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This research aimed to gain in-depth understanding of the experience of household food insecurity in rural Bangladesh and to develop a direct measure of it from this understanding. Using naturalistic, emergent inquiry, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 rural women living in diverse situations using a semistructured interview guide. Two analytic strategies classified households on food insecurity and elicited themes that were the basis for classification. Survey questions were developed to capture themes, and were revised after review, field testing, and ranking and pile-sorting exercises. Four gradations of severity of food insecurity resulted, based on nine themes: meals, cooking, rice, fish, perishable foods, snacks, festival food, other expenditures and management strategies. The emergent conceptualization of food insecurity differs from that found from naturalistic research in other countries. The developed food insecurity measure has 11 questions. This research affirms the value of gaining in-depth understanding of household food insecurity. In many situations, this approach, rather than translating questions developed elsewhere, may best lead to suitable experience-based measures of food insecurity. KEY WORDS: * food insecurity * monitoring * evaluation * assessment * coping strategies

This article examines issues surrounding survey methodology and the research process from the experience of a study of female garment workers in Bangladesh carried out during 1996-1997 by the Population Council and the University of Southampton. The process of sampling the population of interest and then the interview process will be examined in detail. In addition, some more general issues about survey research in developing countries and in Bangladesh, in particular, such as the timing of the research and the importance of the cultural context, will be discussed, This article describes the research process and fieldwork experiences involved in a study of female garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which was carried out by the Population Council and the [...]

This article examines data from a study on garment-factory workers in Bangladesh to explore the implications of work for the early socialization of young women. For the first time, large numbers of young Bangladeshi women are being given an alternative to lives in which they move directly from childhood to adulthood through early marriage and childbearing. Employment creates a period of transition in contrast to the abrupt assumption of adult roles at very young ages that marriage and childbearing mandate. This longer transition creates a period of adolescence for young women working in the garment sector that is shown to have strong implications for the women's long-term reproductive health., Traditionally, Bangladeshi society has been characterized by very early marriage and childbearing. In the early 1970s, the average age at marriage for girls was around 16. Although a trend toward [...]

A study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of physical and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) committed by husbands against their wives in Bangladesh. It is concluded that IPV-prevention programs for men need to consider spousal abuse, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors as social and public health problems.

We examine the characteristics of women who chose to join a women's savings or credit group organized by Save the Children USA in a rural area of Bangladesh, and the impact of participation on contraceptive use. The data are taken from a panel survey conducted in 1993, shortly before the groups were formed, and in 1995 after interventions began. Our findings show that although demographic and socioeconomic characteristics have only a weak relationship to the decision to join a program, the treatment that a woman receives from her husband is associated with participation. We also find evidence that the credit program tends to attract women who are already using contraception. The analysis of program impact on the use of modern contraceptives reveals a positive effect of the credit program, after we adjust for this selectivity; we see no evidence of an effect of participation in a savings group.