Challenges of Gathering and Analyzing Data in Conflict Research

4. What are some of the challenges of gathering and analysing data about conflict?

In order to understand any conflict, it is necessary to first gather data about that conflict. However, as literature demonstrates, there are many challenges that come in the way of gathering and analysing data about conflict, particularly when seeking education dissertation help. These challenges are discussed in this essay. Some of these challenges are related to access to data, others are related to ethical and methodological concerns.

Conflict researchers struggle with the challenge of collecting quality data in conflict ridden situations because there are significant costs and risks that are involved in such situations. Conflict situations involve wars, battles, civilian massacres, and human rights violations, which also impact safety and security of those researchers who are in the field collecting data related to the conflict (Davenport & Moore, 2015). Therefore, some of the challenges that are related to conflict research and data collection are related directly to the environment that the researcher may be required to work in which pose safety and security concerns for all those who are directly involved in such a situation.

Another common challenge for conflict researchers is related to the access to the conflict zone to collect data. A survey conducted in Afghanistan has revealed that researchers who want to gain access to the conflict zone for the purpose of collection of data often face many challenges in gaining such access as they are required to take permissions from different levels of government authorities and at times even the non government parties who are directly involved in the conflict, in this case the Taliban (Lyall, et al., 2013). This survey also revealed how researchers could also face challenges in the form of local elders who may vet them for their adherence to Islam before allowing them entry into the conflict zone villages (Lyall, et al., 2013). There are other studies that have shown how enumerators and researchers may also be required to pay a “war tax” to criminal gangs for allowing them access to the conflict zones for the purpose of collecting data (Osorio, 2014).

Due to problems and challenges associated with the access to conflict sites as well as safety concerns that may see researchers not being able o access conflict sites, conflict researchers often rely on the data collected by journalists, NGOs, and truth commissions, but are sometimes are not able to do first hand primary research for collection of data in conflict ridden (Davenport & Moore, 2015). For researchers who rely on such secondary data collected by the journalists, NGOs, and truth commissions, among other civil society members who have collected such data, these reports provide copious amounts of secondary data which becomes difficult to process and analyse. This is another challenge that researchers face when they analyse the data on conflict related research. These challenges relate to turning copious amount of data into thematic based reports. The practical challenges that researchers face in this context are related to making judgments about coding rules, and also dealing with ambiguous cases as these data are being collected by other parties (Davenport & Moore, 2015).

Yet another challenge for a conflict researcher is the collection of data that is accurate and replicable. Conflict research may come under criticism on the ground that the research is based on data that is not accurate; this challenge has been raised on different occasions related to conflict research (Osorio, 2014). One of the reasons why the data may be inaccurate is also related to the ethical and methodological challenges that researchers face when they seek to collect data in an environment that is characterised by issues involving threats to security, volatility, armed conflict, fear among residents, and participants or subjects that are traumatised and even confused (Osorio, 2014).

Concerning the ethical challenges that conflict researchers face, one of the challenges is also related to the consent form. In non conflict research, the signing of the consent form is an established best practice for the researchers to apply. However, in conflict research, a consent form which also depicts the details of the participant may become a potential cause of harm to the participant (Osorio, 2014). This may happen when the documents, data, or any other research materials containing identifiable or sensitive information is seized or lost; this is a possibility in conflict situations where the collection of data is done in secret also to safeguard the security and safety of the participants (Osorio, 2014). Some conflict researchers try to overcome this challenge to the security of the participants by simply requesting the unrecorded oral consent of the participant so as to not leave traces of their identity behind (Osorio, 2014). However, the drawback of this approach is that it opens the research data to questions of ethical concerns because the researchers do not have signed consent forms that can depict the data having been taken under informed consent of the participant.

Another challenge that researchers face in collecting data related to conflict is the potential bias of the researcher who may be required to collect data from human subjects and where such data is qualitative in nature and requires some kind of interpretative or subjective analysis by the researcher (Osorio, 2014). Researchers dealing with quantitative data may not face similar concerns of bias because their analysis of the data is not subjective in nature but it relates to objective reporting of numerical data. However, in conflict research where the researchers are involved in qualitative research which seeks to reveal multi-layered and complex aspects related to such conflicts, concerns regarding bias may be raised.

To conclude, conflict researchers may face different kinds of challenges in accessing data, entry into conflict zone, analysing of copious data collected by journalists and other bodies or individuals, ethical concerns of safety of participants in asking them to sign consent forms, and even bias of the researchers themselves who are applying qualitative methods for collecting and analysing the data. In some ways, conflict research is different from other research studies and there may be areas where the researchers may have to take a different approach, such as by taking oral consent of the participants.

5. To what extent is culture relevant to conflict and conflict resolution?

This essay argues that culture is increasingly relevant to conflict as well as conflict resolution because it can help to understand the reasons for conflict as well as help to assess the responses to the conflict from a contextual perspective.

One of the seminal academic works on culture and cultural differences, is by Hofstede (2011) and this work is useful for understanding what is meant by culture as well as how national cultures can be different from each other. Hofstede (2011) defined culture as the “collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others” (p. 11). It is the fact that culture is collective in nature, that makes it so significant a point to understanding how different groups can take divergent views from one another and how these divergent views can also lead to conflicts between different groups. Furthermore, it can also be argued that the understanding of the culture of the other can also lead to a better understanding of how to resolve these conflicts.

