postgraduates
Catherine Dom
cd214@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: Achieving Poverty Reduction?
A study of the relationship with state building in Ethiopia's governance
framework.
From conceptual
framework to designing empirical research
Supervisors: Allister McGregor, Pip
Bevan, David Pain
Liz Graveling
e.graveling@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: The Social Impact of the
Growth of Christianity in Africa The aim of
this research is to examine the social effects of the growth of
Christianity in Africa, which has occurred on an immense scale over
the course of the past century, from 10 million Christians (9.2%
of the population) in 1900 to an estimated 411 million (almost 50%
of the population) in 2005. In order to do this the research will
focus on a case study community, using mainly qualitative methods
to explore questions such as how the growth of Christianity has
resulted in the formation of new allegiances or identities, how
it has challenged or changed values and attitudes (particularly
in relation to poverty and wealth), and how it therefore affects
social behaviour, the way decisions are made, social networks, access
to and use of resources. The PhD is ESRC-funded and was started
in October 2004 after completion of an MRes in International Development.
The fieldwork is expected to take place from early 2005.
Supervisors: Sarah White and Joe Devine
Monica
Guillen Royo ssmmgr@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: Consumption and well-being:
evaluating consumption patterns and human need satisfaction.
General Research Question: how current patterns of
consumption affect the satisfaction of human needs in middle-income
countries (Peru and Thailand).
In the thesis I would like to test a hypothesis that
arise from the review of literature on consumption from economics,
sociology, cultural studies and psychology and draws from the theory
of Max-Neef (1991) on types of satisfiers and the theory of human
needs of Doyal-Gough on basic and intermediate needs. My starting
point is that Consumption is generally related to trade-offs in
terms of products and services that are not acquired and in terms
of time allocation (opportunity costs) and that those trade-offs
have often detrimental effects on objective indicators of well-being.
The hypothesis is as follows:
Hypothesis: Regardless to the level of needs satisfaction
achieved in a society, the implicit trade-offs associated to the
acquisition of certain goods are potentially hampering the satisfaction
of basic needs.
Research Methods:
- Correlational analysis of data from the WeD Resources and Needs
Questionnaire
– Questionnaire and data collection in Peru
and Thailand trying to identify consumer goods and trade offs associated
to them that have a detrimental effect on human needs.
– Case study through qualitative methods to
enquire about consumer goods, the trade-offs and their impact on
basic needs, and the reason for this to happen.
Supervisors: Ian Gough, Theo Papadopoulos
Becky Lockley r.c.lockley@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: Migration and Wellbeing
in Peru: an exploration into the dynamics of social relationships
Supervisors: J.Devine and J.Copestake
Sorcha
Mahony ssmsmm@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal:Considering children and
young people: participation,
relationship and wellbeing in Thailand
This research aims to gain an understanding of
children’s wellbeing in
Thailand, with reference to two interconnected areas; participation
and relationships. Participation in activities, decisions and family
and
community life is crucial to the satisfaction of human need. Similarly,
relationships are fundamental to wellbeing, to the construction
of identity and in determining our sense of security, access to
resources, coping strategies in times of crisis and our ability
to participate in social life.
Preliminary research questions:
· Which activities and decisions do children participate
in at home and at school and how are these negotiated, shaped, enabled
and constrained?
· What do different relationships provide for children and
what do children
provide in their relationships with others?
· How are children’s identities, access to resources
and coping strategies mediated through various relationships?
· What are the effects of processes of migration and rapid
change on children’s participation and relationships?
The research will be ethnographic, will focus on two
communities in North East Thailand, and will take in a range of
differences according to age, gender, family structure and economic
status. It will locate questions within the context of migratory
processes and rapid change - both key issues affecting life in contemporary
Thailand.
