The state of CSOs in Ethiopia: historical and contextual analysis

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Chapter 3 Research Methodology, Methods and the Fieldwork Experiences

 Introduction

This chapter deals with the research methodology, the methods, the fieldwork experiences and the ethical consideration involved in undertaking this study. It outlines the way in which epistemological and ontological orientations influence research methodology. It highlights the importance of four major research paradigms or worldviews– positivism, interpretive research, transformative research and indigenous research – which have implications for the choice of methodology and the process of undertaking social studies. The importance of a qualitative research methodology and indigenous knowledge research is discussed at length given the focus of this study, which is on civic society organizations and societal transformation.
The chapter further explains how the fieldwork for this study was conducted using the case-based analysis of three types of CSOs: the Tesfa Social Development Association (TSDA); the Gurage People Self-Help Development Organisation, (GPSDO) and the Community Based Integrated Sustainable Development Organisation (CBISDO). It also presents the process of data collection and analysis employed in the study, highlighting three main stages: orientation and rapport building, data collection and data analysis. Finally, the limitations of the study and the ethical considerations are outlined.

 Research methodology

 Epistemological and ontological orientations

From the outset, it is important to acknowledge that there are four different underlying philosophies and worldviews held by researchers, including positivism, interpretive research, transformative research and indigenous research, in any given study (Chilisa 2005:15–37). These worldviews in turn influence the methodology, the methods and the process for undertaking a research.
Neuman (2000:14) argues that if one places social research on a continuum, two dominant epistemologies can be applicable, quantitative and qualitative research. While the quantitative view is described as „positivist‟, the worldview underlying qualitative research is viewed as being „subjectivist‟. The positivists take the view that what research does is to uncover an existing reality since „the truth is out there‟, and it is the job of the researcher to use objective research methods to uncover that truth (Neuman 2000:17). This means that the researcher needs to be as detached from the research as possible, and use methods that maximise objectivity and minimise the involvement of the researcher in the research. Taken largely from the natural sciences, which are then transposed to social research settings, positivists believe that the world works according to fixed laws of cause and effect so that scientific research is used to test theories about these laws in order to either reject or accept them.
Indeed, research methodology in the social sciences has remained dominated by positivism, which rationalises the relevance of research by discovering laws that can uniformly govern the universe through ontological assumptions of reality that can be determined by way of probability calculations (Manyena, B,2009:23).In the social sciences, the positivist approach was first proclaimed by Augusta Comte in the 19th century. Over the past two centuries, it has gone through various mutations and dominant pathways without being challenged by alternative philosophical thought (Hughes & Sharrock 1990:9–16).Except for some variations in their theoretical focus, philosophers and social scientists like Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx argued that societies should be studied with the same principles, procedures, ethos and laws of the natural sciences (Hughes & Sharrock 1990:9–16).
Similarly, Clarke (1999:12–28) points out that even today, proponents of the positivist approach still operate on the assumption that social researchers can establish the truth of social phenomena by applying objectivity, rationality and rigorous scientific methods of enquiry. They emphasise that the researcher is always expected to be objective in the research process by either accepting or disproving predetermined hypotheses which are examined through the collection and analysis of thick data.
As a research methodology, positivist researchers only employ survey methods and experimental designs which limit the interaction between the researcher and the researched (Clarke 1999:12–28). The research instruments are decided on in advance, including highly structured questionnaires with predetermined and standardised categories into which individuals‟ responses are fitted. Systematic sampling techniques and probability approaches are applied to control bias and ensure internal validity (Bryman 2001:18–25; Patton 2002:28–34). However, the positivist approach has gradually been challenged by qualitative and indigenous knowledge researchers. Odora Hoppers (1998:6), citing Morgan, argues that phenomena to be researched can be contextualised and studied in various ways, each generating distinctive kinds of insight and understanding.
In this regard, Odora Hoppers and Richards(2011:94–96) describe the challenges of applying such inquiry as “the positivist illusion”, arguing that proponents of the positivist approach equate science with a method that is based on observed fact. They further argue that the positivist illusion is not friendly to indigenous knowledge systems since what the indigenous people know is not considered scientific or, to use a positivist label, does not pass the test of scientific research.
Chilisa (2005:36–37) points out that growing bodies of knowledge and increasing numbers of research methods have sought to address the shortcomings of positivist thinking, notably over the past three decades. The emergence of subjectivists, which broadly include the proponents of interpretative, transformative and indigenous research paradigms, argues that proving causality with certainty in social phenomena is problematic, given the nature of social phenomena and the existence of multiple realities.
Patton (2002:28–34) argues that reality is not „out there‟ to be objectively and dispassionately observed by a researcher but it is at least in part constructed by the researcher. The process of observing realities may change and transform the initial reality. For subjectivists, knowledge or truth is relative rather than absolute since it is an interpretation of lived experiences and the product of constructed ideas in the mind-sets of individuals. Therefore, as Bryman (2001:18–25) indicates these qualitative researchers approach social realities with an open mind and a willingness to learn without proclaimed questions or hypotheses.
