Sorry for the brief absence. No excuses. I let my stress bog me down, but good news! The past week I wrote a research proposal to explore the impact of climate change on human health in Belize. This research will be conducted in Belize over a two-week period from July 15 through July 30, 2019. The field sites for this work are Belize City, Belmopan, and San Pedro. The methods used in this research will be exploratory and unstructured in an attempt to observe without taking a lead role and imposing myself, my assumptions and theoretical positioning on the study site and populations. Direct observation will be used at each field site as a means to increase my understanding of each specific context. Informal interviews will be used to gain an understanding of experiences, ideas, perceptions and cultural norms. Informal interviews go beyond casual conversation and can provide important content and context (Bernard et al., 2017). The intent of these interviews is to generate a dialogue focused on health, climate change, and other sources of vulnerability.

            Ethnographic interviews will also be used in this research. These interviews are more structured than informal interviews and will focus on the topics of climate change and health. Participants will be identified based on their willingness to consent and demonstrated knowledge of relevant topics. The idea of ethnographic interviews is to introduce a topic, then allow the individual to provide information which they deem as being important (Bernard et al., 2017). These interviews will be used to build rapport and produce initial data which will be used to design future interviews and questionnaires used during dissertation work. I anticipant these individuals may be government officials, NGO employees, community leaders, and/or other community members who demonstrate a wealth of knowledge. These interviews are critical to identifying collaborators for future work. Pinpointing key informants prior to research is difficult. Bernard and colleagues (2017) describe the relationship between researchers and key informants as one in which both parties “choose each other, over time” rather than one that is chosen by the researcher. Additionally, they warn against choosing informants too quickly, instead encouraging researchers to spend time at the field site to gain an understanding of the context as well as the roles and statuses of your informants in this context.

            The data analysis will consist of identifying and describing themes from the interviews. Identifying themes is essential to understand unifying and reoccurring concepts that convey meaning in these communities. Themes will be established using the twelve techniques for identifying themes described by Bernard and colleagues (2017). All field notes will be entered into MAXQDA daily. Transcription of interviews will occur after research has been completed using MAXQDA.

Objectives:

1. Assess if the proposed field sites are appropriate for my dissertation research.
2. Identify and build relationships with key informants and other potential research partners, such as government agencies, NGOs, and community organizations.
3. Identify relevant health concerns at each field site. 

I recognize that my ideas and the approaches that I use this summer will most likely undergo a transformation between now and July, but I am happy to have a plan. It gives me something to think about and has made me more excited to tackle the forthcoming challenges. I’m sure this will be the last time I ever stress about my research…