Supervisors: Sarah White, Ian Gough, Tess Ridge
Faith
Martin psmfm@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: Importance, Quality of
Life and Poverty: Validating the "Person Generated Index"
Summary: Quality of Life (QoL) has been much studied but comparatively
little attention has been paid to what people think is important
to their quality of life. Many QoL measures assume that all areas
of life are universally and equally important. I am interested in
what individuals actually perceive to be of importance to their
quality of life and how they make these decisions. The "Person
Generated Index" is a QoL measure that specifically asks people
about importance and the individual rates their quality of life
based on what they believe to be important. Part of my PhD will
be to validate this measure within Thailand. I also intend to investigate
what information people use and what psychological processes are
at play whilst individuals decide what is important.
Supervisors: Karen Rodham and Laura Camfield,
Dept of Psychology
Fara
Mee-Udon f.mee-udon@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: The Universal Health
Care Scheme: Does It Promote The Well-Being Of Women And Men In
Rural Thailand?
Background: This research will study
the impact of a new form of health care
scheme (known in Thai as 30-baht health care scheme), which has
been implemented across Thailand for three years. This scheme has
important wider significance not only for poor people in Thailand
but also in other developing countries because Thailand is one of
the first middle or low-income countries to introduce this health
care coverage the population. The success or failure of the system
will be a possible model or lesson learned for other countries.
Objective: The specific objectives of this research
are to understand local conceptions of wellbeing through studying
the effect of this health care policy on women and men and gender
relations in rural Thailand.
Methodology and scope: The research will use mainly
qualitative research methods, particularly participant observation.
It will be conducted in two villages (remote and non remote) in
northeast Thailand. There are two fieldwork periods and they will
be 6 months each. The first fieldwork period will start in October
’04 and the second one will take place in summer ’05.
Becky
Schaaf r.schaaf@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: An Investigation
Into The Structures And Dynamics Of Savings Groups In Thailand
Research Aim: A dynamic, non-linear, systems approach
to the study of collective action, focusing on the role of interconnections
and interdependencies within and beyond communities, achieved through
an investigation into village savings group initiatives in three
communities in Thailand. The purpose of the research is to attempt
to identify, through a focus on relationships between and within
communities, factors affecting the variations in success rates of
community savings schemes. The research will also attempt to identify
chains of causation leading to these either virtuous or vicious
spirals.
In an attempt to achieve a multi-disciplinary perspective,
this research intends to draw on and connect with many literatures
from different disciplines. These include Complexity Theory, Collective
Action, Microfinance, research specific to Thailand, Actor Network
Theory, Game Theory, and literature and theories underlying the
WeD research.
The research will be undertaken through analysis of
the RANQ data, secondary data collection on the national and regional
context, and individual interviews and surveys in each village.
The aim is to undertake the fieldwork in the three rural WeD sites
in NE Thailand. The intention is to conduct the fieldwork in two
phases – one month in each village to carry out the questionnaire
surveys from mid January to mid April 2005, and one month in each
village to conduct the interviews from June to August 2005.
Supervisors: J.A.McGregor, I.Gough
Bethlehem Tekola bethy82002@yahoo.com
Research Proposal:Bonding in Adversity?
A Psycho-Social Approach to Crisis and Child Poverty in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
I. Background A preliminary survey of
the literature on Children in Poverty reveals that there are problems
in three important areas. One of the areas is with regard to the
conception of children as a single unit of analysis. Studies of
child poverty tend to homogenize children who live in poverty. They
overlook the significant differences that appear to exist not only
between male and female children but also among infants, knee children,
3-6 children, 7-adolescents, adolescents and young adults. These
oversights have hindered our full understanding of not only how
different groups of children perceive their situation of poverty
but also how differently they strive to cope with that situation.
The second area where a problem exists is with regard to conceptions
of poverty itself and its relationship with family, society and
values. Just as it homogenizes the children, the literature tends
to homogenize situations of poverty in which children find themselves
and links those situations with phenomena like dissolution of family
bonds or social values. The homogenization of poverty has often
meant that predicaments [difficult situation/condition, dilemma]
faced by children in crisis situations (which might include the
dissolution of families) are not sufficiently delineated from those
faced by children living in impoverished families. Even more importantly,
however, the tendency to link poverty to the weakening of the social
fabric or social values has hindered our understanding of the complex
ways in which the two phenomena relate to each other.
