Mapema ndiyo best and other fieldwork experiences in researching the State
Dennis Mbugua Muthama and Catherine Gateri
In a recent fieldwork site visit we found it difficult to get interviews with officials that we had previously engaged and agreed on an interview time and place. While this is a common occurrence during fieldwork, we could not help but ask what had changed? why were the officials being evasive? and what were we going to do given that we had travelled for over two hours for the interview and observations. If we opted to go back, the journey back would be similarly long, and our main concern was how do we justify the four hours spent travelling to the field and back without doing the interview. It is at this point that we planned for another interview. After arranging for a second interview my colleague and I engaged in a conversation on our fieldwork experiences of researching the state in the global south. What follows are some of our experiences in the field so far.
Mapema Ndiyo Best [an early start is always best]
One of the famous Kenyan sayings is ‘mapema ndiyo best’, this Sheng [a local language that mixes English, Swahili and the different ethnic languages in Kenya] saying generally means its best to start whatever you are doing early. Similarly in our fieldwork we have found that having an early start to our fieldwork day is the best option. This is because one, we are able to get early morning interview appointments with key informants before their days become too busy for an interview for instance we recently had a research interview with one of the key officials within the department we are researching by virtue of us arriving early and finding him as he was reporting for the day, this was well before 8 am, he agreed for a sit down and we had an interview without any interferences as would have been the case if we were doing it during the busy work hours. Second, starting early gives us the flexibility to change our plans and still be productive. For example, in a fieldwork visit despite having made all the plans the previous day, our plans had to change the next morning after we arrived in the field as the official had been sent by his boss to handle an urgent matter in the field, we were however able to undertake a second interview that we had scheduled after the first. We also had the option to reschedule the one that we missed at alternative later time in the same day. Starting early also helps in minimising the vehicle traffic encountered thus ensuring keeping time as one does not waste time during the journey to the field site.
Patience and Persistence
One of the first thing that you learn in the field is that patience and persistence are virtues worth having. Patience to call and/or text after several of your calls and texts prompts go unanswered. Patience to wait for a respondent to reply to a text message or a phone call to confirm a meeting. Patience to wait for respondents after arriving at the agreed time and place only for the said respondents to inform you that they have not yet arrived due to a myriad of reasons. Some of these reasons include: “I am sorry I forgot about our meeting, but I am currently in a meeting with boss Y and will be here for a while can we reschedule?”, “person X has just left for a meeting, call them to find out when they will be back”. For example, in recent fieldwork visit, the first author set-up a meeting with one of the key informants and agreed on the time and place to meet only for him to arrive and be informed by the informant’s secretary that the informant had stepped out and would be right back [right back being used very loosely], the informant did not come back on the said day. All these will happen without a courtesy text or phone call to inform you of the interview appointment changes.
Expect Interruptions during Interviews
If you are not able to get an early start, then be prepared for interruptions during your interviews with officials. These interruptions may take the form of office walk-ins, phone calls to the key informants, and/or commotion/noise outside the office. You must learn how to handle these noises and interruptions especially where you are conducting a recorded interview with the key informant. In most cases the best option is to stop the interview until the interruption is over especially if you are recording the interview and someone walks in and goes on ahead to engage the interviewee in a conversation. In some cases, we have observed officials locking the door for the period of the interview of course with our consent. However, for personal security reasons we think the researcher should express their feelings about this strategy. In our view, the interruptions are indication that the officials work does not stop just because you are undertaking the interview. As a result, stopping the interview or informing the intruder about the ongoing interview recording is important not only just for their own information but also for research ethics reasons. We have also established that working with voice recording applications that can drown out background noise is important in mitigating the interruptions especially when transcribing the interviews.
Phone over Email
During a Cabinet retreat in January 2023, Kenya’s President said that his administration would endeavour to make government communication digital through moving from traditional forms of communication to digital formats. In his remarks, he compared sending an email and a letter and noted that it was much easier sending an email when compared to sending a letter which is imbued with its own bureaucratic practices (Muia 2023). While this is a laudable goal and within the larger government push towards digitalisation of the public sector our field experiences indicate that texts and phone calls are the best modes of communication when recruiting key informants within the public sector. For example, when making initial contact with a key informant in the public service, the first author sent an email to the official which went unacknowledged and unanswered for five working days. The next week, he sent a text introducing himself and what his research was about. Following the text, he got a response within the day and an appointment following a phone conversation.
