The present research explores the potential methodological challenges in conducting qualitative fieldwork using schoolgirls in Nepal as participants. It particularly focuses on the logistic, academic, and social challenges that impact on the scholarly inquiry into aspects of schooling and the wider society in rural Nepal. The participants in this study were schoolgirls, and school drop-outs girls (12 - 16 years old), from Dalit community in Nepal. Schoolchildren, both in school and school drop-outs particularly girls, are an invaluable source of information on society and schooling. Although school-aged girls have the right to express their views, perceptions, opinions, and competencies, as much as adults do. However, their participation in research activities has been very rare in Nepal. This research applies various methodological tools to carry out this qualitative study in the school setting in Nepal and highlights the challenges associated with these methodologies, particularly the challenges related to confidentiality and interactions when using children as research participants.
Research is a continuous process that consumes both time and energy. England (1994) claimed, “Research is a process, not just a product” (p. 82) [
Over the last few years, scientific research incorporating children as participants has grown tremendously. Scott (2000) [
Research involving schoolchildren has been increasing in Nepal as well. This study also attempts to examine the relationship between the researcher and the research participants, in the context of the gender and community practices; in this instance, the collaboration between of a young male researcher and schoolgirls as participants, both representing the same community group in Nepal. The schoolgirls, partaking in this study belong to the Dalit community in Nepal. The term Dalit in Nepal commonly refers to a caste of socially excluded and disadvantaged group of people, who are discriminated against due to their caste identity, and faces practices of “untouchability” within the society.
Nepalese society is still very much a patriarchal one, guided by strict norms and societal values on caste and gender systems. As a result, girls are faced with multiple forms of, discrimination, humiliation, oppression, exclusion, exploitation, and unequal treatment, in every social sphere. This is particularly pronounced for Dalit girls (Jagaran Media Centre, 2012) [
A vast and growing body of literature discusses the merits and challenges of conducting fieldwork in sociology research involving subjects who are of the same gender, race, or ethnicity as the researcher. Researcher and participant demographics present sensitive and serious issues (Zavella, 1993: p. 138) [
As a Nepali researcher based in a university abroad, but conducting fieldwork in two districts of Nepal, the Hill, and Terai regions, I had mixed experiences. Being a member of the marginalised Dalit community, I have an established network of key personnel among Dalit activists and scholars in Nepal. Therefore, it was convenient for me to find a local research assistant who could help me both logistically and academically in the field. Furthermore, people, in general, were receptive to providing any assistance required by me during fieldwork. Also, I had familiarity due to previous work experience in the Terai and Hill regions and possessed a good working knowledge of the local languages. These factors contributed immensely in gaining easy access to the field sites in both areas. However, accessing field sites was only the beginning of the research process.
I also faced some negative experiences while conducting fieldwork. On several occasions, people suspected me of representing the interests of a Non-Govern- mental Organization or an International Non-Governmental Organization. I had to spend considerable time and energy to clarify and convince and them otherwise. In addition, I had limited social connections with the village and villagers (schoolgirls, teachers, and parents) in both research sites due to my own background. I was born and raised in Pokhara city where I was schooled, and subsequently attended college also in Pokhara and Kathmandu. After a few years of working in Nepal, I migrated abroad for further education. All these factors contributed to my inability to connect fully within a social setting of the village and the villagers at the research sites. This gap, at times, made it challenging to reintegrate into village life and with the day to day social activities particularly within the relatively short timeframe of the research. Integrating with the younger generation, i.e. the schoolchildren at both research sites seemed especially challenging.
This academic paper is divided into five sections. The section one- briefly provides the background to my research; introduces research aims and explains the objectives and motivation of research. Furthermore, it also clarifies the significances of the study. Section two explores the social and cultural issues related to schooling and caste and gender inequality in Nepal. It attempts to show rigidity of social and cultural fabric through a different lens. Section-three mainly highlights the methodological tools―participants’ observation, interviews, and focus group discussions that I used while in the fieldwork. Furthermore, I also highlighted some reflections on my position in the entire fieldwork. The section four is about the discussion which discusses the potential challenges that occurred while conducting fieldwork. Lastly, section five provides the conclusion of the study which shed light on this current research with schoolchildren from Dalit community in Nepal.