The third area where problem exists is with regard to research methodology
regarding child poverty. Social Science literature on children has
conventionally taken children as objects rather than subjects of
research. The tendency is to approach the problem of child poverty
quantitatively in ways that rarely involve the children themselves
rather than qualitatively, in ways that involve them.
Objectives My proposed study on the problem
of child poverty will seek to address these three problem areas
through a case study of a cross-section of children in a crisis
situation, (most probably those orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic)
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I plan to explore the interrelationships
between coping abilities and strategies on the one hand and the
attitudes and views of the children about their background and their
current situation, on the other. Specifically, I want to find out
if there is a correlation between attitudes of children in specific
age and/or gender categories and the way they face their situation
or help their siblings face their situations. Simultaneously with
this I want to explore the social origins of the attitudes which
thus might affect their capacities to withstand or at least fight
a social crisis in the context of poverty.
Methods of Investigation As an attitude
and value-focused research, my investigation will bring children themselves
to centre-stage. It will be conducted on at least one hundred children
of varying ages and sexes in Addis Ababa identified purposively from
among children who have recently been or still are in crisis situations
(e.g. those orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic). The method of data
collection will be mostly qualitative since its focus is on attitude
formation and on the relationship between attitude and coping with
adversity. Family histories and Individual Life Stories will make
up the bulk of the material. However, responses will also be solicited
on group situations and perceptions through unstructured focus group
discussions. A questionnaire will be developed on the basis of the
qualitative data and will be administered to the full sample of children
to gauge representative-ness of the data.
Supervisor: Chris Griffin of the Department of Psychology , University
of Bath
Susan Upton
ecmseu@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: Rethinking Migration:
An Exploration into Contemporary Isan Livelihoods
Proposal
Poster
Aims, methodology, information and location:
The aim of my research is to inform academic debates within migration,
urbanisation and livelihoods. Urbanisation has been increasing at
a rapid rate in Asia, and all over the developing world leading
to rapid change spatially, socially, environmentally and economically.
The perceived benefits of this phenomenon have attracted many migrants
into urban centres causing the expansion of capitals into ‘mega
cities’ such as Bangkok. This has contributed to extensive
‘uneven development’ within Thailand.
I will investigate the strategies and constraints
that Thai migrants face in achieving what they perceive to be a
better quality of life. This will involve an investigation of the
main actors within the migration process, the power, roles and outcomes
these actors contribute. I will also be focusing on how migrant
identities change due to their urban experiences and how this affects
their livelihoods. Current migration and livelihoods literature
do not take into account the dynamic and circular nature of migrant’s
lives and their strong obligations, reciprocity and identity with
their areas of origin. The research will be based in the Northeast
of Thailand, the poorest region of the country experiencing high
migration rates to Bangkok. The fieldwork will involve extensive
primary research (interviews, survey, life histories, observation)
and secondary data collection from a range of Institutes.
Supervisors: Geof Wood, Allister McGregor, Joe Devine
Virginia
Williamson ecmvjw@bath.ac.uk
Research Proposal: Perception and practice: participation,
evaluation and aid harmonisation in Ethiopia
My research is on the cultural and institutional
factors which affect (constrain or enable) participation in the
monitoring and evaluation of aid effectiveness. This involves a
vertical ethnography and comparative study of donors’ aid
strategies/interventions in one country, Ethiopia. There are four
specific perspectives: (i) participation as ‘contested space’,
(ii) the utility of participation, (iii) the role of evaluation
in performance management, and (iv) its role in organisational learning.
The research is being undertaken with a range of stakeholders, including
donors, different levels of government, civil society organisations
and communities. The methods are entirely qualitative, primarily
semi-structured interviews and participant observation. I work closely
with the WeD Ethiopia team, and have affiliate researcher status
in the Department of Social Anthropology at Addis Ababa University.
Supervisors: James Copestake, Pip Bevan,
Allister McGregor
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