Subjective Assessments, Participatory Methods, and Poverty Dynamics
This chapter discusses the stages of progress method for the assessment of poverty. It tracks households in five countries: four developing countries and the United States. The methodology has seven steps: (i) get together representative community group; (ii) discuss the objectives of the exercise; (iii) define poverty collectively in terms of stages of progress, then ask the question: if a poor household gets a bit more money what do they do with it?; (iv) define 'x years ago' in terms of a well-known signifying event; (v) list all village households, and then ask about each household's stage at the present time and x years ago; (vi) categorize all present-day households into chronically poor or not; and then (vii) take a random sample within each category to ascertain reasons for change or stability. To cross-check the reliability of the method, researchers share the results with key informants, before leaving the community, to see whether they agree with the findings.