Nepal, one of the least developed countries in the world, is a mountainous landlocked country sandwiched between two of the most populous nations in the world, India, and China. Nepal is a culturally, socially, religiously, linguistically diverse country with a population of 28.2 million and comprising an area of 147,181 square kilometres. The culture of Nepal presents the fusion of Tibeto- Mongolian and Indo-Aryan influences because of a brief history of trade, conquest, and migration. The population of Nepal comprises of cultural racial and linguistic groups and is often divided into three broad groups. These include Tibeto-Nepalese, Indo-Nepalese, and indigenous Nepalese.
Historically, education in Nepal was based primarily on home-schooling, particularly for elite families and their relatives. Post-1951, with democracy being established in the country, schooling was made available to the public. However, Dalits continued to be restricted in accessing education. Currently, Education in Nepal continues to develop regarding integrating modern information technology and inclusive policies within the classroom.
Nepal is a multicultural and multi-ethnic country profoundly affected by social hierarchy and patriarchy systems. Such practices impact upon the existing education system as well, where discrimination, marginalisation, and social inequality based on social class, status, caste, gender, ethnicity, and religion represent critical aspects. During my visits to both research sites, I found that most Dalit girls are ignored and silenced by the society. Current research shows some progress in education in Nepal. For example, the literacy rate in Nepal increased substantially from 51.4 percent in 2001 to 65.9 percent in 2011. However, education for a marginalised community group, Dalit, continues to be at the lower end [
According to United Nations (UN, 2007), girls’ enrollment in primary schools in Nepal reached 87.4 percent, but enrollment is much lower at the lower secondary and secondary levels, 49.6 percent and 32.8 percent, respectively. In contrast, boys’ enrollment stood at 90.7 percent at the primary level, 56.1 percent at the lower secondary level, and 37.7 percent at the secondary level (UN, 2007). As these figures indicate, although the girls’ enrollment rate at the primary level is high, their dropout rate is higher among girls, due to various factors.
In recent years, school education has become a growing concern and a key challenge for the educational policymakers and researchers worldwide. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been leading a global movement to provide quality education for every child, youth, and adult. Most countries adopt free and compulsory basic education to achieve their development goals.
The system of formal education, particularly school education, in Nepal is complex and consists of different types of schools: private schools, public schools, community schools, and religious schools. The process explored in this article is based on public schools which represent the majority of schoolchildren in Nepal. Students attending public schools in Nepal have comparatively fewer resources and fewer opportunities than children in other schools including teachers who are not suitably qualified. Children attending public schools come from different social and cultural backgrounds. Most schoolchildren, particularly those from poor economic backgrounds, minorities, Dalits, are compelled to attend public schools, where fewer facilities, qualified teachers, and educational resources are available.
Previous research has reported social discrimination based on caste and gender within the schools and the wider society (Bishwakarma, 2010; Stash et al., 2001) [
Gender discrimination has been the problematic issue for enhancing the equality and acquiring the human rights particularly for children in Nepal. Historically, a patriarchal system of the social relations is preferred in Nepal. This preference tends to negatively impact the education right of the girls in Nepal as well as health opportunities. There is also less investment in the education of the girls in Nepal. There are three critical factors responsible for that. Firstly, the girls are believed to leave their biological house after getting married, and this makes the parents and the society think that they do not deserve to get an education. Secondly, non-farm work is believed to be not appropriate for the women. Thirdly, the females are more required for the farm work.
The socio-cultural practices and the attitude of parents do not favour the girls in getting the education in the Nepalese society. The girls inside the household usually get an unequal distribution of care and facilities regarding health services, nutrition which leads to higher mortality and malnutrition. Again, the discriminatory practices are the reason behind this inequality. This inequality is deeply rooted in the Nepalese society. This unequal treatment leads to the subordinate position of the women in the Nepalese society. The discrimination like the early marriage, viewing the girl as the property of others and the son preference limits the enrolment of girls in the educational institutes, and their attendance is also impacted in case they get the chance of getting an education. This additionally undermines the significance of the education of girls in Nepal.
There are some psychological barriers to the education of girls in Nepal as well. Schools are not always girl friendly specifically in Nepal. They have failed to protect the safety and privacy of the girls. Many schools in Nepal even don’t provide separate toilets for the girls. The girls do not attend school in Nepal because of this reason. Another issue is the absence of the female teachers in the schools of Nepal. The parents never feel safe sending their girls to the school where there is no female teacher and consist of just male teachers. They also believe that sending their girls to such school may result in the sexual abuse of the boys as well as teachers. Educating the young girls does include a high risk in a male-only school atmosphere.
