ABSTRACT
This chapter on the methodology is focused on the measurement tool designed to quantify the value that these rural women in Tamil Nadu place on their lived experiences, based on surveys and interviews at individual, household and village levels. The idea is to capture subjective and objective variables across two dimensions of wellbeing: capabilities and equalities. A chart shows the composition of the measurement system with its 23 indicators of capabilities and 22 indicators of equalities. The next section covers a description of the subjects of the interviews and where they live. From the five villages chosen for the research study, in two villages the interviewees were predominantly Dalits, in two villages Tribals and in one village Sri Lankan Repatriates. About half of the women interviewees and their household representatives have experience of social education delivered by the Grihini programme, and about half do not. Subsequently, focus group discussions (FGDs) took place with a village representative/leader in each of the five villages. FGD participants included two women. The FGD aim is to investigate the social or community values or perceived benefits/disadvantages of women’s empowerment education. This chapter concludes with an explanation of the sampling method (convenience sampling) which was opted for in the context of COVID-19 where stay-in-place restriction orders restricted options for researchers. This type of sampling recruits individuals who are available (and agree) to be interviewed. Women’s network leaders in the region identified the availability of interviewees. They also assisted the consent and recruitment process by letting villagers know that they were seeking expressions of interest/consent to engage in interviews. The ‘consent’ process ensures confidentiality and familiarity with the aims of the research and the rights of consultants.
