The formative research programme is a critical element of the Graphix Project.

Already the project concept and draft of the proposed book have been tested as part of end of semester work for master’s level Human Rights students at both the City University of New York (2019) and Teachers College Columbia University (2021). Draft project ideas were then developed and with Amnesty International in London, the project designed and shared with 200 + human rights and social change orgs world-wide an on-line multi-lingual survey (Spanish, French and English) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/thegraphixhistoryproject. A global focus group initiative was launched in late 2021 with Yale and McGill informed by the results of this survey in order to “drill down” into what is needed for final project design and implementation.

This research study seeks to make chrystal clear what the project should aim to achieve (see the next section for methodology):

1. Which of the proposed topics/subtopics are of most interest/relevance to our target audiences and should thus be emphasized
2. What are the channels and platforms that would be most appropriate to reach our target audiences
3. What would be the most cost-effective ways, based on the above, to develop and implement the  project for our target audiences based on their needs and interest

The key to developing a successful support project, as in any education initiative, is in ensuring primary and secondary research methods support the development of a programme that is relevant, effective and responsive to the needs and interests of the target audience. This proposal will engage in an evidence-based, results-oriented process, undertaken in consultation with key participant groups based on the questions outlined in section D. The research will also uncover how best to engage our target audiences utilizing an entertainment-education (EE) communication approach. This participatory communication theory uses both entertainment and education to engender individual and social change. EE is emerging as a distinct theoretical, practice, and evidence-based communication subdiscipline.

This will require working with partners to carry out the testing of the project concept, as well as further explore new partnerships. The objectives are to see how best the  project can develop capacities and foster knowledge, skills and attitudes consistent with human rights principles.

The objective of the research is to go directly to our proposed target audiences to ask questions and gather information. Primary research methods include interviews (zoom, telephone and face-to-face), surveys (online or mail), questionnaires (online or mail), focus groups and site visits.

This primary research seeks to gather two basic kinds of information: Exploratory: This research is both open open-ended and addresses, to the extent possible, all aspects of the proposed project, involving interviews with individuals and/or small group and Specific: This research will be more precise, and will be used to solve inevitable “problems” or challenges almost certainly to be identified in the exploratory research. This too will involve more structured, formal interviews. Secondary research has already begun. The project team is already looking at research that has already been compiled, gathered, organized and published by others. The research will also tease out the most effective and compelling channels to reach our target audiences.