Undergraduate Research in the Andes: Overcoming Barriers to Developing-Country Farm-Household Focused Analysis

This paper provides a qualitative description of a long-term engagement of undergraduate students in an immersive research experience in Ecuador. We describe and analyze factors related to operation under common challenges to field research in developing countries. We address issues of incentives and barriers to faculty and students interested in pursuing international undergraduate research. Our program has engaged students at Virginia Tech eight times since 2007, including a total of 50 U.S. undergraduates, and was designed to attract students of all socioeconomic strata. It begins with a Spring semester three-credit class on research methods, household survey administration, and data analysis and inference. During this time, partners in Ecuador are introduced through remote meetings and joint work on the survey. In mid-May, we fly to Quito, where students take language and culture lessons, finalize the survey, and gain exposure to the various institutions involved in the research. After two weeks, the group travels to the remote survey location, currently near Riobamba in Chimborazo Province. Four weeks of data collection paired with local students follow. Finally, data are analyzed, and a report is prepared and presented to an advisory group in the subsequent Fall semester. The programmatic goals were to (1) provide undergraduates with a substantive research experience in a developing country; and (2) provide useful data for the project as to the attitudes of Ecuadorian farmers toward adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices. The program is built around several principles: (i) end-to-end student engagement from problem identification through presentation of findings to stakeholders; (ii) financial accessibility—all participation costs are covered; (iii) primary data collection from farm-households in the study area; (iv) full partnership with host-country researchers and students; and (v) supportive and complementary past and ongoing agronomic research in the study area. Lessons include challenges related to program structure; administration—the Institutional Review Board (IRB) clearance, travel approvals, and financial matters; technical challenges—questionnaire design, CAPI surveying, teaching, and programming data analysis; and field supervision, language, and cultural awareness. Linkages to high-quality ongoing agronomic research allow the socioeconomic research to focus on technology adoption and technology-relevant factors such as profitability, risk, and access to inputs. These themes are well-addressed through socioeconomic research.