4. MALE FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONNAIRE
Once an Enumeration Team enters the village, it is the responsibility of the Senior Male Enumerator to organize a Focus Group of the members of the male shura / jirga and/or the important men in the village who have the responsibility for making important decisions for the village community. The Supervisor assigned to the district will have travelled to the village the previous day and informed the leaders of the village and the members of the shura / jirga (if applicable) that a Focus Group will be happening on the morning of the day that you are arriving in the village and that they should be available for this Focus Group. As the members of the shura / jirga and/or village leaders will be expecting you and be ready for the focus group, you should face no difficulty in assembling the most important people in the village for the Focus Group.
No more than nine people and no less than six people should participate in the Focus Group. If there are more than nine important people in the village who have responsibility for making decisions for the village community, please ask only the nine most important people to participate in the Focus Group. On the other hand, please ensure that at least six important people in the village to participate in the Focus Group. If you face any difficulty in locating six people in the village who have responsibility for making decisions for the village community, please invite the wealthiest or most senior people in the village to participate. The Focus Group should thus be composed of between six and nine of the most important men in the village, who have the highest levels of responsibility for making decisions for the village community, resolving disputes among villagers, providing services to villagers, and helping villagers when they face a problem.
The type of important people that should participate in the Focus Group will depend on whether the village has its own shura / jirga, whether it shares a shura / jirga with other villages, or whether the village has no shura / jirga. Further directions on the type of people that should participate inthe Focus Group are provided below:
VILLAGE SHURA: Where a shura or jirga exists in the sample village and belongs only to that village, the enumerator should convene a meeting of the most important members of the shura, plus any village leaders that are not on the shura or jirga, but which have an important role in the village. Generally, the Focus Group should include the village headman (Malik, Arbab, or Karyadar) and other local power holders in the village, such as the controller of irrigation (Mirab or Khadadar), major landowners (Khan, Zamindar, Beg, Sardar, Nawab, or Arbab), religious leaders (Ulema, Mullah, Talib, Qazi, Sufi, Mukhi, Mukhiyana), commander (Qumandan, Mujahed), and tribal elders (‘White Beards’).
PAN-VILLAGE SHURA: Where a shura or jirga is shared by the sample village and another neighbouring village, the enumerator should convene a meeting of shura or jirga members who live in the village, plus any village leaders that are not on the shura or jirga, but which have an important role in the village. Generally, the Focus Group should include the village headman (Malik, Arbab, or Karyadar) and other local power holders in the village, such as the controller of irrigation (Mirab or Khadadar), major landowners (Khan, Zamindar, Beg, Sardar, Nawab, or Arbab), religious leaders (Ulema, Mullah, Talib, Qazi, Sufi, Mukhi, Mukhiyana), commander (Qumandan, Mujahed), and tribal elders (‘White Beards’).
NO SHURA: Where no one in the village is a member of shura or jirga, the enumerator should convene a meeting of the village headman (Malik, Arbab, or Karyadar) and other powerholders in the village, such as the controller of the local water canal (Mirab or Khadadar), major landowners (Khan, Zamindar, Beg, Sardar, Nawab, or Arbab), religious leaders (Ulema, Mullah, Talib, Qazi, Sufi, Mukhi, Mukhiyana), commander (Mujahed), and tribal elders (‘White Beards).
In the event that you face any difficulty in locating this people or encouraging them to participate in the Focus Group during the morning, please arrange to hold the Focus Group during the afternoon. In the morning, please administer the Male Head-of-Household Questionnaire. If a number of important men in the village are away from the village during that day, please proceed with a Focus Group of the most important men from the village that are present and available to participate in the Focus Group. In Questions 1.07 and 1.08, you are required to list the names and titles of the important people from the village that were unable to participate in the focus group and in Question 1.09, you are required to select the reason why the important people did not participate in the Focus Group.
SECTION 0: INTERVIEW CODES
All questions in Section 0, except 0.06, 0.07, and 0.10 should be completed prior to the start of the Focus Group session.0.01 / Record the date of the interview (month/day) in the 2007 calendar year. Do not record the date in the Afghani year of 1386. For example if the date is 20th August, then enter “08” in the MONTH response field and “20” in the DAY response field. If you are unsure of how to record the date using the English calendar, please ask your assigned Supervisor for guidance. Please do not record dates according to the Afghan calendar.
