helps extract information that quantifiable data sometimes miss.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How to conduct a rapid ethnographic study?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the key findings UNDP\u2019s Asia Pacific Innovation Center took from a rapid ethnographic study about circular economy approach<\/a> to address waste in Metro-Manila in 2021 is the necessity of an \u2018ethnographic mindset\u2019 in researchers. This mindset is based on the following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The factor that distinguishes rapid ethnography from its traditional counterpart is its timeframe. UNDP\u2019s researchers suggest that the preparation and conducting process will take 3 months, split into the following:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n UNDP states that 10-15 interviews is an appropriate amount. Preferably, the interviewees should be diverse and come from marginalized groups. The researchers in the Metro Manila area interviewed 23 people. This is further separated into residents, government officials, civil society organizations, start-ups, businesses, students, and circular economy actors. The interviews were spread over a 3 week period.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next crucial element is the interview questions<\/strong>. These will allow us to better understand the interviewees, their thoughts and what influenced their mindset. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can see that these questions do not immediately identify the issue or the cause of it. Instead, it allows the participants to share their lived experiences. <\/em>Consequently, people will share the reasoning behind their actions. The focus on people\u2019s perspective is what is often absent from traditional research<\/strong>, which often focuses on solving or identifying the issues. For example, in Thai demographic studies, the interest is mainly on the low birth rate<\/a> and policies to increase fertility (i.e. China\u2019s Three Child Policy). The rising number of women in the workforce is often cited as the main reason why people are reluctant to start a family.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though the research is done with good intentions, when women\u2019s freedom to work is deemed the cause of the \u2018problem,\u2019 is it unfairly shifting the blame on women? The rigid framing of \u2018problems \/ solutions\u2019 closes off the opportunity to ask \u201cwhy do people not want to follow our desires?\u201d To illustrate, see the formation of \u201c6B4T\u201d feminist movement<\/a> in China. The group rebels against the patriarchy, refuses societal expectations placed upon women like motherhood and marriage, which forces women to take an inferior position to men. For 6B4T, marriage is not just a tool to increase the population\/labor pool.\u00a0 We cannot overlook that in a patriarchal society, marriage is one of the mechanisms used to keep women under control and tie their value to giving birth. This is the reason why some Chinese women are intensely against childbearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, we lose the opportunity to ask ourselves \u201cdoes our desires cause issues for others?\u201d For example, we view the lack of children as an issue, but have we considered how raising a child in a society filled with gender inequality and lacking child support policies can lead to lost opportunities to the pregnant person?<\/a> If we look back at research and policy proposals about incentive for having children<\/a>, we can see that limited time and financial power is the key factor behind why many chose to be childfree. Thus, the method to increase fertility rates is a better social welfare system, which helps transform Thailand into a place where you would want to raise a child.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economic factors are only a part of these complex issues. We have not acknowledged other cultural beliefs that can cause marriage to feel like a cage. We have not delved into disabilities, citizenship, ethnicities and gender diversity, which all influences an individual\u2019s choice to have children. We still view the population as a huge homogenous mass, instead of millions of people with different lived experiences, social status and obstacles.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n While we are busying ourselves with publishing research and policies, the details of these diverse lives may fall through the cracks and become forgotten. The policies become top-down affairs and a chasm is created between the policy makers and the people affected by the issues. Is it time to perceive humans in a more complex way and create policies that reflect and support these complexities? Not policies that try to force the change we want, while leaving so many people behind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6566,"template":"","tool_category":[],"class_list":["post-6571","policy_innovation","type-policy_innovation","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thailandpolicylab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/policy_innovation\/6571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thailandpolicylab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/policy_innovation"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thailandpolicylab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/policy_innovation"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thailandpolicylab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thailandpolicylab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thailandpolicylab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tool_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thailandpolicylab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tool_category?post=6571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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