Participant observation

Participant observation was also conducted over the six month period of field work. My purpose for using this method was three-fold: the first reason was to enhance my

understanding of the groups’ collective activities; the second was to establish rapport with

and gain the trust of the groups by participating in their activities; finally, it was used to gather data.

This method provided a great deal of personal insight into the groups’ events and activities

that would not have been possible had I restricted my methods to interviews and secondary data collection. The workshops and meetings of HPFP, as well as the meetings and protest

activities of GABRIELA, helped me understand their processes of “doing” planning

activities. During the time I was in the communities of HPFP and GABRIELA, I observed

and took notes on the groups’ activities19 (See Figures 3.3 to 3.6 for photos of some activities

I participated in).

19

It was a disappointment that I was not able to join the activities of JASAC because most of my time in the field was consumed doing interviews and participant observations with GABRIELA and HPFP. Thus, my results are more reflective of the other two groups.

57

Figure 3.4 Participants of HPFP’s housing workshops for the CLIFF5

project, held at the relocation site (see Chapter 5 for further details) (Photo and text: Author, 2009).

Figure 3.3 Western Visayas Housing Summit 2009. HPFP, together with the City government, national housing agencies, and the business sector, organised this regional event where different sectors shared their best practices on tenure and housing security (Photo and text: Author, 2009).

58 Although taking part in the activities of groups can be an advantage in gaining the trust of

participants, it can also be a disadvantage in terms of “being identified” with them. Being

seen with a left-wing group makes people assume that I support a “communist cause” and

opened myself up to possible surveillance and harassment. There was a time when I thought about confining my methods to doing interviews in order to lessen my association with the groups. However, this would have posed an obstacle in building rapport with GABRIELA

Figure 3.5 A protest march against human rights violations in the country organised by GABRIELA and BAYAN-Panay (or New Patriotic Alliance) members (Photo and text: Author, 2009)

Figure 3.6 Launching and orientation of the VAW/C program. The

event, held at GABRIELA’s provincial office, was in celebration of the group’s 25 years of fighting violence against women and children

59 and HPFP, who had negative experiences with some other researchers in the past: according to their leaders and staff, there were researchers who interviewed them and did not

communicate with them after the study. Taking part in some of the groups’ activities

enabled me to gain their trust, and it also served as an opportunity to see the discrepancy

between other people’s perception of them and what the group actually does. It also placed

an obligation upon me to help them in some of their activities and to present some of my research results.

In consideration of the study area, which is in a Third World setting, my data collection required the use of research methods that are sensitive to its social and cultural conditions. The Filipino indigenous methods that I utilised for data collection are discussed in the next section.

3.6.3 Indigenous methods

The use of indigenous methods in certain settings allows researchers to examine the content and context of study (Kim, Yang & Hwang, 2006). In my case, using some methods

borrowed from Filipino social-psychology literature allowed me to establish good rapport with participants throughout the study. These methods complemented data from interviews, participant observations, and secondary sources as I gained better insights about the groups’

activities. The methods of pakapa-kapa, pagdalaw, and pagtatanung-tanong are rooted on the experience, ideas, and cultural orientation of Filipinos (Pe-Pua, 1982).

Pakapa-kapa(or “feeling” my way into the groups’ activities) is a method that was quite useful in the first month of data collection. This is characterised as “groping, searching and

probing into an unsystematised mass of social and cultural data to be able to obtain order, meaning and directions for research” (Torres, 1982, p. 171). This unobtrusive method implies

an exploration of the data without overriding theoretical frameworks or other methods. By

using this method, I became familiar with the groups’ activities and was able to refine my

guide questions for the interviews.

I engaged in pagdalaw (or “making visits”) throughout the six-month field work period. This is one of the quickest ways to become less of a stranger to the groups and to make them more open in sharing information with the researcher (Gepigon Jr. & Francisco, 1982). For this study, I regularly visited the staff and leaders of HPFP and GABRIELA in their offices; however, I noticed that having breaks in-between visits to their offices was just as important

60 as going there regularly. I observed that they were more forthcoming in answering my

questions, and often voluntarily provided me with information without me asking for it. When I told them I needed to interview more members to substantiate my data, some of them became more cooperative in looking for more participants. Although I was not able to visit

JASAC’s office as frequently as the other case study groups, the staff accommodated me for

interviews and conversations during their free time.

The method of pagtatanung-tanong (or “asking questions”) is useful when clarifying,

confirming, and verifying data (Gonzales, 1982). This is different from the semi-structured interview, which is done with a set of guided questions and is scheduled with the participant. This method is similar to having an informal conversation and I used it whenever I was in the offices or communities and people were not so busy to answer my queries.