Nepalese society and culture follow and dictates traditional social norms and values, especially regarding male-female relationships. The Dalit community, although a part of Nepalese society, is not considered to be “pure” from the cultural perspective. Therefore, the combination of being a member of Dalit community, a young male researcher, and an outsider, presented a significant set of challenges for me in speaking with schoolgirls freely and comfortably for the purpose of data collection, even after receiving written permission from the parents, teachers, and the children themselves.
Allowing a male researcher to conduct qualitative interviews with schoolgirls in the school setting and interpret accounts of the participants’ lives, is a contentious concept within feminist literature. However, some feminist researchers also openly welcome male researchers who can contribute to research with and about women (Wilkinson & Kitzinger, 1996) [
Qualitative research methods have been widely used, and scientifically accepted, in childhood research. Qualitative research stresses the socially constructed nature of reality and the situational constraints that shape the inquiry, creating an intimate relationship between the researcher and the participants (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000: p. 8) [
Qualitative methods of research should promote children’s rights as participants in research. Furthermore, researchers must acknowledge children as equal partners, and eliminate the power imbalances that typically exist between children and adults (Kanyal, 2014) [
I conducted three months of ethnographic fieldwork in the autumn and winter of 2014-2015 in the Baglung and Saptari districts, representing the Hill and Terai regions of Nepal, respectively as shown in
Studying schoolchildren, particularly from a rural area of Nepal, is both logistically and geographically challenging. Additionally, the health and safety issues, language barriers, social and cultural differences also impact in conducting fieldwork. Furthermore, given that Nepal is a country with diverse geography, poor infrastructure with limited road accessibility made it difficult to reach villages, especially in hilly areas due to the lack of drivable roads. It took me around 4 hours to travel from the district headquarters to the field site in Baglung, a hilly district in Nepal. The challenge of the trip itself highlights the difficulties faced by communities living in the hills. Their situation is further exacerbated during winter, when the temperature falls below 5˚C, a major problem in the context of rural Nepal.
I was also faced with difficulties in maintaining regular communications due to lack of sufficient electricity load and Internet access. My communications were primarily dependent on frequent phone calls and e-mail exchanges that I made with local social workers whom I acquainted through “the snowball technique”. The pre-arrangement of fieldwork with local social workers in light of no prior financial contributions was also difficult, although some local social workers kindly volunteered for this task, their efforts for the sake of Dalit children. Obtaining parental permission to talk with schoolchildren was equally difficult. I visited the villages during the crop-harvesting season, and most parents were busy in the field. Talking with parents was, therefore, a lengthy process. Most of the children were also busy, either caring for their younger siblings at home or helping their parents in the field.
The schoolgirls selected for the study had to devote a certain amount of their time for the interviews and at times became bored and tired. Most of them were shy and nervous during our first meeting, even though I was already familiar with them following my observation period (of a few days). However, consequently, after a few days of visiting the schools, making daily class observations, participating in school activities, and talking with teachers and other school staff, the selected girls were more approachable and ready to talk freely and openly. I conducted the formal interviews with the participants at the end of the designated timeframe for each field site.
A substantial amount of literature highlights the impact of a researcher’s position on their research; their background, beliefs, academic credentials, and values can influence the results of a study. Recent research has raised these topical issues in the context of Nepal as well.
Within the culturally rigid society in Nepal, my role as a male researcher coming from the same community as my participants, addressing issues of gender and caste inequality, and schooling was a highly challenging one. Therefore, I enlisted the help of a local female research assistant throughout my fieldwork. Being transparent about a researcher’s position during fieldwork with schoolchildren is considerably a new practice in Nepal. Local researchers coming from foreign universities are taken more seriously in Nepal, particularly in rural communities. I realised that sharing my personal experiences on caste-based discrimination, the patriarchal social system, and the practices of “untouchability”, encouraged the participants to share their experiences freely during the interviews and focus group discussions conducted.
Nepal is considered a developing country and many Nepalese children are unable to complete their primary education. A large number of children drop out of school, mostly at the primary and secondary levels. Conducting research on education in Nepal, especially those that focus on schoolgirls, can be difficult due to the existing social and cultural norms, practices, and beliefs. Also, children of a low-caste also face numerous difficulties. For instance, they are not allowed to enter the house of a person of a high-caste, public temples, or public programs. In this context, Dalit girls face even further oppression than boys. As a consequence, Nepalese cultural norms and values discourage girls from participating in public programs, including research studies. Therefore, girls require additional efforts of reassurance regarding establishing trust, encouragement, and friendship in order to encourage participation in research such as the present study. However, although Nepalese are culturally reticent in nature, most of them are comfortable in expressing their views freely once a trustworthy relationship is established. As such, I paid close attention to ensure that the girls can express their views openly during the process of research.
