There is no doubt over the importance of a structured, research driven approach in undertaking Water Sanitation and hygiene (WASH) initiatives in Kibera. Recently I have spent hours and days planning a project which seeks to enhance Kibera’s WASH conditions through a mixture of literature review approaches, data management approaches and database searches. This is not limited to an academic grounding, but rather an approach with actionable insights that can be directly applied and amplified for practical interventions on the ground.
To my mind, one of the first steps in this project has been coming up with a solid search strategy. When working with something so very complex, the golden rule is to clearly define search terms and choose criteria that enable narrowing in on the most relevant studies, case examples, and data sets. Drawing on global databases and the broader context as well as Kibera specific resources I’ve been able to learn from the successes of WASH initiatives around the world. In this case, facet analysis has proven very useful. However, breaking down the subject into smaller facets such as community led initiatives, sustainable sanitation technology and affordable water filtration systems allows me to explore each of these pieces with greater detail in exploring what Kibera needs. The research itself does not stop with the keyword search, the keyword search, in addition to operators like Boolean, subject terms, and wildcards, which exist to account for variations in terminology and to widen the scope of research. For example, “low-cost solutions” or “sustainable community programs” when appended to “water sanitation” offered a wealth of data to curate similar projects from other informal settlements. The different ways I search helps to ensure that I’m looking at this from multiple approaches and technologies and ensuring a wide view and for a deep dive. My favourite thing to do, so far, is to use my citation searching ability to track the “research trail.” This allows me to dig into the citations in the highest traffic articles and influential studies to reveal some of work that may otherwise go unnoticed. Through this backward and forward citation searching I have been able to find influential research studies, and community program results that describe in greater detail these wash challenges and potential solutions. Likewise, Scopus helps prioritize the most cited studies, which have enabled us to identify the high esteem models and methods in WASH research. The research itself does not stop with the keyword search, the keyword search, in addition to operators like Boolean, subject terms, and wildcards, which exist to account for variations in terminology and to widen the scope of research. For example, “low-cost solutions” or “sustainable community programs” when appended to “water sanitation” offered a wealth of data to curate similar projects from other informal settlements. The different ways I search helps to ensure that I’m looking at this from multiple approaches and technologies and ensuring a wide view and for a deep dive.
My favourite thing to do, so far, is to use my citation searching ability to track the “research trail.” This allows me to dig into the citations in the highest traffic articles and influential studies to reveal some of work that may otherwise go unnoticed. Through this backward and forward citation searching I have been able to find influential research studies, and community program results that describe in greater detail these wash challenges and potential solutions. Likewise, Scopus helps prioritize the most cited studies, which have enabled us to identify the high esteem models and methods in WASH research.
