Appreciative Inquiry: A Case Study of a Woman's Experience of Poverty

Abstract

This study utilised an instrumental case study to investigate the experience of a woman living in poverty in a South African community. The participant was a widowed African female with two children. Data were collected during an interview process that took place over a period of ten weeks. Each interview was in-depth and lasted between forty minutes and an hour long. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was used to facilitate the construction of the interview questions. Data were thematically analyzed. Findings suggest that AI leads to a positive view of self and others even in the context of significant poverty.