of the interviews are interspersed as case studies.
1.4 Methodology rationale
Qualitative methodologies are a standard and accepted way of conducting research into practical issues. They can be used to complement quantitative findings, give an insight into processes and procedures and provide information on people's behaviour, perspectives and values. The information gained can be used by several audiences, including:-
- those in a similar position to the study participants, enabling them to learn from the activities, successes arid problems described; and
- policy makers initiating or revising policies and programmes to more effectively meet the needs of those for whom they are designed.
In the Grassroots studies qualitative techniques have been used to:
- complement the statistics on unemployment arid small businesses by documenting the circumstances of the people behind the statistics;
- gain an in sight into the processes by which disadvantaged groups and individuals are attempting to move away from dependence upon the State, eg, through self-employment, community initiatives, iwi development and very small businesses.
Grassroots II- Community Development Initiatives has repeated the research methodology used successfully in the first Grassroots project (At the Grassroots: Community responses to Unemployment, New Zealand Planning Council, 1990). This particular framework has been appropriate for:
- obtaining grassroots and alternative perspectives which are often quite different from those of policy makers
- building trust between the researchers and the study communities to ensure a two-way exchange of information between the researchers and those being "researched
- formulating a consultative methodology which attempts to reflect the Treaty of Waitangi partner-ship in a practical way
- obtaining a strong Maori and iwi input into the project to assist Maori economic and community development
- obtaining a strong women's input to assist and recognise women's contribution to economic and community development
- describing some of the "good news" about positive initiatives by individuals and groups to counter negative media publicity
- documenting the barriers, threats and successes experienced by the study participants (from their perspectives) to provide feedback to the study communities and information for local and national policy makers
- ensuring that the project has been independent of departmental policies and programmes
- acknowledging the power imbalance between policy makers and those in a relatively powerless position in society who often bear the brunt of inappropriate policies.
Grassroots II provides an additional dimension in that it is a follow-up study
conducted almost two years after the original study. There has also been more recent
follow-up (March/April 1993) which has been presented as footnotes to the case studies.
3 Grassroots responses are activities by individuals or groups that grow from within a community when that community seeks to meet its own needs Grassroots activities differ from externally-imposed services in that they work from the bottom up rather than the top down. People who operate at the grassroots level either do so because they are disillusioned with conventional mainstream services and choose to work in an alternative way: or they do nor have good access to conventional or mainstream services and are therefore disadvantaged The first group makes a choice to do things differently. The second group does not have the luxury of choice.
4 The concept of community development encompasses social and cultural development as well as economic development. Its emphasis is on collective well-being and self reliance rather than individual gain. To be effective, community development requires input from the most successful in society and the empowering of the most disadvantaged so that benefits are reflected throughout the particular community. Ernesto Sirolli, known for his work in assisting with re-vitalising the town of Esperance in Western Australia, has described development as- the opportunity for all citizens to reach their potential.
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