First interviews

I finally got my first round of interviews done. The details of why it's taken so long and yadha yadha are basically irrelevant but it looks like a fairly solid game plan is set to go now so despite some lags here and there, I should be able to get everything done in time, no problem. Perhaps not as rigorous as I would prefer buttttt oh well. I suppose I should be grateful for the downtime given that I'm basically dreading going back for yet another year of school and classes and studying and papers and problem sets and deadlines and tests and quizzes and exams and finals and ICK.

Anyway.

I got to talk to a Dalit sar panch and ward panch (wiki it) yesterday and it went well. I didn't quite get the answers I was anticipating but given that I'm doing a survey (which has objectives), not a study (which has hypotheses), I don't have to worry about confirming or debunking a theoretical causal mechanism, per se. I do have to worry about telling the REAL story though. Consequently, I am a little worried about getting straight answers from people, I had both panch's say there is absolutely no dalit discrimination in their area because obviously, it's against their religion. Oh the joys of being a foreigner researcher, they don't want to look bad in front of me or talk about what's really going on.

I'm pretty happy with my interview template though, it's my most direct, neutral, and open template I've designed yet. Sorry to brag, but come on, 90% of my undergraduate experience has been research related, I've come a longggg way so it's pretty exciting to be able to visibly see the progress I've made.

My project is ringing eerily similar methodologically to a project I transcribed for a BYU Professor a while ago who was studying the role of trust for head teachers in Uganda. I'm essentially doing the role of social justice for the Panchayati in Rajasthan. The ins and outs of it are different, but we're essentially both trying to contextualize this abstract concept to not only understand what it means to them, but the role it plays in their respective duties. We also are both having to deal with getting them to talk about an issue that they might not consider an issue, or might not even be on their radar, and number 1 researcher rule is not to force the issue. Ahhh thank goodness for awesome network of people in my life, I've emailed her and am sure she'll have some great insight.

Onto the next round of interviews!!