The respective merits of RRA and conventional methods for longer-term research

Describes the experiences of a lone researcher using conventional questionnaire surveys as well as PRA methods while carrying out PhD fieldwork in Benin, West Africa. The advantages and disadvantages of using the different research methodologies are discussed. The group nature of the PRA methods inevitably led to raised expectations, and underlying conflicts were exposed in a way that probably would not have occurred with the conventional methods. Combining the two types of methods was found to be rewarding, with the RRA work supplying the contextual information for the quantitative data provided by the conventional research methods. However, it is suggested that if no action is planned it might be better to use RRA methods only to supplement more conventional methods, being careful to avoid raising false hopes or exposing conflicts unnecessarily.