Changing women's lives: A communication perspective on participatory qualitative research techniques for gender equity

In this paper, we first describe Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA), a group of qualitative research techniques that have the potential to raise the status of women, particularly when carried out with all members of a community. We then present the traditional formative evaluation research methods such as focus groups and central location intercept interviews and discuss their use. We critically analyze the assumptions about information and audiences that underlie these traditional methods, and then explain PRA techniques, the principles that govern their use as well as limitations to date vis‐a‐vis gender, followed by several examples. The paper concludes by illustrating how PRA can be used from a communications perspective for gender equity in developing countries.