Building Hypotheses

Development is complex and challenging. In tackling poverty we can be prone to being tentative or getting caught with our blinders up. It's important to continuously question our ideas and approaches critically keeping an open mind.

A common and useful approach to tackling development problems and work overseas is hypothesis testing which sets up a framework to encourage that critical analysis by focusing on an idea/opinion but not locking into it.

So despite knowing very little right now about the livelihoods of the coffee farmers or the organization where I'm working, I've put out two bold hypotheses which I will endeavor to test in the next several weeks to help guide me.

1. Coffee farmers in northern Malawi feel less financially vulnerable as members of the coffee cooperative.
2. The cooperative system and union of Mzuzu are serving the needs and best interests of the farmers.

That's really all I have for the hypotheses. As you can tell these are very open ended and demand many further questions. I'm looking for input now to break them down. How might I define some of the terms for my context (ex. "vulnerable") or what indicators might I look for to help explore these ideas?