Category: Sigur Center 2019 Summer Fellows

I have been very lucky to have been able to travel to two other cities in Taiwan during my time here so far, spending a weekend each in Taichung and Tainan. These travel experiences were a great supplement to my Chinese language learning in the classroom in Taipei. In both of these cities the dominant languages are Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien, and English speakers are much less common than in Taipei, which has a large expat community. On both of these trips I was joined by fellow Sigur Grant recipient Josh Pope.

My experience in Taichung was quite interesting, as my local friend who was showing me around the city had to take care of his 8 year old cousin that day, so we brought her with us. Below are a few pictures of the places we went in Taichung:

On this day in Taichung, we went to the Botanical Gardens, The National Art Museum, Taichung Park, and walked around the downtown area.

In Tainan, we visited some of the oldest temples in Taiwan, went to one of the  largest night-markets, and saw the ruins of a 17th century Dutch fort.

Tainan is also known within Taiwan for having excellent food:

As the supposed birthplace of Taiwanese Oyster Omelettes and Beef Noodles, the food did not disappoint. Tainan cuisine tends to be very sweet, and this is reflected in their preferred version of soy sauce- more of a soy syrup. Additionally Tainan’s tropical climate has the perfect weather to eat shaved ice desserts, like the mango one to the right.

You may have noticed that the 3 cities, Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan, all share the name Tai- with the island of Taiwan. This is because they are located in the north, middle, and south of the island respectively, and the second half of each name denotes the location. My Taiwanese friend Vince joked about the lack of creativity in city-naming here, but I find the naming convention amusing and hope to visit the other two Tai- cities (Taitung, and Taixi, which is actually a small fishing village according to my friends here who were very confused when I brought it up).

Overall, this experience in Taiwan has greatly improved both my Chinese language abilities and my understanding of Taiwanese culture.

Field Tales: Designing, Outreach and Reflections

When I learnt that I have been granted the Sigur grant, I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I could now finally undertake fieldwork that I had been planning for, for almost a year! Nervous because I now had to transition from the comforts of secondary research desk-work to diving into primary data collection on the field.

Often, it takes a village to accomplish goals, cross milestones and finally reach our destination. Acknowledging the benefits of collaborative work, I set out on the path of reaching out to local partners and NGOs that had established relations with communities. In the process, I met many interesting people, who had similar research interests, alongside immense hands-on experience. Specifically, I got on board 2 young researchers who had received formal training in qualitative research and had previously conducted fieldwork across multiple regions in India. Together, the three of us set out on the path of implementing the envisioned qualitative survey.

The survey has 3 components and this blog focuses on the second component (SC2 hereafter). Under SC2, we seek to collect information on behavior and attitudes towards reporting of Violence Against Women (VAW) – an issue that is subject to considerable stigma, shame – and is consequently under-reported. We planned to interview men and women in the age-group 18-30 years old from districts [1] across Delhi. Given that responses on VAW could suffer from social-desirability bias, we utilized indirect methods of questioning, such as vignettes that could induce truthful revelation of opinions on VAW. In other words, the questionnaire depicted hypothetical situations on cases of VAW and sought the respondent’s opinion on what should be done next.  Below is an excerpt from our questionnaire, for clearer illustration,:

Now we will present to you description of some hypothetical situations on crimes against women. Each description is followed by four options. Please choose one option, which you think is the best choice. There is no right or wrong answer to these questions – please be honest. If you wish, you can provide brief comments to explain your choice in the space provided.

Aditi is the eldest daughter of a lower middle class family. Her father has recently retired as a clerk from a government job, her mother is a homemaker and she has two brothers who are studying. Aditi is a nurse and the only earning member of the family. One day, one of the doctors at the hospital sexually harassed her. Aditi is very disturbed and feels like quitting her job. But given the circumstances, she is in a dilemma. What do you think Aditi should do?

1. Confront the perpetrator(s)
2. Seek help at the location of the incident
3. Call a friend/family member
4. Report to police 

Please provide brief comments to explain your answer.

The first and perhaps the most challenging aspect of executing SC2 was recruitment of subjects. A part of the challenge came from the fact that VAW is a very sensitive topic and people are not particularly comfortable talking about it. Given that, we were focusing on a younger demographic, we decided on contacting coaching centers where young professionals come to take classes on aptitude exams, such as GRE and GMAT. However, most coaching centers turned down our offer to collaborate, primarily because these centers are driven by profit motivations and were unable to realize the benefits of collaborating on social and behavioral research, devoid of any financial transactions. After 2-3 weeks of reaching out to almost all coaching centers in Delhi, we realized that we would not be able to get sufficient number of centers on-board and that we needed to re-strategize.

