Exploring the lives of women smallholder farmers in Papua New Guinea through a collaborative mixed methods approach

This paper analyzes the design, implementation, and challenges associated with mixing methods within a baseline study involving the collaboration of rural women smallholders and their families in three regions of Papua New Guinea. We first describe the context of the research and how the baseline study was conceptualized as part of a participatory research and development project designed to provide a rich collaborative learning exchange between participants and researchers. We explain how three qualitative participatory techniques used alongside a small-scale quantitative livelihoods survey to gain an understanding of the social, economic, and agricultural factors impacting upon the lives women smallholders and their families. We follow this with a critical discussion of the challenges and benefits of utilizing mixed methods in an international development context