Friday April 6 2012

I just had a great strategy session. I talked with the Margaret and I realized that the survey that I am proposing to do in concept is great but the way that it is to be carried out needs to be very different. There is a good chance that with the survey questions(ill attach at the end of the post) that I’m proposing to conduct will be much better suited if it is given as a structured interview and not as a rigid survey. Also including something in my methods and procedures having to do with a period at the beginning of my stay, spending some time getting to know what is currently offered in the village of Chavadi and the city of Coimbatore. 

I really like this approach a lot because there is a lot of things about the medical system in India that I can't learn in medical journals or on wikipedia. I want to spend a couple of weeks documenting what is being offered and what people consider to be the appropriate forms of medicine then conduct my interviews and surveys with that in mind. There is a lot that can sway or disrupt my data flow and finding out half way through that people don’t even consider pharmaceuticals or some other predominate form of western medical care as such. That is my worry and the best way to prepare for that is to observe and gather information on what is performed first then go and set my own data points and coding for what kind of care people receive. That is way to much for what I want to do and I feel like this is a great step in making my data much more valuable.

I am for the first time in a while really getting excited about going to India. I never have been not excited but I can see clearly now what it is that I will be doing and I can see what will stand in my way. Knowing both are helping me really see what it is that I should do to get ready.