Feeling quite dejected, we started thinking of alternative outreach strategies and there came the Eureka moment! During one of our team meetings, I came up with idea of contacting vocational centers run by the Government of India. These centers, referred to as National Skill Development Centers (NSDC), provide training to young men and women on a range of skills, including data-entry, office documents, electronics technician, beauty and wellness, etc., free of cost. These centers were seemingly more aligned with social objectives; they aimed at providing vocational training to people who have completed education and are looking at enhancing their employability but are unable to afford niche training provided by private centers. After contacting coordinators of NSDC centers, we received a much more welcoming response. This was quite a boost to our newly-found outreach strategy – a much-needed lift after the fall-out with the coaching centers.

The second step was to conduct a pilot to adequately test the survey instruments. This step was particularly exciting! We had been working on developing the instruments for several weeks and finally, it was now the time to test them in a real-world setting. What soon unfolded was a serendipitous moment. Much to our surprise, the first training coordinator we contacted (in a small village called Devli in South Delhi) was extremely supportive of our research endeavors and invited us for a meeting the next day. My team and I prepared for the meeting and were hoping for the best outcome, i.e. fix a date to schedule a formal roll-out. But as luck would have it, when we went in for the meeting, we were asked to roll-out the survey that day itself! It was truly good fortune that we got the opportunity to conduct a pilot on 80 respondents (almost 15% of the target sample size), however, on very short-notice. Nevertheless, excited to seize this opportunity, my team and I immediately started preparing. We translated the questionnaires from English to Hindi, which was the primary language for most respondents, and rushed to make copies of the translated questionnaires.[2] What followed suit was a smooth pilot rolled out to 80 young men and women from varied socioeconomic backgrounds. Although we were initially not prepared to pilot on the same day, our teamwork made it possible.

Research is a fairly iterative process. The pilot gave us several useful insights on improving the design and execution of the survey. Over the next month, we rolled out the survey in 16 centers, across all districts in Delhi, grossing a total sample size of 636, against our target of 550 (i.e. 50 each from the 11 districts).

Each roll-out was unique in its own way and we learnt something new each time. Several respondents told us that they enjoyed being a part of the research study because it was on a socially-relevant and relatable topic. One of the respondents from Vasant Kunj (Southwest Delhi) district mentioned that she liked responding to the survey as she felt that the ‘situations’ described as vignettes were very ‘real.’ Another respondent from Badarpur (Southeast Delhi) said that the comments section of the questionnaire gave her an outlet to express her latent emotions and feelings on the issue.

But there were also few people who weren’t satisfied with the research objectives and were dismissive of our endeavor. During our roll-out in Madhipur village (West Delhi), one of the respondents was irritated that we had chosen such a ‘silly’ topic to study. He said that there were more ‘important’ things to study than VAW. He also urged us to look into the effects of tobacco (‘gutkha’) as it was causing a lot of harm to the youth. Such comments were also important and rather telling of how the severity of VAW as an issue may not have resonated much with some people. This in itself is an important takeaway and reiterates the need for greater sensitization among youth on VAW.

While, the data analysis is underway, our initial reflections from the survey as well as the overwhelming support received from training coordinators and respondents reaffirms our belief in the underlying motivations of this research. With this in mind, we continue to strive towards conducting socially-relevant research that can create meaningful impact.

[1] Administrative unit, similar to US counties

[2] Big thank you to Google translate for this.

Abhilasha Sahay, PhD Economics 2020

Sigur Center 2019 Field Research, India

A Tale of Experiences and Learning

Violence against Women, a topic which has recently generated a lot of conversations in the Indian society, is the base of our research study. The Indian feminist movements have been seen to rise in waves, carved by various cases of violence against women, from the Bhanwari Devi case, Roop Kanwar’s immolation, to the most recent Nirbhaya gang-rape (brutal gang-rape on a moving bus in Delhi). Such cases have seen the uproar of masses; leading to the judicial system taking a step forward towards a less paternalistic state, like the introduction of the Vishakha Guidelines, influenced by the Bhanwari Devi rape case, and the introduction of fast track courts, post the Nirbhaya incident.

In the pursuit of our research study, we sought to understand the masses’ opinions about crimes against women, their sources of information about such crimes, along with the police force’s understanding of the changes in the system in recent times – thus tracing a trajectory of crimes against women from the heinous Nirbhaya rape case, up until now. In trying to do so, our team engaged in conversations with people from the police force and those from urban slum clusters, and surveyed the youth of Delhi. This wide sample was chosen to give us a holistic view of what crimes against women means to people in Delhi, the national capital of India.

