The promise of interpretive methods in tightly controlled political settings /
In the summer of 2010, I embarked on a project to examine ordinary Rwandans' responses to the various institutions that the country's government and the international community had put in place to promote justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. Until then, a numbe...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London :
SAGE Publications Ltd,
2019.
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| Series: | SAGE Research Methods. Cases.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | In the summer of 2010, I embarked on a project to examine ordinary Rwandans' responses to the various institutions that the country's government and the international community had put in place to promote justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. Until then, a number of studies on the subject had focused on the community-level gacaca courts while a handful of others had considered the role of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in holding the masterminds of the genocide accountable for their crimes. Yet, relatively little work had compared Rwandans' opinions of these two institutions. My initial research sought to fill this gap. After arriving in the country, however, I quickly realized that several questions that I had hoped to ask respondents could not be posed within the context of the tightly controlled post-conflict Rwandan regime. Consequently, I had to alter my original research design and reconsider the topics that I could feasibly and ethically study. These adjustments involved embracing an interpretive approach to carrying out research: I eliminated certain questions from my questionnaire and became comfortable with the idea of letting interviewees take the lead in framing their conversations with me. This case study highlights the strengths of interpretive methods of research in tightly controlled political settings. It proposes that flexibility and a willingness to revise and reconsider conceptual claims in light of field realities can not only help to strengthen one's insights about outcomes of interest but can also aid in developing trustworthy relationships with interlocutors. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. |
| ISBN: | 9781526495600 1526495600 |