Vignettes

Ruth Meinzen-DickEnvironment and Production Technology Division

International Food Policy Research Instituter.meinzen-dick@cgiar.org

A4NH Gender-Nutrition Methods WorkshopDecember 6-7, Nairobi, Kenya

Overview

• What are vignettes

• Qualitative vignettes

• Anchoring vignettes in surveys

Qualitative Vignettes• Short scenarios of people and their

behavior that respondents:

– Comment on,

– Complete the story, or

– What would you do?

• Coded using qualitative analysis software

– Identify response patterns

– Key words used (discourse analysis)

Purposes of Vignettes

• Elicit perceptions, beliefs and attitudes

• Provide less personal, less threatening way of exploring sensitive topics

• Explore actions and judgments in context

• Respondents choose when/if to bring in their personal experiences

• Elicits beliefs, not necessarily how respondent would act

Sample Vignette (Karen Macours)

A government program came to a community in Estelí. Juanita lives in that community and she was lucky to be benefited by this program. The program gives financial help to women to invest in small businesses so they can provide for their families. But Juanita does not know what to do with the money because her husband is always the one in charge of bringing sustenance to the house and he does not like her to work, much less handle money. According to her husband, she has to devote herself to caring for the family.1. Did they invest in Juanita’s business?Yes , Juanita will invest in a little business ...... () 1No, Juanita will not invest ........................ ( 2)2. If Juanita and her husband would come to ask you for advice , what would you advise?Juanita invest in your little business . ( ) 1Juanita do not invest ........................ ( 2)

Implementation

• Identify suitable story/stories:

– Characters/situations respondents can identify with

– Internally consistent, not too complex

– That elicit the issues of interest

• Probing/follow up questions

– First answers may be “socially accepted”

– Probe on why character would do something, how they would feel

Anchoring Vignettes in Surveys

• Measure and correct for interpersonal in-comparability in survey responses

• Ask for respondent’s own situation, then how respondent rates other standardized situations

Anchoring Vignettes for Decision-Making - Women's Autonomy (Shelley Clark)

How able [is name of person/are you] to make decisions in the household?

* Completely able * Somewhat able *A little able *Not able

Vignettes:

• [Grace] has three children, two boys and a girl. She does not want any more children, but her husband would like at least one more child. She gets a Depoinjection to prevent pregnancy without telling her husband. Her husband is very angry and threatens to beat her, but does not, and lets her continue getting Deposhots.

• [Dorothy] wants to use the pill to delay the birth of their next child, but her husband fears that the pill will jeopardize her future fertility and refuses to let her use it. They agree to use traditional methods of childspacing instead.

• [Agnes] makes extra-money selling wood and has saved up enough money to buy a radio. She buys it without asking her husband. He doesn't complain because she paid for the radio with her extra money.

• [Mercy] says her nine-year-old son is old enough to be initiated but her husband wants to wait another year. They wait another year for their son’s initiation.

Sample Nutrition-Related Vignettes

• [Sheila] learned about home gardening for vegetables from a project, and the importance of cooking more vegetables for her children’s health. She started a garden, but her husband wants her to sell the produce to earn cash. What does she do? [Probe why]

• [Anita] learned about healthy weaning foods from a nutrition education project. Her mother-in-law says that these foods are not good for children. What does she do?