We started out with understanding what the youth think of violence against women (VAW), especially reporting of VAW. After developing survey instruments entailing vignettes, we dipped our toes into the field with the pilot in Devli (a small village in South Delhi), after which we were ready to immerse ourselves fully. The pilot at Devli came with a lot of unexpected twists; we went in for a pleasantry meeting, and ended up conducting a pilot survey with 80 students (details provided in part 1 of this blog). However, this pilot gave us confidence to conduct the surveys in the proceeding days, and reassured us that we could overcome any challenges that the field throws at us. What followed suit was a series of rollouts across regions in Delhi.

My favorite experience came from two such rollouts; one in the Delhi Cantonment area in New Delhi district and one in Vikaspuri, in West Delhi. As I entered the Cantonment area of Shekhawat Lines, this unknown realm reminded me of ghost towns, with dilapidated buildings covered in moulds, and lawns with dried grass. An eerie silence engulfed the whole area with not a single person within eyesight. However, in the middle of the Cantonment lay an extravagant, lush, gated area called the Aahwan Centre.

Out of all the vocational centers that I had gotten the chance to visit until then, it was safe to say that the one in the Aahwan Centre was the best. The two courses taught there were beauty and wellness, and computers. The laboratories for both the courses were equipped with the best instruments, the classrooms complete with detailed charts about the coursework, and projectors for visual aid. As I explained the nature of the research study to the trainers at the centre, I was forewarned that no such crimes occur within the cantonment area, because of which respondents may not be able to relate to the questions. However, it was later found that the students seemed moved by the situations presented to them and could recall incidents that were similar to those they were reading about in the questionnaire. I was told by one of the respondents that they found the survey thought-provoking because such situations are the harsh reality of being a woman in Delhi.

The rollout at Vikaspuri was scheduled with a centre of PMKVY, which caters to people with hearing disabilities. As I reached the location of the rollout with a sign language interpreter, I was warned by the Centre head that instead of the estimated 40 minutes given to complete the survey, the students may take anywhere up to 2-3 hours to complete it, because of the situation-based questions and the low reading abilities of the students. This meant that every word of the questionnaire needed to be interpreted to the students in sign language. However, the coordinator was very impressed with the questions and was keen on administering it to her students, because they never get to talk about such things. She also expressed interest in incorporating such themes into their course syllabus to create awareness amongst her students about the issue of violence against women. This thought itself was quite motivating and rewarding for us!

After getting acquainted with the Centre head, we went on to administer the questionnaire. It was a massive task for the interpreter to individually address doubts of 40-odd respondents, who had many questions of their own about the survey. The students, however, seemed quite moved by the situations presented to them. To be able to effectively translate the questions into sign language required a lot of minute attention to detail, along with immense amounts of patience. We set out with the aim of being done with the survey in the usual one hour timeframe, but ended up spending about 3.5 hours administering the survey. This made me think of how I’d taken for granted the reading abilities of 18-30 year olds, while on the other hand, people with hearing disabilities lack proper schools or funding for schools from the government, which results in readings levels of primary school students. Nonetheless, their enthusiasm to participate in the survey gave us energy and optimism, and thus we were able to carry out the survey effectively.

The field experience that I have gained over the last month through this research study has acquainted me with nooks and crannies of Delhi that I had never been to despite residing in Delhi for more than two decades. Having grown-up in the quintessential city life of Delhi, I was embarrassingly unaware of these other ‘Delhis’ that existed in my own backyard! While each such Delhi was distinct in its own respect, what connects us all is the call/urge to mitigate VAW across spaces and communities…

Abhilasha Sahay, Phd Economics 2020

Sigur Center 2019 Field Research Fellow, India

My time in Taiwan is reaching closer and closer to an end. Time has gone by rather fast considering that my experience began in the middle of May. I am pretty confident that I have gained some sort of lasting tangible knowledge in Chinese given that there has been a class every day for 3 hours. Additionally, I have picked up on some of the cultural behaviors in this area. Lastly, I have eaten a whole lot of food that would be rare to find in DC.

In terms of learning a new language, the class has been rather consistent. With a solid block of time set aside to learn Chinese, there have been definite improvements in vocabulary and grammar. Not only is there 3 hours for class, there is also the additional time for studying and just general usage to get by in life. The efficiency/effectiveness of the pursuit of language acquisition is much greater, especially when just focusing on a single subject.

While learning Chinese through a classroom setting is beneficial, the use of it outside of class is arguably just as important. The constant reading, listening, and speaking do wonders in reinforcing what is learned in the classroom and facilitating greater learning outside of the classroom. Communicating with people about multiple subjects that are not covered in class obviously expands the source of knowledge. This also applies to the reading of signs and whatnot when getting around the area. 

Lastly, and most importantly to myself is the exploration or recollection of eating traditional Taiwanese food has been great, plus the price of items here are much more affordable than in DC. It has been interesting to eat dishes that incorporate the whole animal, which is more often done than in the US. Such dishes include the use of the insides of pigs, ex. the heart, liver, blood, etc. On the other hand, the more popular treats, such as bubble tea and potstickers, are always refreshing as well. 

