surveys Recipe trials to improve dietary diversity In-depth interviews with caregivers of children 0– 12 months, both breastfeeding and not breastfeeding Trials of Improved Practices: In birthing centers on immediate breastfeeding Nepal Nigeria 11 B. Defining specific research guides and tools A variety of research techniques and methods are available for collecting information on infant and young child feeding. Some techniques are better suited to certain topics and methods than others. For example, some research techniques are designed to help elicit more unbiased responses from respondents who might be inclined through direct questioning to provide what they feel is the ‘right’ answer or ‘what the investigator wants to hear’ (see Box 8). Different techniques and methods are also used together to help verify respondents’ answers. For example, in-depth interview questions about hand-washing might be followed by an observation of whether or not the house has a hand-washing station. Questions about which foods are appropriate for young children might be combined with implementation of recipe trials to see what foods caregivers have and what foods they are willing to use and feed to their young children (see Box 9). Box 8. Information collection techniques Projective techniques: These are stories or photographs that are shared with participants in order for them to ‘project’ their feelings about a particular topic or person in describing the photo or finishing the story. For example, a variety of photographs of people can be displayed and research participants can describe from which one they would seek advice about childcare or health, and why; or they can describe which one is a good parent and why. These insights are helpful in understanding motivations for particular behaviors. Free-listing or “pile sorts”: These techniques are used to better understand processes, associations, or priorities that people give to certain things like foods. For example, people might be asked to sort foods into those that have hot and cold properties, body building or body purification properties, good first foods, or those inappropriate before a child has teeth. Observations: These can be structured (usually a checklist) or unstructured, and are typically used to obtain information on the physical environment or on actual feeding practices or interactions. 24-hour dietary recall: This detailed listing of every food consumed by amount and time of day allows for a more accurate understanding of intake than simple questioning. However, the interviewers must be specially trained, standard measuring instruments must be provided, and professional assistance is needed to analyze and interpret results. Box 9. Methods and commonly used information-gathering techniques Method Common techniques Focus group discussion with grandmothers who have a child younger than 2 years in their home · Open discussion with probes. · Photo-sort with various photos of grandmothers with their young children to elicit a discussion of relationships and responsibilities of grandmothers for their grandchildren; images of foods to discuss what foods are fed to young children and why and what might be appropriate to change if they knew that young children need more of a certain food. · Stories of particular family scenarios that require that they offer an ending. 12 Method Common techniques In-depth interviews with caregivers of children 12–23 months old · Open-ended questions about practices. · Dietary assessment: 24-hour food recall to understand what the child has eaten in the past 24 hours; one-week food recall that looks at the intake of particular foods over the course of a week. · Observation of a feeding episode to assess quantity, consistency, quality, and feeding style; also stores of food in the home and what the family is eating. · Photo-sort of a few children for the caregiver to describe as healthy or unhealthy; photos of different child/parent feeding situations to determine if any of the situations occur in the caregiver’s family and perceptions about the situations. Recipe trial with caregivers of children 9–11 months old · Free-listing to demonstrate the various properties of foods. · Participant observation, to see how foods are combined and prepared. · Trial, to determine if the food will be given to the child and the reaction and preference. · Dietary assessment, to understand what the child has eaten and where the new recipes could enhance the diet. Annex D contains samples of a few of these formative research tools and demonstrations of how some of the techniques in Box 8 have been included. C. Analyzing and communicating results Thinking about and planning for the formative research analysis and reporting should be discussed at the planning stage of the formative research. Setting up summary sheets and matrices to catalog findings during tool development will save time and allow for analysis to begin in the field. Also, ensuring that field supervisors know the type of analysis that is expected will allow them to ensure that the information needed to inform the analysis is being collected and cataloged. For use in the field: At a minimum, the matrix in Annex B can be modified to expand sections or create multiple matrices (e.g., one for each population segment to begin to catalog responses). Likewise, tally sheets can be set up to allow field supervisors to look for trends in responses so they can assess if the research questions should be expanded to capture important variances. For example, tallies can be kept on various practices of women who work inside and outside the home for remuneration, or who might be within or beyond ten minutes of a market, to determine if there are interesting patterns that need further exploration. Since most formative research is in-depth and therefore qualitative (even if it has quantitative aspects such as dietary recalls), it is critical to plan for case studies or typology analysis to illustrate important points about what was uncovered during the field work. For example, while 13 talking about what most families are feeding their children, it is often instructive to highlight a particularly poor diet and one of the best diets, to