0.02 / Enter the Enumerator Code provided to you by the Vulnerability Analysis Unit following the completion of the Training Schedule in Kabul. Please make sure you know and have memorized your Enumerator Code before you leave Kabul to begin work on the Baseline Survey.
0.03 / Enter the Supervisor Code provided to you by the Vulnerability Analysis Unit. Please note that the Supervisor Code may change during the Baseline Survey if your supervisor changes. Please use the Supervisor Code for the Supervisor that is assigned to your Enumeration Team for the village that you are surveying. If you are unsure of the Supervisor Code, please check with the assigned Supervisor.
0.04 / Select the Type of Focus Group Type (e.g. Village Shura/Jirga, Pan-Village Shura/Jirga, Village Leaders), depending on whether the participants in the focus group are members of a shura / jirga that belongs only to the village (“Village Shura / Jirga”), whether the participants in the focus group are members of a shura / jirga that belongs to more than one village (“Pan-Village Shura / Jirga”), or whether the participants in the focus group are not members of any shura or jirga (“Village Leaders”).
0.05 / Please record the number of men who were invited to participate in the Focus Group
0.06 / Please record the number of men who agreed to participate in the Focus Group. This entry should be identical to the number of people listed in the table of CF.03 (both names and “X” marks). This number should be less or equal to the number in 0.05.
0.07 / Please record the number of participants who were still present at the end of the focus group. The number should be less or equal to the number in 0.06.
0.08 / Record the exact time at which the focus group interview begins. This is the time where everyone is assembled and you ask Question CF.01. In order to do this, please ensure that you have a working watch and that it is set at the correct time before leaving Kabul. At the end of the Training Schedule in Kabul, the head of the Vulnerability Analysis Unit, Dr. Amanullah Assil, will ask all enumerators and supervisors to synchronize their watches. Please make sure that you set your watch to the time specified by Dr. Assil. If you suspect that your watch is not working correctly, please contact your Supervisor.
0.09 / Record the exact time at which the focus group ends. This is the time that the focus group participants answerQuestion 8.09.
0.10 – 0.15 / Province name, province code, district name, district code, village name, and village code are all pre-filled on your questionnaire. You need to be sure that you are filling in the correct pre-filled questionnaire for the village, district, and province that you are working in. These entries should be consistent with the entries in questions 0.06-0.11 of “SECTION 0: INTERVIEW CODES” of the Male Head of Household Questionnaire conducted in the same village.
If for any reason you lose the questionnaire for this village, blank questionnaires will be available, where you will have to manually fill in province, district, and community details. In that case be very careful to maintain the consistency and accuracy of the relevant codes across your questionnaires.
0.16 – 0.17 / Please enter any other names that exist for the village in which you are administering the questionnaire. If you find out from people in the village that the village is referred to by a name or names other than the name listed in the pre-filled response listed in Question 0.15, please record these names here. Please speak with other members of the Enumeration Team to determine whether they are aware of any other names used to refer to the village. The recorded answers for Questions 0.16 and 0.17 should be the same for all Teleforms filled out in a village.
0.18 – 0.19 / Village Entrance Latitude and Village Entrance Longitude should be recorded from a GPS reading taken at the point of entry into the village. This GPS reading must be taken at the entrance to the village, which is defined by the position of the first dwelling encountering while travelling along the road used to enter the village. It is very important that these numbers are recorded accurately and at the precise location of the entrance to the house, dwelling, or compound. In order to ensure you have this information, please ensure that you have your GPS meter and that it is working before beginning the administration of the Household Selection Procedure. Please ensure that you know how to use the GPS meter before the end of the Training Schedule in Kabul. If you encounter any problems with your GPS meter while administering the Baseline Survey, please contact your Supervisor.
0.20 – 0.21 / Location Latitude and Location Longitude should be recorded from a GPS reading taken at the house, dwelling, compound, or the field where the focus group is held. It is very important that these numbers are recorded accurately and at the precise location of the house, dwelling, compound, or the field where the focus group is held.
0.22 / Please mark the bubble corresponding to the location where the focus group is held. If “Field in Village,” or “Field outside Village,” please skip to Question 0.24. Otherwise, please proceed to Question 0.23. If the location of the Focus Group does not match any of the options listed, please mark the bubble corresponding to “Other” and write-in a description of the location in the blank space provided.
