Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Methods for Understanding Poverty

1
Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
for Understanding Poverty

• Principles and Country Case Study

2
Initial ignorance what did we know about poverty
without data?

• Impressions press reports sectoral data
• Macroeconomic data
• Very often - some surveys do exists
• often produce contraditory beliefs
• do not contain any comparisons
• do not measure the size of the problem
• do not tell why some people are poor

3
Introducing the Case Study Armenia

• What did we know?
• Little - 1993/4 survey was not very useful to
  find how many people are poor (daily recalls),
  how many people in Armenia?
• What did we do to collect more data?
• Building sampling frame - special surveys/ lists
  HH LSMS-type survey, UNDP health and education
  survey on the same sample

4
Quantitative Methods

• Generalizing to the population. results
  representative.
• Standardized approaches permit replication and
  validity checks.
• Can be used to obtain estimates of the costs or
  benefits of policies.

• -
• Information on sensitive subjects difficult to
  obtain many groups difficult to reach
• No context available for interpreting responses
• Expensive, and long gap between data collection
  and results.
• Inflexible cant modify the instrument once the
  study begins

5
Poverty Profile for Armenia What Have We Learned

• Poverty is widespread (54 of the population
  using the minimum basket) and deep
• Poverty is linked to lack of opportunities
  collapse of formal urban labor market, isolation
  and low agricultural productivity
• Main coping strategies are remittances from
  working abroad, family networks and subsistence
  agriculture

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Poverty Profile An Example
Consumption per capita is a welfare indicator.
The "food line" is the local cost of a "food
basket" providing 2,100 Cal with adequate
nutritional composition. The higher "poverty
line" adds to the food line the actual
expenditure of the poor on non-food items. The
extreme poverty line is a cost of providing a
daily requirement of 2,100 calories from bread
and oil only.
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Poverty Profile for Armenia The Gaps

• Such a high poverty figure has been challenged by
  Armenian Government and experts, we are not that
  poor
• Findings that some rural poor lack land and are
  extermely poor contradicted successes of land
  reform
• Prevalence of informal activities and seasonal
  work abroad raised doubts about accuracy of
  poverty incidence (under reporting)
• Comparisons with previous surveys not possible -
  no information on factors explaining change.

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Qualitative Methods

• Qualitative methods ask how, why and so what
  questions, while quantitative methods focus on
  what and how

• Richly contextual
• Faster and cheaper to conduct and analyze
• Easier to reach isolated groups or populations.
• Methods do not impose responses, and allow
  respondent to introduce new issues.
• Have a time dimension.

• -
• It is difficult to validate and replicate
  findings.
• Purposive sampling does not facilitate reliable
  generalization
• Quality of data very dependent on quality of
  interviewer
• Difficult to analyze and interpret large numbers
  of case studies

9
Armenia Findings of the Qualitative Assessment

• Extreme poverty exists, and the poorest are not
  able to meet their basic needs
• The poorest are unable to cope because
• their low educational level limits ability to
  find remunerative work
• they lack land, or cannot farm their land
• they are excluded from informal support networks
• they dont receive social assistance, or
  assistance is inadequate

10
Armenia Findings of the Qualitative Assessment

• New issue undeserving poor
• limits to the social support network, how it
  includes certain deserving the government
  system mirrors social values about deserving and
  undeserving poor and therefore creates a double
  jeopardy for those who do not fit into the
  categories.
• New issue isolation of the poor
• physical isolation - remoteness of rural poor
  from social services, markets narrow and
  homogenous social contacts (poors networks are
  the poor) poor were often sick

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Armenia Combining Qualitative and Quantitative
Methods

• Starting with survey data sampling
• areas selected based on survey poorest sites
• Validation and consistency checks
• responded did report hunger and isolation
• Interpretation of findings
• quality of employment matters, not just the fact
  of doing something (gather cans, gather
  greens...)
• New perspectives/issues
• social exclusion.

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Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
Best Practices

• Integration at different phases
• During the formulation of research instrument
  (questions)
• During data collection
• During the analysis and interpretation phase
• Integration at different levels of analysis
• Households or project beneficiaries
• Communities
• Analysis of the project or program implementation
  process