Research methodology

The present analysis uses qualitative data (participant observation and semi- structured interviews) and quantitative data (a household profile determination questionnaire, a food security assessment and anthropometric measurements of height/length and weight) collected from mothers and their IYCs in ten bosti (slums) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The purpose of collecting quantitative data was to support the qualitative data by defining a detailed profile of the participants‘ household. The data were collected for seven months during the period from November 2008 to May 2009. The semi-structured interviews took place in 4 bostis (Begunbari, Kunibara, Mohammedpur and Kamrangir Char). These bostis were all recurrently affected by floods. The participant observations took place in these as

well as another 6 additional bostis (Korai, Shadinata Sorony Bada, Arichpur, Railwaystaff, Sabujbag and Arjur). The participant observations were conducted in more bostis in order to obtain an overall view of the various slum situations in Dhaka.

The nature of the slums justifies a qualitative approach. Slums are very complex and difficult places to work. A researcher needs time to understand the dynamics involved and to gain the trust of the respondents. A short and quick evaluation would bring only false and inaccurate data because slum-dwellers live under a constant state of fear and mistrust. As Rashid (2007) reported in relation to her work on accessing adolescent women in Dhaka slums, violence, fear and insecurity, are part of everyday life in the slums. Slum-dwellers live under the fear of gang warfare, police raids, and oppression by local leaders and the state. A straight forward nutritional quantitative study would provide malnutrition prevalences, and various breastfeeding and complementary feeding rates based on recall. However it would not provide any in-depth understanding of the IYC feeding practices. For this research, a mixed-method approach was undertaken to slowly immerse myself in the slums and to help to understand how people live in the slums, as well as take care and feed their children. The qualitative component of this study permitted myself to gain insight of indigenous knowledge and practices. Prior to the collection of data in the slums, I learnt intensively Bangla during three months and learnt specifically vocabulary on the following topics: slums, IYC, health, nutrition, food, cooking and flooding. My research assistant was an anthropologist and she helped me to improve my knowledge of the language and the culture. We conducted the interviews together and both asked questions. When I asked a question in Bangla which the participant did not understand, the research assistant would ask the question again to get an answer. As much as possible, we avoided speaking in English during interviews to make the interview transparent to the participant. The participant-observations (in total 24 observations) were key to comprehending the lives of the slum-dwellers and the resilience mechanisms adopted (Pelto and Pelto 1996, Cresswell 1975, Cresswell and Godelier 1976, Sanjek 1990, Albarello, Digneffe, and Hiernaux 1995, Denzin and Lincoln 1994, Copans and Singly 1996). During the first 2 months of the research, only participant observations were conducted and after both participant observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted (12 in 6 slums where only participants observations took place, 12 in 4 slums where both participants observations and in-depth interviews took place). The initial observations were facilitated by BRAC staff who guided me in the

slums, gave me insight information and advice. Later when I was also conducting interviews, I organized myself to have plenty of time before or after the interview to interact with the community and become, as much as possible, an unseen observer. This was achieved by slowly immersing myself in the day-to-day activities of the people living in slums. Field notes were used to develop an understanding of constraints, strengths, weaknesses and forces driving the community.

The semi-structured interviews were conducted using a question guide and took place at the households. Most were conducted around lunch time in order to observe meal preparation, food intake and leftovers. The question guide was designed with the help of qualitative researchers and anthropologists in Bangladesh, and was pre-tested and modified before being used. As the work progressed, the guide was revised and expanded since new areas of interest emerged. It consisted of 3 parts: 1) IYC feeding practices and care in normal time, 2) experience with floods, and 3) IYC feeding practices and care in flooding time (Appendix I). It was important to understand the baseline feeding practices and care of IYCs in ‗normal time‘ before exploring the impact that flooding may have on these. The approach undertaken was to define what ‗normal time‘ was and to discuss feeding practices and care during this timeframe. Then ‗flooding time‘ was defined and discussed. Topics were not discussed for one specific flood. Rather an overall experience developed over years of exposure to flooding was investigated. Finally IYC feeding practices for the two periods were compared. Each interview lasted approximately 1 to 2 hours and participants were interviewed four times on average depending on their availability.

4.3.2 Selection of the slums