Reference from Trustworthy People is Key
While it is essential to obtain all official research authorization letters from different public offices and agencies, references from individuals that the informants trust will ‘open doors’ that such official letters may not. During our fieldwork, it is not uncommon to hear statements such as, “I will talk to you because person x referred you or because person x has called me and mentioned you were coming”, are common. While this may suggest an entrenchment of a ‘who do you know’ approach to matters research, given the emotive nature of land relations and governance in Kenya, it is understandable why respondents would want to deal with people they trust or people referred to them by people they trust. This view was reinforced by another participant who explained to us how a person posing as a researcher misquoted him to create a narrative that they were advocating for, and which contravened the official department position. Since then, he has always been careful of who he talks to on land matters within his jurisdiction. This is further evidence of the importance of the trust-building process between the researcher and respondents.
Always have the key documents with you
When in the field always have the key research documents ready. In our view and based on our experience the mandatory documents in Kenya to carry with you are; a copy of your NACOSTI permit, a researcher introduction letter, and an institutional affiliation letter. This is because in the field the question, who are you? does not necessarily mean what’s your name?. In these instances, it also means in what capacity are you approaching this office for research activities? In one case the first author approached one of the security agency for an interview on a matter connected to the research however on that particular day the author was not able to undertake the research because according to the agency he was a stranger, this is despite him presenting NACOSTI permit and introduction letter from the BIEA, to this agency more so the official he met in the office, one must have a letter of introduction from an accredited University to undertake an interview with them. The point here is that, in Kenya, different agencies may request different research authorization or introduction letters in addition to the mandatory documents. It is therefore incumbent upon the researcher to find what in addition to the mandatory documents is required.
Be ready to sign in and out of Public Buildings
Due to, in our opinion, security reasons such as past security threats, and other reasons known to the state, public buildings are manned by security guards who in addition to frisking and inspecting the bags you may have on you, also request that you sign a visitors’ book. The visitors book will capture your name; national identification number; the office you are visiting; phone number/email address; time you checked in and out; the reason you are visiting the office; and your signature - during the signing in some of the guards will inquire the office you are visiting and advise you whether the person has come in or not. In addition, they may also request you leave your national identity card behind. It is after completing this building entrance ritual that you are handed a visitor’s badge or card which I guess is meant to identify you as a visitor to the people within the agency.
Manage Expectations
In our ongoing research one of the key issues we have had to manage during our fieldwork is respondents’ expectations. By managing expectations, we do not mean a listen to me only and condescending know-it-all approach rather we mean clearly clarifying to the respondents what is expected of them and you as the researcher. This in our opinion should be done in the early stages of key informants’ recruitment. For example, in our ongoing study, following initial contact and explanations of what we are doing, we inform the respondents of their rights through the informed consent signing process. In addition, to explaining to them what their rights and what their participation involves we also ensure that they are clear on what they can expect from the process. This is important because in some cases participants may expect some form of compensation more so where the research involves international research partners.
Conclusion
Overall, our blog highlights; strategies that a researcher may use in the field, what a researcher may expect while in the field, and what a researcher should bring with them to the field. It is important at this point to add that in no way is this the entirety of the fieldwork experiences, there may be more experiences that we have not covered. As we look forward to more fieldwork visits, more on-the ground lessons and experiences await, our biggest lesson from what we have achieved so far is that the unexpected is always around the corner and we must always be prepared to mitigate its various manifestations.
References
Muia, J. 2023. Citizen Digital. ‘Email Is Cheaper Than A Letter,' Ruto Now Says Govt To Go Paperless’.https://citizen.digital/news/email-is-cheaper-than-a-letter-ruto-now-says-govt-to-go-paperless-n312181 Accessed 9th May 2023.