Over a period of time, there has been some acceptance of the culture theory to contextualise conflict resolutions between nations whereas at one point, the dominant view was that power and not culture is the more important variable for understanding international relations between states (Avruch, 2015). In the post Cold War era, there has been greater acceptance of the argument that culture has implications for conflict as well as conflict management (Avruch, 2015). There are two ways of looking at this: first, through the prism of the civilizational clash as noted by Huntington in The Clash of the Civilizations, where he argued that the interaction between the major civilisations of this world will lead to conflict between the nations (Huntington, 1993). Second, that culture or cultural understanding can actually lead to resolutions of conflict when two parties negotiate using such understanding of the other side (Avruch, 2015). The second view is also proposed predominantly in the conflict resolution literature as well as anthropology literature (Avruch, 2015).

Although there are theoretical constructs on conflict resolution that deny the role of culture in the field of culture and conflict resolution, such as Tim Burton’s human needs theory, there are alternate views which emphasise on the value of culture for developing a dialogical community, be it in the national or international sense (Väyrynen, 2018). The value of culture and cultural understanding is also linked to the discursive rationality and negotiated realities (Väyrynen, 2018). This is because culture offers the language and vocabulary for understanding the world in its diverse culture and this helps to provide understanding of the conflict and its resolution (Väyrynen, 2018).

It has been noted that culture contributes “immensely toward the understanding, preventing, mitigating and recovering from conflicts” because people derive their sense of meaning from their culture and this differs amongst different nations around the world (Essien, 2020, p. 84). Eissen (2020) writes about peacebuilding in Africa and uses a construct of culture to understand the conflict and also contexts of peacebuilding. He writes that Africa’s conflict ridden countries nations require the promotion of positive peace, and this can be done by using progressive cultural principles because African nations have indigenous cultural practices and value-systems that are different from western nations. African culture emphasises on the principles of social solidarity and cooperation. An example that can be taken here to illustrate the place of culture in conflict resolution is the post conflict transitional justice courts in Sierra Leone. The transitional justice system in Sierra Leone has been critiqued for its not being sensitive enough to local context and cultural worldviews (Sriram, 2007). Indeed, this is a criticism that is levelled against the transitional justice system in general that it does not take into account the cultural sensibilities of the local populations where the notions of justice may be different to the ones espoused in the transitional justice system; for instance, in African nations, there is a more emphasis on cooperation and negotiation for achieving justice and not adversarial methods that are more prevalent in the western contexts. The transitional justice systems are more adversarial in nature and this does not provide the cooperative systems that the African communities are culturally more amenable to accepting for the post conflict resolution (Sriram, 2007).

An understanding or respect for the cultural sensibilities of another, can also help in diffusing or resolving conflict. A recent example can be taken here to understand the role played by the culture in resolution of conflict; the example is from the recent trade war between China and the United States and the negotiations for the resolution of the conflict in 2020. During these negotiations between the two negotiators of the two countries, one of the terms mentioned by the Chinese side was that it should get a trade deal that allows China to not lose face or respect before their people or the world (Nasher, 2019). This is a cultural point and one that is not common to the American point of view because it is something that is more a part of Eastern culture with an emphasis on respect claimed from others (Merkin, 2017). In order to resolve this conflict, the American side needed to understand and respond to this cultural concept.

To conclude, culture does play a role in the conflict resolution contexts of both national and international conflicts. Culture is important because it provides meaning to the lives of different groups and also in some ways distinguishes them from other groups. In the event of conflicts between different groups, cultural understanding can provide understanding of the conflict and also the understanding of what kinds of resolution mechanisms can be used to resolve the conflict. Moreover, understanding of culture is also important for providing language for conflict resolution through negotiation. Examples used in this essay also support the contention that culture is valuable for conflict resolution.

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Bibliography

Avruch, K., 2015. Context and pretext in conflict resolution: Culture, identity, power, and practice. s.l.:Routledge.

Davenport, C. & Moore, W. H., 2015. Conflict Consortium Standards & Best Practices for Observational Data, s.l.: NSF.

Essien, E., 2020. Cultural Rituals and Symbol as a Paradigm for Conflict Intervention and Peacebuilding in Africa: Experience From Nigeria. In: Handbook of Research on the Impact of Culture in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding. s.l.: IGI Global, pp. 78-103.

Hofstede, G., 2011. Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), pp. 8-26.

Huntington, S. P., 1993. The Clash of Civilizations?. Foreign Affairs, 72(3), pp. 22-49.

Lyall, J., Blair, G. & Imai, K., 2013. Explaining support for combatants during wartime: A survey experiment in Afghanistan. American political science review, pp. 679-705.

Merkin, R. S., 2017. Saving face in business: managing cross-cultural interactions. s.l.:Springer.

Nasher, J., 2019. Trump's Gamble: How Hardball Negotiation Tactics Can Win the U.S.-China Trade War. [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacknasher/2019/05/27/trumps-gamble-how-hardball-negotiation-tactics-can-win-the-us-china-trade-war/?sh=6f111727340d [Accessed 17 May 2021].

Osorio, J., 2014. Numbers Under Fire: The Challenges Of Gathering Quantitative Data In Highly Violent Settings Social Science Research Council, S.L.: Social Science Research Council.

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Sriram, C., 2007. Justice as Peace? Liberal Peacebuilding and Strategies of Transitional Justice. Global Society, 12(4), pp. 279-291.

Väyrynen, T., 2018. Culture and international conflict resolution: A critical analysis of the work of John Burton. s.l.:Manchester University Press.