I'm Breaking Out While Trying Not to Freak Out

I am going to expand my number-loving, quantitatively focused brain and try my hand at qualitative research methods. I am also going to try to look at this proposed research through the lens of someone who understands the Capability Approach. Michael asked us to think of how we would apply all of the things we have read to a research project-this is my first [hopefully not too weak] attempt. Bear with me, I have a feeling it's going to be long and cumbersome. I am trying to combine focus groups and the capability approach. Wish me luck...

The Capability Approach emphasizes 1) functional capabilities/substantive freedoms, 2) human beings have the capacity to function in important ways if they wish, and 3) human beings can be deprived in many ways-ignorance, lack of financial resources, etc (I really like 2 & 3). In addition, Nussbaum adds to this approach giving ten capabilities that should be supported by all democracies.

1. Life. Being able to live to the end of a human life of normal length; not dying prematurely, or before one's life is so reduced as to be not worth living.
2. Bodily Health. Being able to have good health, including reproductive health; to be adequately nourished; to have adequate shelter.
3. Bodily Integrity. Being able to move freely from place to place; to be secure against violent assault, including sexual assault and domestic violence; having opportunities for sexual satisfaction and for choice in matters of reproduction.
4. Senses, Imagination, and Thought. Being able to use the senses, to imagine, think, and reason—and to do these things in a "truly human" way, a way informed and cultivated by an adequate education, including, but by no means limited to, literacy and basic mathematical and scientific training. Being able to use imagination and thought in connection with experiencing and producing works and events of one's own choice, religious, literary, musical, and so forth. Being able to use one's mind in ways protected by guarantees of freedom of expression with respect to both political and artistic speech, and freedom of religious exercise. Being able to have pleasurable experiences and to avoid non-beneficial pain.
5. Emotions. Being able to have attachments to things and people outside ourselves; to love those who love and care for us, to grieve at their absence; in general, to love, to grieve, to experience longing, gratitude, and justified anger. Not having one's emotional development blighted by fear and anxiety. (Supporting this capability means supporting forms of human association that can be shown to be crucial in their development.)
6. Practical Reason. Being able to form a conception of the good and to engage in critical reflection about the planning of one's life. (This entails protection for the liberty of conscience and religious observance.)
7. Affiliation.
   1. Being able to live with and toward others, to recognize and show concern for other humans, to engage in various forms of social interaction; to be able to imagine the situation of another. (Protecting this capability means protecting institutions that constitute and nourish such forms of affiliation, and also protecting the freedom of assembly and political speech.)
   2. Having the social bases of self-respect and non-humiliation; being able to be treated as a dignified being whose worth is equal to that of others. This entails provisions of non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, caste, religion, national origin and species.
8. Other Species. Being able to live with concern for and in relation to animals, plants, and the world of nature.
9. Play. Being able to laugh, to play, to enjoy recreational activities.
10. Control over one's Environment.
    1. Political. Being able to participate effectively in political choices that govern one's life; having the right of political participation, protections of free speech and association.
    2. Material. Being able to hold property (both land and movable goods), and having property rights on an equal basis with others; having the right to seek employment on an equal basis with others; having the freedom from unwarranted search and seizure. In work, being able to work as a human, exercising practical reason and entering into meaningful relationships of mutual recognition with other workers.
    
    
    Thanks, Wikipedia.
    
    
    What's this have to do with anything? I want to work with sick kids and their families. Help make their lives a little easier, keep their system from getting too far out of whack, enable them to maintain the 10 capabilities that are a given to all people in a democracy. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of research in this area of therapy, so I'm thinking of doing a focus group with the families of sick kids to find out what they feel they need to protect their capabilities. Focus groups generate information important to the advancement of programs, communities, and organizations. When you look at focus groups, they seem to match up pretty well with what we have talked about in class regarding the CA. For example:
    Focus groups (as compared to quantitive and popular survey methods] involve:
    1) Insight not Rules-it is the production of insight; you get not only the content but also emotions, ironies, contradictions and tensions. In other words, we get the meaning behind the facts.
    2) Social not Individual-we combine multiple individual perspectives to see how they fit together
    3) Flexibile not Standardized-using an interview guide [by a competent moderator] helps the group relax, open up, think deeply, and consider alternatives
    4) Words not Numbers-a frightening concept for a girl like me; themes/patterns/perspectives are utilized for analysis

I also love this from the Sen book:

"Unintended consequences dominate actual history-if the most important things that happen are not intended [and not brought about through purposive action], then reasoned attempts at what we are pursuing what we want may appear to be rather pointless."

While this immediately makes me think of love and the natural course it takes [though so many try to force it], I think it also applies to the benefit of focus groups. When the investigator takes a back seat and lets the participants guide the discussion, valuable pieces of information will inevitably come up to further guide the investigation.

So that was me thinking out loud on a blog for a few hours. Natasha has my brain headed in the dissertation direction. Feel free to comment.