It is so bittersweet to write this blog post as I am so proud of how far our research team has come but so sad to be leaving Pakistan after an incredible month. Although our field team is familiar with the BSID third edition, the fourth edition has a lot of new changes that have been a bit challenging for the team to adapt to. Since our team primarily speaks Sindhi and Urdu, but the tool is in English, we have had to translate the items so that they are more easily accessible for our team members to use. Translation of study tools is tricky, since there are a lot of nuances that cannot easily be translated verbatim. Despite these challenges, our team is quickly becoming experts on the tool, and after collecting some inter-rater reliability data we are ready to begin the formal data collection process!
Saima and I at Aga Khan University during
my last day in Karachi
On my last day with the team, I was showered with gifts, from a blanket that Saima's mother hand knit for me to a traditional bread basket from Naushahro Feroze. I know I have mentioned this in previous blog posts, but I can't emphasize enough how incredible this field team is. Employing researchers that live and work in the district has opened doors that would never have been possible had we had a different team. There are so many cultural nuances and lessons that I have learned through them and continue to learn from them. Saima and I both see this partnership as something that will continue throughout our careers, as Saima continues to grow DREAM and I become a more senior researcher. During these last couple days Saima and I scheduled a time to meet as a team each week, to discuss any issues that occur during data collection and/or reflections from the field. I plan on writing two dissertation papers from this data, and I am excited to involve the team in every step of the process.
