Thinking Creatively About Methodological Issues in Conflict-Affected Societies: A Primer from the Field

Abstract

Conducting interviews and collecting data with which to evaluate peacebuilding programming may be problematic in many conflict-affected societies. However, many researchers do not document their dilemmas and chosen courses of action in data collection and analysis. This article explains the design, data collection, and analysis of a study that applied exploratory interpretive mixed methods to examine the impacts of one community-based peacebuilding intervention at the individual and village level in Burundi. It presents the procedures from field preparation to data analysis and candidly discusses the influence of methodological considerations in a conflict-affected setting on the unfolding research activity. While the approach may seem basic, this article seeks to shed light on the methodological choices faced by peacebuilding evaluators, thereby serving an important pedagogical function, and is intended equally for the benefit of experienced as well as novice researchers.

Keywords:

• exploratory interpretive mixed methods
• research design
• case description
• focus groups
• methods and procedures
• research activity
• data collection
• group dynamics
• peacebuilding impact
• data analysis

Notes

¹ Maphosa 2009a; 2010. See also Maphosa 2009b. The latter is available on request from the Director of CU, Father Emmanuel Ntakarutimana: [phone].