Production Stage: During the Fieldwork

As seen in Table 4.4, for the first five days the researcher attended various meetings and made an agreement for the research project with the leader and other community members within the ICO. The benefits for the ICO were discussed with the leaders and

other representatives of the ICOs selected for this study. Then, an opening event (Phase 2) was organised where the researcher invited stakeholders from the ICOs selected. For this event, the author introduced himself and his PhD research project, as well as invited participants to attend the video focus group about their Buen Vivir and how it influenced their ICOs.

Table 4.4 Summary of the PVR Activities Undertaken (Five Phases)

PHASE RESEARCH METHOD EXPLANATION

1

Meetings - Meetings with the leaders and other stakeholders of each of the ICO selected for the study.

2

Opening up event - An introductory event

3 Video-recorded

focus group

- A focus group was conducted with each ICO selected.

- An invitation to participate in the production of videos.

4 Training workshop about PVR

- Role of co-researchers and introduction to PVR

- Preproduction, production and postproduction training sessions.

- Interviews and storyboard plan.

5 Filming session

- Video interviews were conducted.

- Filming was done in the ICOs location and related activities.

Source: Compiled by the author

The author introduced the topic of Buen Vivir and invited participants to participate in a focus group to discuss about their BV, their traditions and values, and how these are applied in their ICOs (Phase 3). A focus group was established as the author considered this to be an appropriate method of data collection, as it is a good way to perceive agreements and disagreements between members of the indigenous communities about what BV is and how this influences their ICOs. This is something that cannot be captured with interviews (Flick, 2014). The schedule of the focus group comprised open-ended questions, different from the interview schedule (see Appendix IV). Open-ended questions were chosen, as the author considered these to be more effective than structured and unstructured interviews, as additional questions can be incorporated if considered relevant during the focus group. See Appendix V with tables that summarise the number of participants that participated in the video focus groups. The focus group was video recorded, it was conducted at the organisation premises and lasted one hour.

Those participants selected, sat around a table with the researcher and were asked to take turns when discussing the questions.

When the focus group ended, the author invited participants to participate in the data collection of interviews. He invited those people from the ICOs interested in participating on this research project to attend a three-intensive day training workshop about filming, taking into account the preproduction, production and postproduction stages. On this training workshop, the author introduced the importance of PVR, the multiple roles when conducting a PVR project (the roles participants were going to adopt as co-researchers) and explained how to use the equipment and edit video materials.

Then the author and co-researchers discussed the role of each of them in the collection of data and analysis, the people who they will interview, and the questions for the interviewees. The participants created a storyboard plan together.

Face-to-face video-recorded semi-structured interviews were done primarily with the organisations’ leaders and other relevant ICO stakeholders. See Appendix V with tables that summarise the number of participants that participated in the video and semi-structured interviews for each ICO, and a table with the demographic characteristics of the people that participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to complement the data gathered in the focus groups, as well as to gain more detail information about the development of the ICOs selected for the study. Semi-structured interviews were chosen, as the researcher considered these to be more effective than structured and unstructured interviews in terms of broaching important issues for the researcher, as well as ensuring that the core questions are covered but allowing the flexibility from the co-researchers to add additional questions. However, semi-structured interviews have certain limitations as a method of data collection. For instance, they are costlier and more time-consuming than other methods (Bryman, 2016).

At the first stage, the researcher and co-researchers interviewed the leader/director of each organisation. Then, other key members were also video interviewed. The questions are mainly related to the formation and development of these ICO initiatives in the SSE scenario, in addition to their challenges, successes, future prospects and policy support received (see Appendix IV for more details). Moreover, in each ICO, the co-researchers also incorporated questions that they considered relevant. On average, each interview lasted 60-120 minutes with leaders, 10-40 minutes with staff and 10-20 minutes with stakeholders. In relation to the setting, the organisations’ base was considered as a suitable location to collect the information for the study. Some photos were taken during

fieldwork³⁵ (see Appendix VI for more details). Additional filming (shootings of landscape and ICO premises) was carried out for the production of the short movies (see the postproduction stage).

Besides this, the researcher conducted observations during his stay in each ICO to gain additional information about the topic investigated. Field notes were taken immediately from informal meetings, workshops, conversations and participants’ interactions in the field (Flick, 2014). Lofland and Lofland (1984) recommend that researchers use a

‘cloistered rigour’ in following the commandment to make notes immediately after the field contact, as researchers can estimate the same amount of time for noting the observation than for writing notes about this. Examples of observed activities where notes were taken included observing a bartering activity with the Misak community where more than 3,000 people attended the event or participated in a cultural dancing activity in the Guainia region. Documentary sources, which included company reports and notice of meetings, are also used to develop a deeper understanding of the selected case examples, and to complement the information obtained from interviews. This allowed the researcher to highlight the discrepancies between what the interviewees said about the organisation and what the reality was in terms of what had been documented about it (Slack and Rowley, 2000).

4.5.4 Post-Production Stage: Video Production and Closing Event