Accepting the complexity of social realities has gradually provided impetus for researchers like Guba and Lincoln (2005:191–215), who considered the „human‟ element as the centre of social studies where the researcher is viewed as a co-creator of knowledge. This thought has been developed through various qualitative research methodology and participatory approaches, which have been widely applicable in dealing with power relations, poverty and injustice.
The interpretive paradigm, for its part, acknowledges the dynamics of multiple socially constructed realities in the generation of knowledge. Proponents of this paradigm like Chambers (1996:15–18) argue that multiple realities in this world are shaped by diverse social dynamics, including the indivisibility of fundamental human rights. This paradigm, therefore, values research in the spirit of its transformative value to help and empower people to change themselves. They call for all sciences to begin with a position of values. In development practice, the approach has become highly popular since the late 1980s in pursuit of postcolonial discourses, neo-Marxism and participatory development.
Chilisa (2005:31–32) argues strongly that the growth of the indigenous knowledge research paradigm has begun to challenge positivist thinking by questioning the pathological descriptions of formerly colonised societies and attempting to reconstruct a body of knowledge that carries hope, promotes transformation and facilitates social change among the historically oppressed. Hence, for Chilisa (2005:33–37) the philosophical underpinning puts indigenous knowledge at the centre of the research process in view of multiple realities and social constructs which are shaped by sets of multiple connections produced and reproduced by human beings through their relations with their environment and cosmos and their interactions with the living and the non-living.
Odora Hoppers and Richards (2011:97) remark that there are strong rationales for including indigenous knowledge systems in science fields. As thinking and systems of thought organise social relationships, the denial of the science of „traditional‟ society means denial of their way of thinking and, by implication, their social cohesion. They point out that “there is no way to separate the cultural structures that organize relating to nature from the cultural structures that organize relating to other human beings. Humans are metaphysical animals. Their ways of classifying and understanding being are complex and patterned. The thinking that organises relationships is inevitably epistemological and ethical at once” (Odora Hoppers &Richards 2011:97). This implies that the study of the organising practices of indigenous knowledge systems is as important as the study of other sciences.
Therefore, the methodology for this thesis was influenced by qualitative research focusing on transformative and indigenous research orientations and designed within the framework of UNISA‟s doctorate guidelines, drawing on synergies of the author‟s personal experiences and the transformative research orientation of the SARCHI in Development Education (Odora Hoppers 2009; Odora Hoppers & Richards 2011:94–96).
I found out that the application of qualitative research methods is highly relevant to my study of CSOs and the examination of their contribution to societal transformation. I realised that there is a strong link between the cultural structures that organise relationships and produce CSOs to relate them both to nature and other human beings in any given society. I understood that the dynamics of these social relationships and the distinctive associational life of each CSO are context, time and culture specific so that the events, patterns and experiences that are studied in this thesis are unique and can be better explained through a qualitative research methodology.
Accordingly, my research process was neither a fixed nor a straightforward venture. I identified key milestones, which define the significant stages in the life cycle of the CSOs under scrutiny. The study also followed an iterative process; analysing the interaction between and among the key milestones and exploring the implication of organisational turning points at the various stages of the study. I do not attempt to completely dismiss the merit of quantitative research methods. Indeed, I employed some quantitative research methods such as frequencies, percentages and graphs, when appropriate, to describe, analyse and present the empirical findings and field observations. Therefore, multiple qualitative methods, design flexibility and researcher reflexivity are the invaluable methodological features of this study.

The fieldwork and the research process

The fieldwork for this study was conducted by the researcher, assisted by three field assistants, from July 2011 through to September 2012. The researcher‟s interest in the subject of civil society and the societal transformation process emanated from his academic and professional experience. As a civil society activist and international development worker, the researcher has accumulated a wealth of experience in the work of CSOs across different parts of Africa and the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union countries spanning over 25 years. He has been a participant observer in the implementation of various activities by diverse groups of CSOs in these countries.
The identification of the respondents and the selection of the case study organisations for this study was done through twelve key informants (seven men and five women) who were independent of the researcher for their opinions. There were two key informants from each of the following cross sections of social groups:
• civil society activists who had been active in the history of CSOs and had worked in various capacities in the civil society sector
• academicians/researchers who had extensively engaged in the study of the civil society sector
• government officials who had strong contacts and working relationships in the civil society sector
• donor representatives who had experience in managing civil society grants
• businesspeople who were famous for their support for the civil society sector and sponsorship of programmes
• senior citizens of the Gurage people who were known for their leadership roles and lifetime participation in the foundation and organisational history of the Gurage Road Construction Organisation.
The researcher had to explain the purpose of the study at frequent meetings that often involved both bilateral and group discussions with informants, whose selection criteria and screening process were decided and conducted by the key informants. Efforts were made by the key informants to identify study participants for the following three types of CSO.

