Manual for Interviewing Women in Urban Informal Settlements and Slums

This manual is designed to guide researchers who are determined to conduct qualitative interviews with women in African countries and other developing countries, especially those living in informal settlements, peri-urban neighbourhoods, and urban slums. It provides practical, ethical, and methodological guidance tailored to low-resource and socially complex environments where women’s experiences are often shaped by poverty, informality, gender inequality, limited access to services, and vulnerability to economic and environmental shocks. The manual supports researchers in planning, implementing, and documenting interviews in culturally sensitive, gender-responsive, and ethically sound manners. It addresses key considerations, including community entry, informed consent in low-literacy settings, safeguarding and confidentiality, power dynamics between researchers and participants, and strategies for building trust. It also offers guidance on adapting interview techniques to diverse contexts, including multilingual environments and subcultural settings. Attention is given to engaging women whose voices are frequently underrepresented in formal research processes, such as informal workers, female heads of households, young mothers, and women with limited mobility or education. The manual emphasizes respectful listening, trauma-informed approaches, and reflexivity among researchers to ensure that women's lived experiences are accurately and responsibly captured. It can also serve as a practical training resource for postgraduate students (MA and PhD candidates) who plan to conduct field-based research with women living in low-income and informal settlement settings. By offering clear methodological guidance and context-sensitive interview strategies, it helps emerging researchers build the skills needed to engage respectfully and rigorously with marginalized segments of the population. In essence, this manual aims to inspire and support high-quality qualitative research by strengthening methodological rigor, enhancing data depth and reliability, and increasing the trustworthiness of research findings. It promotes critical reflection on research ethics, power dynamics, and the responsibilities of researchers working with marginalized communities. Additionally, it provides practical guidance on navigating the complex realities of fieldwork in slums and informal settlements, including ensuring participant safety and responding to unforeseen challenges in resource-limited, socially dynamic urban informal and slum environments.

Keywords (eng)

Qualitative ResearchInterviewData AnalysisResearch EthicsSocial SciencesUrban ResearchWomenGuide

Type (eng)

book

Language

[eng]

Persistent identifier

https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:6276

ISBN

978-3-903470-32-3

DOI

10.48341/rsay-g144