4.3. Balance de materia y energía
4.3.4. Balance de energía en la evaluación de dos tipos de mucílagos para
4.3.4.8. Balance de energía del concentrador 2 o terminado
Adopting the above research method (qualitative method) presents the problem of ‘insider and outsider’, thus, burdening me with some uncertainty, having had a pre-knowledge of the people and places being researched. Criticisms have been made against the insider which might have originated out of the “Masai complex5”.
Merton however (1972 cited in Lorber and Farrell 1991) maintains that an Insider is “an Insighter, one endowed with special insight into matters necessarily obscure to others, thus possessed of penetrating discernment”. What is more, Hill Collins’ (1991) in discussing the “insider-outsider” position of the Black feminist researcher, argued that she could uniquely contribute to social science by seeing patterns and interrelations, causes and effects, and implications of questions that those who have never stood outside the dominant culture have not seen and still do not see. Collins’ approach was important to my experience in Nigeria. Hence, as the discussion on this concept progresses, a justification of the above understanding by Collins will surface in my employment of the local custom or norms (of which I am well acquainted, having had a pre-knowledge of it) to reach the goals of my fieldwork.
Subsequently, the nature of my research made me an Insider and as well as an Outsider (see below for explanation). In this situation, I have little or no choice but to adhere to Hammersley’s view:
5 A concept coined out of the much-admired warrior-herders of East Africa. The Masai
complex means that the more perilous and remote your fieldwork, the higher you rank among your peers. Thus, for long, the Masai complex kept us from looking at the strangers who live nearby, speak our language, and seem “ordinary” (Paul Bohannan and Dirk Van der Elst 1998: 55).
Rather than being derived from philosophical and methodological commitments, selected research methods should be based on the goals and circumstances of the research being pursued. The methodology is not a process of rigidly applying a set of techniques in studying social phenomena-Hammersley (1998:75).
Thus, being an Outsider (that is a male researcher) made it difficult for me to probe issues most female researchers would have been easily able to access. In this regard, the best theme that comes to mind is the issue of the ‘sexual and reproductive power of women’, and its relevance to family negotiation between women and men. As in most societies in the southern hemisphere, sex is powerful and mysterious in Nigerian cultures. Parents are extremely embarrassed to talk about sex or sex-related matters. While some are just uncomfortable to talk about it, others feel they do not know much about it and some believe that it is not proper for a married woman to talk about sex or sex-related issues with men and most of all strangers. Therefore, discussing sex-related matters with my respondents would draw unnecessary attention from neighbours who were eavesdropping during the interviews. Discussion of sex issues would encourage neighbours to spread fake rumours about my respondents, and given the influence of gossips, most of these women might be forced to relocate to a new market. Moreover, most participants would feel mortified or insulted if sexual related questions were asked. Nonetheless, some understanding of such issues was possible due to my insider’s knowledge of Ibo and Yoruba’s customs, norms and traditions. Conversely, some of the handicaps were partially overcome through participant observation.
In contrast, as an Insider it was easy for me to choose patterns and interrelations that an outsider would not contemplate or would even consider unnecessary. For example, as an insider, I am aware of the importance of simple norms such as ‘greetings’ and how these ‘greetings6’ could be harnessed to achieve results
especially in environments where gender roles are strictly adhered to. Consequently, an insider is more adapted to the culture and people being researched. In addition, as an Insider, reactions and gesturing are easily interpreted and analysed as they occur, thus ensuring questions and actions are administered at the appropriate time and space. For example, while travelling on buses7 to my interview locations I initiated
6 According to Umeasiegbu (1969: 35), tradition has a very strong hold on average Ibo: and
one of the important traditions is that people should greet elders.
7 During the course of my data collection, I made a point of interacting with as many market
and rural women as possible. To achieve the target I used the same means of transportation most market women used back and forth between their homes and their workplace. The
conversations with fellow commuters, most of whom were market women. Our topics revolved around market/rural women, women’s economic participation, micro-credit and cultural factors. Information tapped from this source was rich and vital revealing the actual reactions and feelings of the respondents, without my having to divulge my identity as a researcher. Because I did not reveal my identity, the respondents acted and conversed freely without any form of nervousness, shyness or hesitation. They assumed I faced similar problems like them. The insights from these encounters acted to confirm the understandings gained from the taped interviews and suggested issues to follow up in interviews.
Ultimately, no ethical standard was breached, as participants were not unfairly coerced into participating. In fact, each participant was capable of making an informed decision regarding participation in the conversation. Participation was purely voluntary. In this environment (that is, inside the bus), the sorts of preliminaries which would create a sense of trust were not possible; because it was a temporary setting, and personal identification or information are never revealed or required. Besides, the environment was entirely public and nothing was said which could not have been said to anyone in the bus or outside the bus. The possibility of such conversation resulting in persecution or any form of damaging consequence(s) was completely unfeasible. Asking for consent to research participation in this setting (without the type of preliminaries used for interviews) would have made people wary, cautious and uncomfortable as they might expect repercussions from the government. Nonetheless, prior to these conversations, I had obtained permission and approval from the Ministry of Women and Youth Welfare Abuja, NGOs and NACRDB to carry out research interviews. Besides no direct quotes or participants’ identification have been given in the thesis from these informal discussions.
In addition, it is necessary also to point out that this research would not have proceeded without the approval of the University of Canterbury’s Ethics Committee. The adherence to the guidelines is a must and non-negotiable. According to these guidelines, “researchers whose work involves human participants will conduct their work with appropriate regard for ethical principles and cultural values, and in accordance with the Treaty of Waitangi”. Some these principles and values include: justice, truthfulness, confidentiality and respect. In undertaking this study, each of these principles has been observed to the letter.