A Comparative Research on Third Sector Governance in Asia (Part 1): Its Qualitative Research Method

Abstract

A comparative research work was undertaken on ‘Asia’s Third Sector: Governance for Accountability and Performance’ with the involvement of at least two dozen researchers in six widely diverse countries (China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam). It resulted in a book comprising eleven comparative chapters, and six country chapters. This is a two-part discussion of the research methodology and its Guide. This (Part 1), discusses the literature search, content analyses, and the survey of ‘legal experts’ and ‘key informants’. It has six sections: Project overview and context; Research Design; Research Practicalities; Method in Action; Practical Lessons Learned; and Conclusions. The ‘protocol’ is added in the discussion so any interested researcher may use it to create new knowledge about governance of the third sector organizations any other country independent of or to compare with the original analyses as available in the book (Samiul Hasan and Jenny Onyx, eds. Comparative Third Sector Governance in Asia, Springer, 2008).

Keywords: Governance, Third Sector Organization, Asia, NGOs in China, NGOs in India, NGOs in Indonesia, NGOs in The Philippines, NGOs in Thailand, NGOs in Vietnam, NGO performance, NGO Accountability