0.23 / Please mark the bubble corresponding to the option that best describes the type of building in which the focus group is held. If the type of building is not described by any of the options listed, please mark the bubble corresponding to “Other” and write-in a description of the location in the blank space provided.
0.24 / Please write-in the name of the village headman (Malik / Arbab, Qumandan, etc.) in the blank space provided. If there is no such person participating in the focus group, please write-in the name of the most important person participating in the Focus Group.
0.25 / Please write-in the age of the individual listed in question 0.24. If he cannot tell you his exact age, please ask him to take a guess. You might ask him how old he was when a major historical event occurred (such as the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan). If he is unable to provide an estimate, please guess his age.
0.26 / Please write-in the address of the individual listed in Question 0.24. For example, please notethe location of landmarks that are close to the headman’s house (i.e. across from the mosque, next to the school etc.).
0.27 / Please write-in the phone number of the individual listed in question 0.24. If he has both a land line and a mobile line, ask him which number he can most easily be reached at, and enter this number.
“SECTION 0: INTERVIEW CODES” is now finished. Please now turn to “Section CF: CONSENT FORM” in preparation for the administration of the next part of the questionnaire.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONNAIRE
Most of questions in the Male Focus Group Questionnaire have two blank boxes ( ) to the left of each possible answer listed in the Teleform. In these two blank boxes, you are to record the number of participants who contributed to the corresponding answer. In order to “contribute” to an answer, a participant does not necessarily have to be the one person who gives the answer, but may participate in a discussion with other members of the focus group about the answer. For example, if two of the participants discuss a question between themselves and then one of them mentions the answer, please record 0 2 in the blank boxes provided. If just one person responds to the question and the other people participating in the Focus Group stay quiet, please record 0 1 in the blank boxes provided. On the other hand, if there is debate among five of the participants and then one person says the answer, please record 0 5 in the blank boxes provided. In order to record the number of participants that contributed to each answer, you must be sure to monitor any discussion which occurs about a question and to count the number of people that are discussing the question. There is no need to record 0 0 next to answer options that are not mentioned.
Unless otherwise directed, please record all answers that are mentioned by participants in the focus group. On some questions, participants may disagree about the correct answer. In this case, please mark all of the bubbles which correspond to the answers provided by the different participants. In addition to marking the bubbles which correspond to the answer provided by the different participants, please also record the number of participants that contributed to each of the answers in the two blank boxes to the left of the answers listed in the Teleform. In some questions, you are also asked by the directions to mark the bubble corresponding to “Disagreement”. Please follow the directions in this case. In some other questions, you may be asked by the directions to just select the question which attracts the most support among the participants. In this case, if there is disagreement among the participants as to which answer is correct, please mark the bubble corresponding to the answer which attracts the most support among the participants of the focus group.
In addition, enumerators administering the Focus Group Questionnaire must remember to assign an “ID Number” to each participant in the focus group. These ID numbers should be assigned in the Table of Names in CF.03. The person who sits directly to the right of youis to be assigned the ID Number “1”, the person who sits directly to the right of the person who is assigned the ID Number “1” is to be assigned the ID Number “2”, the person who sits to the right of this person is to be assigned ID Number “3”, and so forth. The “ID Number” that is assigned to each participant at the beginning of the interview must stay the same throughout the interview. That is, the ID Numbers which correspond to each participant in the tables for Questions 1.01 – 1.06, Questions 4.01 - 4.03, Question 5.01, Questions 8.01 and 8.02, and Question 8.07 must be exactly the same as the ID Number that is assigned to that participant in the table for Question CF.03. If a participant leaves during the middle of the Focus Group, please draw an “X” through the blank boxes which corresponds to that person’s ID Number in the questions for which that participant is not present. For example, if the participant that is assigned “4” as his ID Number leaves after the end of Section 5, please draw a large “X” through the blank boxes in Questions 8.01, 8.02, and 8.07. It is extremely important that you remember to do this. Please ensure that the ID Number assigned to each person remains consistent through the course of the interview.
SECTION CF: CONSENT FORM
When you gather the male focus group participants in the room where the focus group will be conducted, please introduce the survey by reading the following script:[PLEASANTRIES AND COURTESIES]. My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a member of the Afghan Vulnerability Analysis Unit from Kabul. Our organization, the Vulnerability Analysis Unit, is interviewing people in villages across the province to try to find out more about conditions in rural areas. In this village, we are interested in finding out this information so that we can learn more about how conditions in the village are changed and have changed over the past years.