Dear Peter,Thank You very much for the suggestion to formalize my internet consultations. As a matter of fact I have adopted all the theories you proposed for my research. I am discussing them with my supervisor in a week time. And I will be travelling to Nigeria in 3 weeks time. Once I am in Nigeria I will be on field within a week after my arrival. I will remain in touch with you as much as possible and I do hope I am not too much of a disturbance. I am not in contact with any network apart from this, except for an author who I requested for questionnaire after reading their work, not only did the author from the Netherlands provided me with the questionnaire but she also express interest in my works and we have been communicating though infrequently.

Dear Misau,Here is another thought. Using the internet as part of your research could also be formally incorporated into your research plan... i.e. it would be good to be systematic in your approach to existing sites and networks, including our network.Keep a record of the sites and people you contact, the questions you ask, and the responses you receive. Some sites offer polls that you can set up with simple questions in order to automatically collate responses to multiple choice questions, and so on. These could be useful for helping you field-test questions online before taking them into a particular location (whether or not they are used for quantitative approaches or for semi-structured interviews).Our network is primarily aimed at helping research-related communication - at any stage in the research process. When we do field work for example, it is often important to start writing initial field reports even before the fieldwork is completed, so that supporting organisations can receive feedback and confirmation of your effort immediately. Will such reports be needed in your work?What approaches have you made to sites, groups, or networks where specialists and non specialists are discussing medical issues in general, and Africa in particular, or HIV/AIDs in particular, or hospital services in particular? What people and organisations can you approach through the internet portals of your own country, as part of your research planning and activity?Cheers, Peter


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Peter J. Matthews, Chief Admin.,
The Research Cooperative,
Auckland & Kyoto.

Contact: researchcooperative [at] gmail [dot] com

Dear Peter,Glad to have your long awaited in-put, Very interesting as usual. I just want to be sure I get you correctly. I really like and agree with all the suggestions, but do you mean I should make it ethnology(phase one) then either qualitative or quantitative (phase two)? second questions Sir, Do you think Health Belief Model can be applied in any stage of the study in view of what you have highlighted?Thanks and Best Regards Sir.

Dear Misau,Hi - I just looked up 'phenomenology' in a dictionary, and I would say that is merely a part of what is required for ethnographic research. And I suppose 'grounded theory' is merely a reference to starting with a theory that has some basis in previous experience and research. So I would suggest starting with a list of possible explanations based on (a) what other people have said about similar problems (why patients avoid hospitals) in similar social and economic circumstances, and (b) your own thoughts on the subject, and then use an ethnographic approach to start learning about the possible reasons, i.e. by talking to all parties involved, on the hospital side and on the patient side (and noting that some patients may also be former hospital staff), and by being open to all relevant data and all explanations offered (and also all concerns and questions, as not all parties may have their own explanations).When you start understanding the situation better, you can then decide which subtopic might be most critical to explore with a more quantitative or more intensive qualitative approach, depending on the goals of your research (e.g. some odd detail that only arises with some cases might appear minor in numerical terms, but might actually be a clue to something socially or biologically significant and unrecognised).If you only follow research directions that are obvious and fit prior expectations, then you may miss the chance to investigate something new for theory and/or new for practical care of patients and/or new in terms of the biology of the disease.If people reject the idea that they are suffering from a disease, is that because they have not seen the results of effective treatment, or because they do not see themselves as being at risk? How do people's own theories relate to their behavior and reasons for accepting or rejecting treatment? And here I mean their theories about the role and safety of hospitals and medicine, as well as their theories about what modern medicine recognises as disease.How do their own theories relate to their own personal conditions, versus the conditions of other people they know or have heard about? In biological terms, every individual reacts slightly differently to any disease, so it is important to understand individual cases, as well as average or common responses. This is how important discoveries have already been made about the resistance of some individuals to the progression of AIDS after HIV infection.Do such individuals, as natural survivors, play an important role locally in how other people view their own risks and need for hospital management? Theory 1: such natural survivors are present in your sample area, and Theory 2: they have a social role because of their natural resistance without hospital management, and Theory 3: people base their judgement of risk on the most hopeful scenario they can find, not on any kind of objective probability, which is in any case difficult to calculate if the relevant information is not enough.These are just examples to keep in mind. You will probably find that the questions that are relevant or most interesting or approachable for you are different, after taking an ethnological/phenomenological approach to start with.P.


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Peter J. Matthews, Chief Admin.,
The Research Cooperative,
Auckland & Kyoto.

Contact: researchcooperative [at] gmail [dot] com

Dear Chinyere.Thanks for the offer to help me. I am conducting a two phased mixed method study using instrument design model with priority on qualitative data to be collected in the second phase of the study. my dillemma is whether to use ethnographic or phenomenological approach to collect the phase two data.Best regards.

Dear Misau,I wish i can help you but i don't understand the approaches you have listed. Can you be more explicit?

Dear All.could some one please come to my rescue? i am to develop a proposal to look into why HIV patients in nigeria present late for management at hospital. is phenomenology the right approach or ethnology or even grounded thoery? help me out please. thanks.
updated by @yusuf-abdu-misau: 21/06/17 01:16:09PM