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specific age groups that would elicit clear differences such as school-age, between the ages of 25-45, and
over the age of 45. For each part of the protocol process, score the level of participation on a scale from
one to five. The number one could represent no participation and the number five could represent
participation in every aspect. The information could be recorded in an organized table (see Table 16 as an
example).
Table 16: Example of how to measure effect of women's age on participation in different parts of the protocol
process (scaled from one to five; one = no participation, five = participation in every aspect)
Age of Women
Deciding to Develop
a Protocol
Under 20 years
20-45 years
Over 45 years
1
2
3
Part of the Protocol Process
Mapping
Engaging with
Community
External Actors
Resources
2.5
1
4
3
4
2
Raising Awareness
within the
Community
4
3
2
You could then illustrate the information in a graph with distinct colours or labels to differentiate between
the age groups. The bar graph in Figure 11 below provides just one example of how you could illustrate
the participation of different ages of women throughout the protocol process.
5
4
3
Under 20
Age 20-45
2
Over 45
1
Deciding to
develop a
protocol
Mapping
community
resources
Engaging with
external actors
Raising
awareness
within the
community
Figure 11: The participation of different ages of women in the protocol process (measured
according to a scale from one = no participation to five = participation in every aspect)
When measurements are depicted in a visual illustration such as a graph, it can be easier to notice
patterns or unusual occurrences. In the fictitious example above, women under the age of 20 were not
involved at all in the decision to develop a protocol or in engagement with external actors, but they
participated actively in raising awareness within the community about the protocol. Further reflection and
questioning about why this occurred could elicit interesting insights. For example, young women may not
have been interested in the protocol at first if it involved lengthy discussions or may not have been
allowed to participate in the decision-making process; however, they interest could have piqued when the
opportunity arose to prepare skits or short films to share the protocol with other youth. Similarly, women
over the age of 45 were more involved in the decision to develop a protocol in the first place and in
mapping community resources, but did not engage as much with external actors as women between the
ages of 20 and 45. This may be due to social-cultural factors such as levels of literacy and education.