Field research in conflict environments: Methodological challenges and snowball sampling

Cohen, Nissim; Arieli, Tamar

doi:10.1177/0022343311405698

Cited by 562 publications

(352 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…2 An almost equal number of Israeli (25) and West Bank Palestinian (19) activists from five different community-pairs and the national GWN offices in Bethlehem and Tel Aviv were interviewed. Interviewees were identified according to the snowball sampling technique, which is considered most equivalent in conflict regions characterized by mistrust and potential insecurity (Cohen and Arieli, 2011). In order to single out the influence of discourses, we used the diverse case technique (Gerring, 2007, 89-99) when selecting the five community-pairs.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-environmental cooperation and conflict? A discursive understanding and its application to the case of Israel and Palestine

Ide¹,

Fröhlich

2015

Earth Syst. Dynam.

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Abstract. The existing literature faces difficulties when accounting for the simultaneity of socio-environmental conflict and cooperation. We suggest that this puzzle can be solved by more recent constructivist works, which argue that conflictive or cooperative behavior is driven by discursively constructed interests, identities and situation assessments. Based on a literature review and field interviews, we analyze and compare the dominant water discourses in Israel and Palestine with the discourse dominant among the activists of a water cooperation project between communities from Israel and the West Bank. Our main result is that discourses are indeed crucial for understanding water-related conflict and cooperation. This finding highlights the relevance of constructivist approaches in the study of socio-environmental conflict and cooperation as well as of practices of bottom-up discursive conflict transformation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-environmental cooperation and conflict? A discursive understanding and its application to the case of Israel and Palestine

Ide¹,

Fröhlich

2015

Earth Syst. Dynam.

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“…70 Similarly, in some contexts, an immutable feature of a given researchera Jewish Israeli studying the Arab-Israeli conflict, for example-may make it impossible for a scholar to be perceived as impartial. 71 Some scholars may wish to cling to their identities as genuinely disinterested observers. They do not wish for their curiosity to be confused with admiration.…”

Section: On (Im)partialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘Tribal Politics’ of Field Research: A Reflection on Power and Partiality in 21st-Century Warzones

Malejacq¹,

Mukhopadhyay²

2016

Perspect. polit.

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Can fieldwork still be done in today's most violent warzones? We contend that long-held methodological principles about power and impartiality do not hold in today's conflict-ridden environments. Research of this kind can still be pursued, but only if the scholar's place is reconceived as one of limited power and unavoidable partiality. We argue that those still able to do fieldwork in sites of increasing danger do so by virtue of building their own 'tribes,' forming and joining different social micro-systems to collect data and, in some cases, survive. Field research must, therefore, be recognized as its own form of foreign intervention. In considering the future of political science research in the most challenging war-torn settings, we examine the risks and opportunities that accompany 'tribal politics' of this kind and underline the importance of reflecting on our own positionality in the process of knowledge production.T he formative conflicts of the 21 st century have bewildered statesmen, generals, aid workers, and journalists in profound and unprecedented ways. They have also challenged students of political violence, state formation, and intervention, who are left wondering whether it is advisable, or even possible, to pursue answers to their questions through fieldwork under increasingly difficult circumstances. Although this is not a novel dilemma, 21 st -century conflicts introduce new challenges for qualitative field researchers. With the rise of political violence aimed at Westerners of all stripes, recent trends have made venturing into certain places more dangerous than ever before. 1 With the end of the Cold War, a new kind of conflict has become commonplace, shaped by the forces of globalization. These "new wars," populated by state and non-state armed actors, involve military and criminal violence against civilians. 2 The latest generation of these wars also involves ideological and identity-based struggles that make for challenging spaces within which to conduct research. As Julie Mertus

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“…Snowball sampling methodology (SSM) is a technique for finding research subjects where one subject gives the researcher the name of another, who in turn provides the name of a third, and so forth (Cohen & Arieli, 2011). In this method, the sample group grows like a rolling snowball.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A common claim is that is results in problems with representativity since it is not random; as a result, some researchers have noted that most snowball samples are biased and cannot be generalized (Kaplan, Korf, & Sterk, 1987). Despite this significant limitation, Cohen and Arieli (2011) claimed that it is possible to increase the representativity of SSM by sufficient planning of the sampling process and goals, initiating parallel snowball networks and using quota sampling. In the present study, careful planning of the selection process occurred in relation to the study's purpose and goals.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences and Perceptions of Young Adults with Physical Disabilities on Sports

Wickman

2015

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People with disabilities seldom get a chance to voice their opinions on their sport experiences. A deeper understanding of the context-related experiences of sport is a prerequisite for teachers and leaders to be able to provide adequate, inclusive and meaningful activities. The aim of this qualitative case study was to examine how young people with disabilities made sense of sport, within both the compulsory school system and the voluntary sports movement. The study involved 10 young adults (aged 16 to 29 years) with disabilities, five males and five females. All the participants had rich experiences of sport. An inductive approach to qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews was used to enable individuals to explain and give meaning to their experiences of sport including those pertaining to gender and inclusion. The findings illustrated that dominating gender and ability norms influenced the interviewees' understanding of themselves in relation to sport; as a consequence, some of the female interviewees had a more diverse, sometimes contradictory experience of sport than the male interviewees. The basic premise of this study is that researchers can develop more insightful understandings of inclusion by studying the subjective meanings that are constructed by people with disabilities in their sport experiences.

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Field research in conflict environments: Methodological challenges and snowball sampling

Cited by 562 publications

References 36 publications

Socio-environmental cooperation and conflict? A discursive understanding and its application to the case of Israel and Palestine

Socio-environmental cooperation and conflict? A discursive understanding and its application to the case of Israel and Palestine

The ‘Tribal Politics’ of Field Research: A Reflection on Power and Partiality in 21st-Century Warzones

Experiences and Perceptions of Young Adults with Physical Disabilities on Sports

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