Often, schoolchildren in Nepal expect gifts or tokens from outsiders that visit their community, particularly from those visiting from abroad, and local officials from NGOs and INGOs. In keeping with this practice, and as a token of compensation for their time and effort, I distributed some items of stationery (e.g. pencils and paper), to all the girls who participated directly in the interviews and other sessions. The girls who were not directly involved in my research also expected small tokens or trinkets as gifts and raised their voices in the request. This is a common phenomenon in the rural villages of Nepal (Mahat, 2011) [
The general expectation of rewards of the community was also a significant challenge in conducting fieldwork. Respondents and their parents were more interested in how I would help them than answering my questions. It was demanding to convince them that I was a doctoral student, originally from western Nepal, and the purpose of my visit was to complete fieldwork for a research study. On some instances, I had to support my statements with documented evidence obtained from my current university.
Participant observation is one of the key methodological approaches in qualitative research. In this approach, researchers aim to visit the participants as much as possible allowing them to observe and participate in the participants’ social activities so that first-hand data related to the participants could be collected within their natural setting (Hume, 2004: p. xi-xxviii) [
Participant observation is particularly suited to conducting research with schoolchildren. Observation plays a crucial part in understanding a child’s abilities and development. They are the systematic and meticulous study of occurrences with the purpose to perceive the nature and extent of interrelated elements within complex social phenomena (Sharma, 2008) [
Many features of children’s interactions and cultures are produced and shared in the present and cannot be easily obtained through interviews and surveys (Corsaro & Fingerson, 2006) [
Observing children in their everyday environments enables a researcher to evaluate events with real emotional significance for children, providing a link between emotion and cognition that would otherwise be unavailable (Dunn, 2005: p. 87) [
At the beginning of my fieldwork, I conducted multiple visits to the school for casual observation both in the classroom and around the school, to minimise both power relation and social distance between the schoolchildren and the researcher. The unequal power relation between schoolchildren and adult researcher may pressurise school children to answer the question immediately and correctly during conversation (Punch, 2002) [
One of the primary objectives of carrying out multiple visits to the schools is to observe the actual environment of the setting: of the students, teachers and the whole school in general. This is particularly important in the context of Nepal, where school administrations routinely pressurise their students and teachers to demonstrate their best performance both in education as well as other criteria to impress the outsiders (visitors) that wish to evaluate the overall progress of the school. In such instances, the students and staff are usually pre-informed. However, such practices were prevented due to my frequent visits, and I could observe the natural and real situations of the school setting [
I used classroom and teaching practices as the main sources for observation. I collected data both by observing the class when in session, and their interactions within the classroom. These reflect the norm of the classroom. However, although, the observation was of a natural setting in the classroom, observing unobtrusively was a difficult task for me. It is usual that outsiders - such as myself, particularly from the city or abroad, attract more attention while performing any task which could in turn automatically hamper the classroom and daily class activities.
Taking field notes is one method of data collection applied during the current study. Field notes are meant to capture the social, cultural, and natural phenomena being studied. However, taking field notes in a school setting is slightly different from other situations. Although there is no official consensus on what field notes must include, the time and place of events should always be recorded. During the fieldwork for this research, I carried a notebook with me at all times so that I could readily keep records of new ideas and information that emerged during the research process.
Interviews are an important segment of data collection, in qualitative research. However, interviewing schoolchildren for scientific studies can be different and challenging compared to interviewing adults (Punch, 2002: p. 322; Yin, 2015: p. 63) [
In a school setting with child respondents as interviewees, a semi-structured interview is more efficient than an unstructured one. Children are prone to distraction, but their wandering thoughts often raise interesting and unexpected points.
Much practical preparation is required before conducting an interview with schoolchildren. The environment is an important part of the interview. Interviews should take place in a quiet and free place with no disturbances or interruptions. However, the location should always be visible (Gill et al., 2008) [
During one such interview, I observed that a girl was very nervous with her face being red. However, she was keen to participate in the interview and had completed all of the consent forms. When we were about to start the interview, she asked:
“Sir, why are you taking our interviews? Does it make any differences in our life? If not, I will not participate in this program” (16-year-old girl from Terai School)
I tried to convince her by explaining the purpose of my PhD study and the data collection procedure conducted in her school, but to no avail, as she withdrew from the process. I respected her decision and replaced her with another girl. Finding a replacement was quite challenging, particularly in the group of drop-outs as most of the schoolgirls who have dropped out from school have entered early marriages and have settled in their husbands’ houses.
