Telephony and trade-offs in fieldwork with the ‘unreached’: on the conduct of telephonic interviews with indigenous study participants in southern India

Abstract

When COVID-19 hit India, a qualitative research study had been underway the southern state of Kerala, to understand the perspectives of the front-line health workers and the Kattunayakan tribal community towards health service utilisation. This community is relatively underserved, and a great deal of our emphasis was on understanding health system barriers experienced on both demand and supply side. COVID-19 showed us that these barriers pertain not just to heath systems, but also to the conduct of health research. We completed fieldwork in one hamlet before lockdowns were announced and changed our fieldwork approach for the remaining two different hamlets. The main change was a shift to the use of mobile telephony for fieldwork. This technological shift necessitated substantial changes in the design of fieldwork, the scope of our inquiry, as well as the composition and power dynamics within our team. First, adjusting to technology-driven fieldwork posed restrictions but also enhanced the agency and comfort of participants in some ways. Study design changes attributable to COVID-19 restrictions were brought about, but also gave us critical insight into the impact of COVID-19 and related outbreaks. There was de fact greater reliance on community researchers, which meant we ceded control to the community itself, upsetting typical research power dynamics, which can be quite top-down. We present these methodological reflections for wider consideration.

Representativeness of a mobile phone-based coverage evaluation survey following mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminths: a comparison of participation between two cross-sectional surveys

“…Our study within a trial setting provided the opportunity to compare both survey modes with exhaustive and up-to-date census information, allowing us to robustly assess the representativeness of both survey strategies. This analysis also offered an advantage over others based in low and middle-income countries since it was conducted in a rural setting with regular community engagement and used the same questionnaire in both surveys within a 6-month time frame, thus allowing us to compare participation confidently 36–38. The phone-based survey was conducted in a state with high teledensity and fair network coverage, however, even in rural areas.…”

“…This analysis also offered an advantage over others based in low and middle-income countries since it was conducted in a rural setting with regular community engagement and used the same questionnaire in both surveys within a 6-month time frame, thus allowing us to compare participation confidently. [36][37][38] The phone-based survey was conducted in a state with high teledensity and fair network coverage, however, even in rural areas. As a result, these findings may not be generalisable to all rural settings.…”

The experiences of caregiving and the coping strategies of informal caregivers of people with major neurocognitive disorders.

“…An interview guide was used (see Appendix 5: Interview guide). Using an interview guide ensured consistency in the interview procedure (Benny et al, 2021). The interview guide had several sections.…”

“…According to Benny et al (2021), telephonic interviews provide a balanced power distribution between the interview participant and the interviewer. It was also noted that telephonic interviewing positively encouraged the interviewees to speak more freely and gave greater control to the interviewees to direct the conversation toward areas perceived as necessary.…”