NEWResearch support for Master's & PhD students Learn more →
NEWResearch support for Master's & PhD students Learn more →
Qualitative Research Methods in Climate Change, Public Health and Governance in the Western Mediterranean and African Regions
- Training Dates: 14 – 18 December 2026
- Venue: Nairobi, Kenya
- Training Fee: USD 395
14 – 18 December 2026 · Nairobi · USD 395
Research the Climate–Health–Governance Nexus With Rigour
Climate change is reshaping health risks, livelihoods, services and governance across the Western Mediterranean and African regions. Understanding these changes takes more than documenting exposure or measuring outcomes: researchers also need to examine how people experience risk, how institutions respond, whose knowledge informs decisions, and how policies operate in different contexts.
This five-day workshop equips you to design and conduct rigorous qualitative research on these intersecting issues — from advanced study design, sampling, interviews, focus groups, observation, document analysis and participatory methods through to systematic analysis. Particular attention goes to ethical research in settings shaped by vulnerability, displacement, political sensitivity, unequal power and climate-related shocks.
You work on your own research question or project throughout, and leave with practical research materials and an analysis plan you can adapt for a proposal, field study, evaluation or publication.
Who this workshop is for
Researchers, academics and practitioners who generate, commission or use qualitative evidence on climate, health, development or governance.
Public-health, climate, humanitarian & development researchers
PhD & postdoctoral researchers
University lecturers & early- to mid-career academics
Government & local-authority policy, planning and evaluation staff
NGO, CSO & CBO staff conducting or commissioning research
Monitoring, evaluation & learning specialists
Research assistants & field coordinators
Practitioners & policy advisers using qualitative evidence
What you’ll walk away able to do
▲
Frame & design
Formulate focused, context-sensitive questions and justify a design, including its scope, evidence needs and limitations.
◎
Sample & collect
Build sound sampling and recruitment strategies and use interviews, focus groups, observation, documents and participatory methods well.
◕
Research ethically
Protect participants and researchers while accounting for positionality, power, assumptions and relationships.
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Analyse systematically
Prepare and code data, develop a usable codebook, compare cases and test findings against contradictory evidence.
❖
Evaluate critically
Assess credibility and limits, separate evidence from interpretation, and avoid overclaiming.
➤
Communicate & apply
Present findings to academic, policy, public-health and community audiences and plan practical next steps.
Five days, day by day
Each day ends with a concrete output for your own project. Click any day to see the full breakdown.
1 Advanced research design for climate, health and governance +
Main topics
- Framing interdisciplinary questions across climate change, public health and governance
- From broad problem to answerable qualitative research question
- Exploratory, interpretive, explanatory, evaluative and policy-oriented research
- Case study, comparative case study, ethnographic, institutional and process-oriented designs
- Defining cases, units of analysis, geographical boundaries and timeframes
- Multilevel analysis: household, community, service, local government and national systems
- Combining qualitative research with surveys, secondary data, or climate and health indicators
- Feasibility, access, language, timeline and researcher capacity in fragile, mobile or climate-affected settings
Practical activities
- Research-question clinic
- Design alignment matrix
- Case-boundary exercise
- Peer design review
Daily output: a one-page research design brief.
2 Sampling, field access and context-sensitive data collection +
Main topics
- Purposive, maximum-variation, criterion-based, quota-guided, snowball and theoretical sampling
- Sampling institutions, communities, service users, decision-makers and frontline workers
- Recruitment, gatekeepers, trust, access, participant burden; sample adequacy and information power
- Semi-structured and key-informant interviews; focus groups and group dynamics
- Observation and field notes; document and policy analysis
- Participatory approaches: mapping, timelines, ranking and community narratives
- Working across languages; remote and hybrid data collection
Practical activities
- Sampling strategy lab
- Interview-guide workshop and role-play interviews
- Focus-group design exercise
- Method-selection challenge
Daily output: a sampling and recruitment plan plus a draft interview, focus-group or observation guide.
3 Ethics, power, positionality and fieldwork practice +
Main topics
- Informed consent, voluntary participation, confidentiality and withdrawal
- Research with people facing climate-related displacement, illness, poverty or insecurity
- Political sensitivity in research on governance, accountability and service delivery
- Power relations, researcher positionality, reflexivity and insider–outsider dynamics
- Gender, age, disability, ethnicity, livelihood and other dimensions of inclusion
- Community engagement, safeguarding and referral protocols
- Data minimization, anonymization, secure storage and access controls
- Fieldworker safety, emotional wellbeing and team protocols
Practical activities
- Ethics case simulations
- Positionality reflection
- Consent-language exercise
- Fieldwork risk plan and data-management drill
Daily output: a context-specific ethics and fieldwork protocol.