A Focus group discussion (FGD) is a methodological approach in qualitative research used to cover different points of view on issues at the same time. FGD is a unique method in which a group of people is informally interviewed, and questions on specific subjects are discusses to explore their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes. Given the suitability of FGDs for this research, I conducted two FGDs with eight parents, including four fathers and four mothers, at both research sites. As it was the season for harvesting in Nepal, it is hard to arrange a time and a place for such informal interviews since most parents were working on the harvest. Therefore, I ultimately recruited parents using purposive sampling via ‘snowball techniques’ after multiple attempts.
Parents are potentially valuable sources of information regarding their children’s schooling and its relationship with the social taboos of caste and gender inequality. Therefore, I conducted FGDs with parents to explore the relationship between schooling and social inequality of caste and gender from a different dimension. There is a big impact of parent involvement in education. The conversation between all the participants in FGD was considered the best part of the research process. Therefore, it is important to have an understanding of group dynamics, gender dynamics, and developmental stages within the groups (Darbyshire et al., 2005: p. 421) [
I warmed up the discussion with the parents by taking about very general issues, for example:
“Namaste sabaijanalai, Sanchai hunuhunchha? Aja ko yo vetghatkasto- lagekochha? Tapai ko ketaketiharulekastopadekachhan? (Good morning! Are you all fine? What do you think about today’s meeting? How about your children’s education?)”
This warm up discussion broke the ice to continue on to specific issues that I raised during the discussion. In semi-structured interviews, the direction of focus comes from the participants. The facilitators are non-directive because “the truth is not considered “out there” to be discovered but a phenomenon that emerges through dialogue or collective conversation” (Kamberelis & Dimitriadis, 2014: p. XX) [
This article highlights some potential challenges carrying out ethnographic fieldwork in a Nepalese school. These include aspects of logistics, academic, social and cultural norms and values. Conducting research with schoolchildren is, in itself, a challenging task, particularly in Nepal, where social and cultural issues are given a higher priority in the society over other aspects. The inclusion of schoolchildren from the socially excluded community group, Dalit, as research participants for this study, rendered it to be even more challenging due to the existing caste and gender-based discrimination within the Nepalese society. However, children can demonstrate their innate abilities when a researcher adopts child-centered strategies, which take the cognitive, communicative, and social needs of children into account (Birbeck & Drummond, 2007) [
Power presents another challenge in research with child respondents. Hemming (2000) [
As discussed earlier, perception and memory are subjective responses, particularly in children (Spencer & Flin, 1993) [
The analysis, finally, demonstrates the different methods used by a male researcher who was from the same community group as the researched school children, and the numerous barriers encountered in conducting the research, both socially and culturally, particularly in Nepalese context.
In this article, I have focused on the logistic, academic, and social challenges that impacted in my scholarly inquiry into school and society in rural Nepal. In the past, social researchers have used several qualitative methods of collecting data with the aim of understanding children in their social contexts. The methods highlighted in this paper include participant observation, field notes, individual interviews, and focus group discussions. These methods presented various challenges for the researcher that broadly highlights two main aspects. Firstly, being a male researcher from the same community as the younger female participants of my research, addressing issues of gender and caste inequality and schooling was challenging in the culturally rigid society of Nepal. Secondly, both research sites were located a long distance from the district headquarters which presented problems of accessibility in addition to various associated logistic, mechanical, and technical difficulties.
Research which focuses on schoolchildren requires more creativity and flexibility from both researchers and participants. Also, other contributory factors such as the social contexts, the culture, religions, language and the regions also play significant roles in the research process, particularly when conducting research with schoolchildren. In Nepal, children are traditionally excluded from participating in social activities due to different social values and cultural norms.
Birbeck and Drummond (2007) [
Finally, the analysis demonstrates that researching schoolchildren from the socially excluded community group, Dalit, in Nepal, is challenging both logistically, culturally, and socially. This is because the Dalit community predominantly lives in the periphery of the countryside and is excluded from the social mainstream, resulting in their voices being hardly heard on any occasion.
Bishwakarma, G. (2017) Nepalese Schoolchildren as Research Participants: Challenges in Qualitative Re- search. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5, 52-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2017.51005