Tesfa Social Development Association (TSDA)

The first case study organisation is a network of „traditional‟ Iddir associations. The TSDA is an umbrella organisation constituted of like-minded Iddirs that have been founded by ordinary community members to support each other in the case of deaths. The TSDA was instrumental in the transformation of the functions of burial service-oriented civil organisation into a multipurpose social organisation connecting multiple communities by creating a vertical structure for the union of Iddirs that were active in both urban and rural areas of Ethiopia.
The TSDA was legally registered as a not-for-profit and non-governmental Iddir-based organisation on 23 September 2000 and was established primarily to combat the negative impact of HIV and AIDS on poor communities and Iddir members. At the time of the study, the TSDA had a membership of 105 Iddirs comprising over 8,000 members in total.
The TSDA‟s initial community development initiatives began in the Kolfe Keranio Sub-city of Addis Ababa. It gradually expanded its operational bases to the Finfine Special Zone and West Shewa Zones of the Oromia National Regional State, as well as to the West Gojam Zone of the Amhara National Regional State.
The TSDA‟s programme portfolio over the past five years has focused on improving the lives of impoverished senior citizens, orphans and vulnerable children, and marginalised women/youth through social protection services, employment generation schemes and representational functions.

The Gurage People’s Self-help Development Organisation (GPSDO)

The second case study organisation is a community-based development association initiated by Gurage migrants and local business elites as well as elderly rural people. The association was initially founded as the Gurage Roads Construction Organisation(GRCO) in 1961. It was renamed as the Gurage People Self-help Development Organisation(GPSDO) in 1988 and re-registered as an Ethiopian resident charity in 2009. The fieldwork for the study was carried out in Imdibir town (Gurage Zonal Administration).
It is important to highlight that the GRCO was first founded by local people in seven houses of Gurage and Gurage migrants living outside Gurage Land in order to mobilise financial and other human resources for the construction of roads, health care and schools in their homeland. This initiative rapidly acquired wide support from all Gurage people, who at the time of this study were living in the nine Woredas of the Gurage Zonal Administration, located about 150 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, the Capital of Ethiopia.

CHAPTER 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Motivation for and rationale behind the study
1.3 Statement of the research problem
1.4 Research questions
1.5 Aim and objectives of the research
1.6 Theoretical perspectives and the conceptual framework
1.7 Research methodology and field experiences
1.8 Ethical considerations
1.9 Limitations of the study
1.10 Organisation of this thesis
CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Review of dominant theoretical discourses on civil society organisations
2.3 Summary
CHAPTER 3: Research methodology, methods and the fieldwork experiences
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Research methodology
3.3 The fieldwork and the research process
3.4 Research methods
3.5 Process of data collection and analysis
3.6 Limitations of the research
3.7 Ethical considerations
CHAPTER 4: The state of CSOs in Ethiopia: historical and contextual analysis
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Civil society organisations and the Emperor Haile Selassie I monarchical regime (1930–1974)
4.3 Civil society organisations under the military-socialist government (1974–1991)
4.4 Civil society organisations under the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) (1991–2014)
4.5 Summary
CHAPTER 5: The case of the Gurage People’s Self-help Development Organisation and analysis of societal transformation
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Gurage land and its people
5.3 The Gurage people, associational life and the foundation of the Gurage Roads Construction Organisation
5.4 The Gurage people and an analysis of their civil values and organising practices
5.5 Analysis of the functions of the GPSDO and its basic social services/collective civic functions
5.6 The GRCO/GPSDO and their relationships with government
5.7 Summary
CHAPTER 6: Tesfa Social Development Association and analysis of societal transformation
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The foundation of the TSDA, organisational transformation and civic cultures in Kolfe
6.3 The TSDA‟s contribution to the mitigation of the HIV and AIDS pandemic
6.4 Analysis of the TSDA‟s contribution to care and support services for the elderly
6.5 Analysis of Tesfa Social Development Association‟s relationships with government and other non-governmental/private organisations
6.6 Summary
CHAPTER 7: The Community-Based Integrated and Sustainable Development Organisation (CBISDO) and an analysis of societal transformation
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The Tekle Haimanot Slum Urban Community: the CBISDO operational area
7.3 Analysis of the organisational setup of CBISDO and its contributions to societal transformation
7.4 CBISDO‟s social service functions and their sustainability in Tekle Haimanot
7.5 Analysis of CBISDO‟s communicative and representational functions with government
7.6 Summary
CHAPTER 8: Summary, Conclusion and Pathways to the Future
8.1 Summary
8.2 Conclusion and pathways to the future
Bibliography
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