All in all, the study abroad experience so far has been very positive. I have continued to hit the main goals of learning Chinese and picking up on the culture. 

Ander Tebbutt, BAccy 2022

Sigur Center 2019 Asian Language Fellow

National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan

I traveled across oceans in three planes, cars, and shuttles to reach the Nawalparasi district of Nepal. I had one sole purpose for this trip – to conduct cognitive testing of a gender norms scale that I’m developing. Gender norms are a sub-set of social norms that describe how people of a particular gender are expected to behave, in a given social context. Cognitive testing is a fancy word for making sure that the questions that we plan to ask make sense to participants. In measurement jargon, this is called “content validity.” For example, one of my questions is, “In most families you know, women’s parents pay a dowry when their daughter gets married” with answer choices ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” I need to make sure that participants understand the word “dowry” as it’s translated in Nepali and that they understand that we’re asking about “most families,” not themselves. To do so, we asked open-ended questions about how they answered the question and what the dowry practice is like in their community.

A scale is a compendium of multiple items (survey questions) that as a whole represent a latent construct; they measure beliefs or attitudes we expect to exist as a result of our theoretical understanding of the world, but cannot directly measure. Different from measuring height and weight, gender norms cannot be directly measured. Creating and validating a scale helps to ensure that we are truly capturing this concept. Oftentimes, researchers simply hire data collectors to conduct cognitive testing. However, being present in Nepal allowed me to be a part of burgeoning questions about how to improve each question for clarity. For example, participants had a hard time differentiating between two important concepts, descriptive gender norms and injunctive gender norms. Perceived descriptive norms are what people are actually doing (e.g., most parents in this community pay a dowry when their daughter gets married) and perceived injunctive norms are perceptions about what someone should do (e.g., people in this community know that they should not pay a dowry and that it’s illegal but they still do it). One of the data collectors, Minakshi, suggested that we provide an example around hand washing to differentiate between the two types of questions. She suggested we add this example to the instructions, “we all know that we should wash our hands with soap and water before we eat but not everyone actually does that. For the next set of questions, I’m going to ask about what you think families believe they should do, not what they actually do.” Adding this vastly improved comprehension – a critical difference for this scale. By working closely with two data collectors for four days, they will be able to train the rest of the team on the questions, the importance of the scale, and how to answer questions, before the next round of data collection this fall.

Of course, another benefit of crossing oceans is that I get a glimpse into the lives of the women, or similar women, who will be helping to validate this scale with their responses. Since I don’t speak Nepali, I hang back with the driver as the data collectors conduct each interview. We sit in green plastic chairs under kind people’s roofs. Everyone welcomes us in. One family placed two water bottles and a bowl of sugar in front of me. I asked the driver what the sugar was for and he said that it’s a common welcome gesture for guests. The woman offered it to me directly and as I picked up the spoon to place some sugar in my palm, I realized there were tiny ants all over it. I was already midway to ladling the ant-infested sugar into my palm and the whole house was watching me so I just hoped that the ants didn’t hang on tight. I put a little in my mouth and kept the rest of the sugar tightly clenched in my fist for the next hour until the interview finished. When I was about to get into the car, I opened my palm to let the rest of the sugar fall to the ground but it was mostly melted into my clammy hand at the point. All in the name of science! The next day, sitting under a restaurant overhang, a family put me to work rolling and stuffing momos (Nepali dumplings). My dumplings were smaller and lopsided compared to the rest but they were patient with me and happy to have the help – or at least the entertainment.

Men, women, and children spend the day cooking, cleaning, washing, and selling things but life didn’t feel as harried as it does in Washington, D.C. The slow, languid pace in the Newalparasi District made me feel guilty when I’d open up my laptop to crank out the methods section of a paper while I waited for the data collectors to return. But this is what I know – checklists, accomplishments, efficiency. The Newalparasi district where we worked is only 35 kilometers from Buddha’s birthplace. Originally, Buddha was a Brahman man named Siddhartha Gautama, who left all of his possessions, money, and family to explore. He wanted to understand the world outside of his sheltered, privileged life and in the process, found enlightenment and internal peace. Buddhist philosophy may not include cranking out methods sections and keeping a list of how many publications I’ve produced. Rolling momos and sitting with families, albeit mostly in silence, is probably more Buddhist.

As a social scientist, I am proud of methodical attention to detail and I want to contribute a sound, rigorous gender norms instrument that the field can use to reduce gender inequity. At the same time, I want to slow down and appreciate the immeasurable part of life. As always, travel and a glimpse into another way of living helps me remember that.