Integrated Data Collection

In Participatory Quality Development, collecting data om the lived experience of target group members as well as on the process of project implementation is an integral part of the collaboration between the project and the target group. Target group members are not the objects of an investigation, but rather partners in exploring their own livesBy employing participatory data collection methods, the project signals its interest in the target group’s concerns.

Further, it communicates its desire for a longer-term collaboration with the target group in planning, implementing and evaluating projects.

Data collection should be understood in this context as an integral part of the project because it directly contributes to the establishment of participatory collaboration. For this reason, a core characteristic of Participatory Quality Development methods is that they can be built into the daily practice of health promotion and prevention with socially disadvantaged target groups.

Service organisations in charge of implementing an intervention should choose methods that are compatible with the habits of the target group, with the established communication pathways within the social settings to be reached and with the organisation’s ways of working.

Authors:
Wright/Block/Unger