Multiple Epistemologies

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End date: 2009

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    Programme Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT) & Critical Path Method (CPM) August 20-25, 2001
    (Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2001-08-20) Bandyopadhyay, K. K
    This paper by Dr. K.K Bandyopadhyay examines Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM) as project management techniques for planning, scheduling, and controlling projects and helps in determining project duration, identifying critical activities, and managing flexibility in scheduling. The paper traces the historical development of both techniques, noting that PERT was developed in the United States during the 1950s to plan and accelerate ballistic missile development, while CPM was developed independently and focuses on obtaining trade-offs between cost and completion date. It introduces key terminologies for an in-depth understanding of PERT and CPM through an example of the budgeting process of an organization called DEEP, demonstrating how projects are broken down into jobs with immediate predecessor relationships and time estimates. Activity-on-node (AON) diagrams are used to portray these relationships graphically. The paper also explains how PERT calculates the expected value of activity duration as a weighted average and provides a formula for it. Further, it examines the concept of the critical path, or the longest path of the network project, arguing that its length determines the duration of a project and must be shortened to reduce project completion time. It analyses concepts like job slack and presents an algorithm for finding the Critical path. The paper concludes by demonstrating an example of a watershed project to identify the critical path.
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    Land and people No. 3, July-September 1988
    (Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 1988-09) Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)
    This report covers the third issue of Land and People, a PRIA newsletter on land ownership and alienation, published between July and September 1988. It opens with the Supreme Court's August 1988 ruling ordering the closure of limestone mines in the Doon Valley after nearly three decades of local resistance. It examines India's National Water Policy, questioning whether its emphasis on river-basin planning and large-scale groundwater recharge benefits marginal farmers or reinforces their exclusion. The focus article revisits land reform four decades after independence, highlighting the gap between legal provisions and the land held by small and tenant farmers. A review of Vijay Paranjpye's study of the Tehri Dam questions official estimates of economic returns, displacement, and ecological risks. It also reports on protests against the Narmada Valley Project in Bombay, a fast at the Sardar Sarovar dam site, and a march in North Bihar over recurring floods and drinking water scarcity. It concludes with a letter from Thailand's Project for Ecological Recovery on the shelving of the Nam Choan dam following sustained cross-border solidarity, and a report on the first International Rivers Network conference in San Francisco.
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    Participatory research: An emerging alternative methodology in social science research
    (Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 1982) Kassam, Yusuf; Mustafa, Kemal
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    Participatory evaluation of the M. Puthur rural expansion project of national Y.W.C.A.
    (Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) , 1986-08) Manilal V.
    The evaluation is participatory, and it was carried out for the Rural Expansion Project of the National Y.W.C.A in Thottiyam, Tiruchirapalli district, Tamil Nadu. The project’s main goals were related to adult education, development of village-based organizations and local leadership, women’s emancipation, youth activism, and economic development. The assessment revealed that adult education centers play an essential role in the growth of leadership and village-based organizations, as well as the power of women in the community. For instance, Mahila Mandals and Youth Clubs were formed in many villages, but the level of their development varies significantly. Moreover, the project facilitated access to government developmental schemes and loans, and it helped animate the staff and the village animators. The findings also indicated weaknesses related to group organization, collective action, staff coordination, and the transition from government dependence to self-sustaining. The evaluation recommended developing the staff’s and animators’ conceptual and practical knowledge of group organization and action, getting involved in the development of the village-based organizations, and working on time-bounded strategies for their progressive sustainability.