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7 - Conducting surveys in areas of armed conflict
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- By Zeina N. Mneimneh, University of Michigan, William G. Axinn, University of Michigan, Dirgha Ghimire, University of Michigan, Kristen L. Cibelli, University of Michigan, Mohammad Salih Alkaisy, IBN Cena Teaching Hospital Mosul
- Edited by Roger Tourangeau, Brad Edwards, Timothy P. Johnson, University of Illinois, Chicago, Kirk M. Wolter, University of Chicago, Nancy Bates
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- Book:
- Hard-to-Survey Populations
- Published online:
- 05 September 2014
- Print publication:
- 28 August 2014, pp 134-156
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
The humanitarian tragedy of large-scale armed conflict continues to be part of human experience leaving a tremendous demographic, social, economic, and health impact on societies. Investigating the impact of such conflicts, assessing the community’s needs, and guiding and evaluating interventions require collecting reliable information on the affected population. Survey research provides tools for collecting such information, but the obstacles to successful survey data collection in these circumstances are substantial. We argue that conducting surveys in armed conflict settings is difficult, but can be done and done well by following a few design and implementation principles. We begin this chapter by summarizing these principles and discuss them further in the remaining sections of the chapter. These principles are derived from the authors’ experiences conducting surveys in such settings and reports from the literature and are based on observational rather than experimental evidence, but reflect the forefront of research on these topics. The first principle is to maintain an adaptive (flexible) approach at all phases of the survey allowing researchers to adjust the study protocols to such volatile circumstances. Second, mixed method approaches can be used to maximize that flexibility and minimize the weaknesses in a survey data collection design by capitalizing on the strengths of supplementary methods. Third, recruitment and training of interviewers require unconventional approaches such as: maintaining political neutrality during recruitment and training, and adding training components on psychological preparation, the art of politically neutral interactions, and handling conversations with respondents about the conflict. The fourth principle is to tailor data collection methods to deal with specific armed conflict challenges. Examples include: tailoring approaches to minimize refusals and noncontact, special efforts to secure interview privacy, and unconventional monitoring. Fifth, data collection in armed conflict settings often raises major ethical considerations that need to be carefully addressed. Overall, most good survey practice in armed conflict settings is no different from good general survey practice. But the challenges associated with these settings demand new mixes of existing approaches and flexibility to address the specific local conditions.
12 - Surveying cultural and linguistic minorities
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- By Janet Harkness, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Mathew Stange, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Kristen L. Cibelli, University of Michigan, Peter Mohler, University of Mannheim, Beth-Ellen Pennell, University of Michigan
- Edited by Roger Tourangeau, Brad Edwards, Timothy P. Johnson, University of Illinois, Chicago, Kirk M. Wolter, University of Chicago, Nancy Bates
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- Book:
- Hard-to-Survey Populations
- Published online:
- 05 September 2014
- Print publication:
- 28 August 2014, pp 245-269
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
Cultural and linguistic minorities can be hard to survey either as the target population of interest or as a subpopulation of a general population survey. The challenges associated with studying these minorities are important to understand in order to assess and address the survey error that can be introduced when designing and implementing studies that include these groups. This chapter begins with a description of what constitutes cultural and linguistic minorities, based on a systematic review of the literature (see Chapter 5 in this volume, for a complete description of the process). We note that the literature in this area is largely limited to research among cultural and linguistic minorities in the context of Western and industrialized countries. Therefore, we supplement this literature by drawing upon our own experience and discussions with colleagues who conduct research among cultural and linguistic minorities in other parts of the world. This review is followed by a discussion of the potential challenges faced by researchers interested in surveying cultural and linguistic minorities and approaches taken to address these challenges in the areas of sampling, questionnaire development, adaptation and translation, pretesting, and data collection. We then discuss additional approaches to studying these hard-to-survey populations including qualitative, mixed-methods, and community-based research methods and how these can complement survey methods. The concluding section addresses needed improvements in the documentation and development of research methods to expand solutions and increase the quality of hard-to-survey cultural and linguistic minority research.
Defining cultural and linguistic minorities
This section sets out the key features of cultural and linguistic minorities. Three core concepts are defined and discussed. First, we define minority populations followed by a discussion of linguistic and cultural minorities. The distinct concept of hard-to-survey is also relevant and discussed in this context (also see Chapter 1 in this volume). On the one hand, it is a relatively straightforward task to define these concepts; however, as we discuss below, applying these definitions in a survey context is far more complicated. Formal definitions serve as a good starting point for this discussion, however.