It ain’t easy

Today we set out at a decent hour after having Man, the homestay owner argue for a cab to take us not very far to the village we had a list of contacts for today.  It seems no one wants to take anyone anywhere without being overly paid in this town.  So fine, we decided on a taxi for 600 rupees and headed on down the road.

In the car, Ezina tried the first name and after about 5 minutes of conversing found out the person we were seeking was out harvesting rice.  The next name held the same story and some numbers didn’t work, so we decided just to get there and see who was around.

The ups and downs of field research
come with some nice views!

We were quite lucky that the first farmer we found in the village was on the list and knew what we were there for. His interview went really well and he had some good perspectives to share.  This area is much more organized into cooperatives that collect and group market their product. So long as those in charge are giving the right prices, the farmers completely get around the ‘trader’ roadblock the other farmers we’ve talked to have, as far as getting decent prices for their product.

This man went through our list and deciphered that all four other contacts were out harvesting rice, and they were about a 1.5 hour walk from where we were.  The sad reality is that Ezina and I are willing to walk, but 1.5 hours to ‘see’ if they ‘maybe’ wanted to talk to us seemed a bit out of our comfort zone.  I kept thinking how lazy we are because those farmers probably walk there every day with loads on their backs but anyway… we’re researchers, not farmers!

He offered to take us to a neighbor, Laila, who actually was on out list so that was a good coincidence.  We conducted the interview with 11 good-sized chicks scurrying around our feet.  She too had some good perspectives including that she is co-head of household with her husband.  When she was younger it was felt that girls shouldn’t be educated so she wasn’t literate but was happy to share that her daughter is in her second year of her bachelors degree. 

The collection centre of one village. The chart shows
planting times, rates, and all the other information
they need to know for a whole slew of crops.

Again, at the end we asked if there was someone else they know that we could talk to that was a ‘professional farmer’.  I’ll take a pause to point out that this ‘sampling frame’ is perfectly legitimate.  It’s called snowball sampling until you reach your number, or quota or what have you. When you read all the complicated statistical sampling frames you can develop, snowball technique sounds like utter hog wash but then you get to Nepal, with all your plans sanctioned by your advisor and your ethics committee and photocopied out on crisp white paper, and you think yes, this is going to happen.  Then enters the NSS, the Nepali Shit Show effect to completely obliterate your lovely plans.  So what to do but try and find anyone and everyone who fits your inclusion criteria?  

Jus' chillin'.

But I digress.

We finished up the three interviews and decided to walk the 1.5 hours uphill back home. I think I broke Ezina’s legs, poor girl. But in my defense I don’t even think a bus passed us going our way!

And anyway, isn’t walking not only good exercise but also good for your mental health?  We should be really, really healthy after this trip.

One of the streets of Tansen.