4 Advanced qualitative analysis and interpretation +
Main topics
- Organizing interviews, field notes, documents and participatory data; keeping an audit trail
- Deductive, inductive and abductive approaches
- First-cycle coding and building a codebook
- Thematic, framework, qualitative content and document analysis
- Within-case and cross-case comparison; analysing institutional processes and decision-making
- Triangulation, negative cases and missing voices
- Using qualitative software or spreadsheets appropriately
- Credibility, transparency and the limits of claims
Practical activities
- Live coding exercise
- Codebook development
- Theme-building lab and case-comparison matrix
- Contradictory-evidence check and software workflow demo
Daily output: a coded excerpt, draft codebook, analytic memo and initial theme map.
5 From findings to policy-relevant evidence and research products +
Main topics
- Building a clear argument; distinguishing data, interpretation and recommendation
- Selecting quotations without compromising confidentiality
- Writing findings for papers, reports and policy briefs
- Making evidence useful to public-health and climate decision-makers and to communities
- Transparent methods reporting; limitations and transferability
- Preparing for peer review and stakeholder challenge; planning next steps
Practical activities
- Findings-to-claim exercise
- Short writing sprint
- Audience translation
- Three-minute research pitch and action planning
Daily output: a draft findings section or policy message, a dissemination plan and an individual next-steps plan.
How the workshop is delivered
Hands-on and project-based: every session is applied to a question you bring.
✓Bring your own project — a draft research question or project idea.
✓Work with real material — optionally bring a short, anonymized transcript, field note or policy document. No identifiable or sensitive participant data.
✓Daily outputs that build into a full research toolkit by Day 5.
✓Peer review, role-play and clinics throughout the week.
One fee. Everything covered.
USD 395
per participant
5-day in-person workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. Small discounts for organizations registering more than one participant.
- Morning tea and snacks
- Buffet lunches
- Drinking water
- Writing materials
- Afternoon coffee
- Certificate of participation
Training trusted across the continent and beyond
Asset Africa Institute specializes in the research, design and delivery of high-quality, affordable training for development workers worldwide.
Organizations that have trusted AAI include:
World Resources Institute · Catholic University of Mozambique · National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) · ACALISE, Uganda · WIOMSA · International University of East Africa (IUEA) · Help-ev.de, Zimbabwe · FCA-Kenya · Ministry of Mining, South Sudan · Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia · FHI360, Burundi · GAIN, Pakistan · Moi University, Kenya · The Development Fund, Ethiopia/Somalia · eHealth, Nigeria · SolidarMed Zimbabwe · JRS, Thailand · SEND Sierra Leone · CABTAL, Cameroon · TOCH, South Sudan · CORDAID, CAR · CHA, Malawi · LEAP-RE (EU–AU Energy Partnership) — among tens of others.
Questions, answered
When and where does it take place?
14 – 18 December 2026, in person in Nairobi, Kenya.
What does the USD 395 fee cover?
Morning tea and snacks, buffet lunches, drinking water, writing materials, afternoon coffee and a certificate of participation. Accommodation and travel are not included.
Are there group discounts?
Yes. Small discounts are available for organizations registering more than one participant. Contact [email protected] for details.
What should I prepare?
A draft research question or project idea. If you have existing material, you may bring a short, anonymized transcript, field note, policy document or other text for the exercises. Please do not bring identifiable or sensitive participant data.
Do I need prior qualitative research experience?
The workshop covers advanced design and analysis, so it suits people who already do, supervise or commission research. Research assistants and field coordinators with data-collection experience are also welcome.
Who can I contact?
Lillian Ateng’, Training Coordinator — [email protected], phone +254 704 122097, WhatsApp +254 742 957 568.
Registration
Reserve your seat
- Dates: 14 – 18 December 2026
- Venue: Nairobi, Kenya
- Fee: USD 395 per participant
Paying yourself? Choose “I will Sponsor Myself”. Your organisation is paying? Choose “My organization” — we will send an invoice or quotation and an official invitation letter for your approvals.