Chapter 9: Focus Groups §

Class: IS309 Created Time: June 16, 2021 2:20 PM Database: Class Notes Database Last Edited Time: August 5, 2021 11:02 AM

Next session will be a lecture on the two chapters

Introduction §

Field Research is the method of primary data collection in the form of source documents, observation interviews, and questionnaires.

• After Cold War International focus move away from state-centric approach make many social actors matter more
• Popularization of case study methods in IR requires field research to get primary data
• IR used to be state-centric and abstract. Now IR methods still don’t provide enough guidance on challenges students could face when collecting data on non-state actors
  • This chapter will be detailing these challenges and ethical dilemmas in field research
• in doing field research you should look at these questions to make sure practical ethical and security aspects of data collection is all covered
  • How you research will be perceived by subjects
  • About security of the state you’re in, how safe is it to gather and talk about politics?
    • Focus groups
      • Spies
      • Planted people
  • Attempts to skew research findings by actors
• The lack of field research method training will provide practical guide to help you plan your own field research
  • situations & dilemmas you might encounter in the field

Why Field Research? §

• it depart us from the existing assumptions in the literature and attempt to gather new data about rapidly changing phenomena
  • how do internal armed conflicts impact civilian populations?
  • what are the causes of political violence?
  • what does the decision-making process look like within a particular state or IO?
• gather new primary data, using qualitative or quantitative data collection
• designing our own data collection strategies
• discover important new insights that may help better understand the impact of policy decisions, shed light on the previous overlooked discourse

CHALLENGES to Secondary Data:

• lack of existing primary data, and the reluctance to speak to participants
  • often existing data is incomplete or unreliable, even official documents or statistics can be highly problematic
• insufficient information for empirical research or outdated data
  • ex: international tribunal, no information about the motivations of the war crime
• locating research participants who were knowledgeable
  • ex: terrorist financing, no primary documentary evidence, and interviewing suspects that involved in the topic is rare

Field Research: What is it? §

field research: is the process of collecting primary data through human subjects or archival documents. the data collection method is through accessing to primary source document, through interview, participant observation, questionnaires, surveys or other methods.

• in order to get access to new primary data through interactions with human subjects, field research often relies on established qualitative or quantitative data collection techniques require the researcher to secure the informed consent of participants

there many different field research activities that are commonly used by IR researchers.

• Archival Research- Primary source Documents
  • Personal documents: diaries, letters, correspondences, autobiographies
  • Official (state) documents: meeting records, legislative debates, legislation, executive orders, official statistics, records, etc.
  • Official (corporate/business) documents
  • Official (other) documents: non-state armed groups, political party archives
• Participant Observation Interviews:
  • Over/Covert observation
  • Structured, semi-structured, non-structured, one-on-one conversation
• Focus Groups Questionnaires & Surveys
  • Group Interview
  • Structured Interviews
  • Telephone surveys
  • self-completion questionnaires

Challenges in the field research: §

• when carry out this activities you may sometime need to travel to another country or region.
• some other challenges is that you have to confronted with the task of get the permission of an archivist to access official documents.
• you will need to get permission to interview, or distribute questionnaires to, employees of an international organization.
• you might need to convince your classmates that completing your survey is a good use of their time.
• requires the researcher to build some form of trust relationship with those working with, or for, an organization or group that is under study