Data collection on education and gender: harnessing perceptions and emotions. Marias Meninas project baseline diagnostic in Angola and Mozambique.

What we call data molds reality into manageable bits of information, to which we give structure. How we collect that data is what ultimately gives it its particular shape, which determines how and where we are able to present findings or, in the case of Associação Helpo project Marias Meninas, to intervene. Making use of a multi-method qualitative approach this project has gathered different types of data which are intended to be used in experimental out-of-the-box intervention in the areas of education and gender. If by applying parallel questionnaires in Angola Namibe’s province and Mozambique Nampula’s province, the project has collected hard data and perceptions, pertaining to 11 school infrastructures spread across both regions. By applying audiovisual data collection, using visual anthropology as a method, this project also managed to give body and substance to emotions, which are also part and parcel of every field experience. By discussing on camera the experiences of young women and their struggle to refrain from abandoning school, images and sound allow to uncover very different attitudes and emotions of each actor and their respective family’s choices. These actors' emotions are elicited by audiovisual material as also are their geographies. Their grounding on particular systems, on the other hand, is better gathered through the more generalized perceptions.
This multimethod approach also allows for dimensions such as faith and self-determination to become relevant. The combination of data on perceptions, which unveiled insecurity, poverty and cultural references, with audiovisual material, allows for a deeper connection between the design of the project and the design of new interventions to its beneficiaries. This paper describes this process and also its flaws aiming to discuss the different contributions each method can give as input to better tailored responses in the field.