Generative AI for Analyzing Participatory Rural Appraisal Data: An Exploratory Case Study in Gender Research

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Sheshadri, Srividya, Radhakrishnan, Unnikrishnan, Padmavilochanan, Aswathi, Coley, Christopher, Bhavani, Rao R.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Sheshadri, Srividya
Radhakrishnan, Unnikrishnan
Padmavilochanan, Aswathi
Coley, Christopher
Bhavani, Rao R.
author_facet Sheshadri, Srividya
Radhakrishnan, Unnikrishnan
Padmavilochanan, Aswathi
Coley, Christopher
Bhavani, Rao R.
contents This study explores the novel application of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in analyzing unstructured visual data generated through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), specifically focusing on women's empowerment research in rural communities. Using the "Ideal Village" PRA activity as a case study, we evaluate three state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) - GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini 1.5 Pro - in their ability to interpret hand-drawn artifacts containing multilingual content from various Indian states. Through comparative analysis, we assess the models' performance across critical dimensions including visual interpretation, language translation, and data classification. Our findings reveal significant challenges in AI's current capabilities to process such unstructured data, particularly in handling multilingual content, maintaining contextual accuracy, and avoiding hallucinations. While the models showed promise in basic visual interpretation, they struggled with nuanced cultural contexts and consistent classification of empowerment-related elements. This study contributes to both AI and gender research by highlighting the potential and limitations of AI in analyzing participatory research data, while emphasizing the need for human oversight and improved contextual understanding. Our findings suggest future directions for developing more inclusive AI models that can better serve community-based participatory research, particularly in gender studies and rural development contexts.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_00763
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Generative AI for Analyzing Participatory Rural Appraisal Data: An Exploratory Case Study in Gender Research
Sheshadri, Srividya
Radhakrishnan, Unnikrishnan
Padmavilochanan, Aswathi
Coley, Christopher
Bhavani, Rao R.
Computers and Society
J.4; K.4; I.4
This study explores the novel application of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in analyzing unstructured visual data generated through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), specifically focusing on women's empowerment research in rural communities. Using the "Ideal Village" PRA activity as a case study, we evaluate three state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) - GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini 1.5 Pro - in their ability to interpret hand-drawn artifacts containing multilingual content from various Indian states. Through comparative analysis, we assess the models' performance across critical dimensions including visual interpretation, language translation, and data classification. Our findings reveal significant challenges in AI's current capabilities to process such unstructured data, particularly in handling multilingual content, maintaining contextual accuracy, and avoiding hallucinations. While the models showed promise in basic visual interpretation, they struggled with nuanced cultural contexts and consistent classification of empowerment-related elements. This study contributes to both AI and gender research by highlighting the potential and limitations of AI in analyzing participatory research data, while emphasizing the need for human oversight and improved contextual understanding. Our findings suggest future directions for developing more inclusive AI models that can better serve community-based participatory research, particularly in gender studies and rural development contexts.
title Generative AI for Analyzing Participatory Rural Appraisal Data: An Exploratory Case Study in Gender Research
topic Computers and Society
J.4; K.4; I.4
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.00763