Research & Assessment
Formative Research
Programmes are usually designed in offices and delivered in villages. Formative research is the discipline of visiting the village first — understanding what people already do, what they believe about it, who they listen to, and why the last programme's advice went unheeded.
How we work
Listen before designing. Design what was heard.
The method is qualitative and patient: focus-group discussions separated by gender and age where the topic demands it, key-informant interviews with ASHA workers, teachers, imams and panchayat members, and structured observation of the practice itself — not just accounts of it. Findings are delivered as design decisions, not as a literature review.
- Study design around the actual design questions: what must the intervention get right to be adopted?
- Focus-group discussions with careful composition — women's groups facilitated by women, adolescents apart from elders
- Key-informant interviews with frontline workers, local leadership and service providers
- Direct observation of current practices, seasonal routines and service touchpoints
- Barrier analysis: what stops the desired behaviour — cost, access, belief, social sanction — ranked by evidence
- Message and channel testing with the audience before materials are finalised
- A findings-to-design workshop with the programme team, so research changes the plan rather than decorating it
Designing an intervention the community hasn't met yet?
Six weeks of listening now routinely saves two years of low uptake later. Let's scope the questions.
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