Community Power and Participatory Decision-Making

The study was qualitative in nature as it helped in understanding and giving interpretations to behaviors, emotions, beliefs, texts, talk and relationships of the individuals in the community studied. The case study design, one of the formats used in qualitative research, was used to primarily determine the potentials of participation in decision-making to demonstrate power. The ability to describe and explain in detail aspects of processes in a social unit in their real social context is the main reason why this research adopted the case study design (Feliciano, 1994). Yin (2003) also promotes case study as the method of choice when the case being studied cannot be distinguished from its context. This is the situation of this particular study. Stake (1995) suggests that although there is little interest in “generalizing to the species… the case researcher examines a part of the whole, seeking to understand what the specimen is, how the specimen works” (pp. 36-37). Yin further explains that case studies may be exploratory aiming to define the questions and hypotheses of a subsequent study and descriptive, explaining how events happened.

In addition, case study became especially useful in obtaining valuable information from the respondents. It helped to have a better understanding on situations as the researcher inquired what information was most useful to provide insight on the community being studied (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). Case study researchers specifically focus on cases they are interested in and not on the methods used (Stake, 2003 as cited in Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). This then led the researcher to be practical in choosing the most appropriate method to gather pertinent details. Unlike other formats, findings from cas...

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...ropriate in the context of the study. The approach isolates particular issues within a community, examines them in detail, then appraises the relative influence of variables (such as groups, individuals, and activities) contributed to their outcomes (Dahl, 1957). During the process of decision-making, the approach guided the research path by determining who successfully initiates, modifies or vetoes the decisions while being made.

Much of the work based on this approach describes the way competing groups or individuals struggle within a community through creating a balanced, albeit perhaps unequal, distribution of power. Also, studies using this approach tend to develop findings that support diversity within a community power structure. It must be emphasized that this approach was used to supplement the case study to give different dimensions to the research.