I. Before Leaving for the Field
Next >> II. Working With the Community: What's in it for Them?

1. Ask yourself why you want to do this research. It can be tempting to want to visit “exotic” places and meet interesting people, but you should want to contribute to the peace process in some way and should ask yourself how you can make such a contribution. It might be better to study the institutions in your own country or the forces that impede peace.
   
   
2. Do extensive research on what else has been written on the area. DO NOT show up ready to re-invent the wheel.
   
   
3. After you have done preliminary research and formulated your research question, contact other researchers who have written on women peace builders in this area to find out
   
   1. whether there is unpublished research that covers the topic that you are about to study;
   2. in what ways you might be useful to the groups involved; and
   3. in what ways you might end up wasting the group's time or even getting in the way of their objectives.
   
   
4. Find out as much as you can about the context and background of the politics on the ground and the group itself.
   
   
5. Know the macro political and cultural environment in which you are working. Know how your research fits into any political agendas. Know that you may be putting people who participate in your study at risk and consider how you will maintain their confidentiality.
   
   
6. Examine your own politics. What are your conclusions about the justice and the injustice of the situation? Make yourself as aware as possible of your “eyes”—that is, the implicit lens through which you will be observing the situation. Recognize that your politics may conflict with your loyalty to the project and the groups working together to reduce conflict or bring about peace.
   
   
7. Ideally, your relationship with a community group would begin with an invitation to work with them on an issue they would like to examine. Another option is for you to approach a community, express an interest in their work, and ask whether they are interested in the project. You should make these contacts far in advance of your planned field research to allow ample time for negotiations between you and the community.
   
   
8. Think hard about the group and individuals you will work with. Recognize that the individuals and group you choose to work with will affect the process and product of your research. In a conflict zone, almost every individual and group will be identified with a particular political stand and even perhaps a particular group of friends. Many will also be identified with particular donor agencies or political parties, etc. Whom you ally with will make a difference.
   
   
9. Work through community groups that already know the situation.
   
   
10. Make contact with a particular group (or group of individuals), and make sure they want to have you working with them. Realize that allying yourself with a particular community, especially in a conflict situation, can significantly influence the outcome of your research.
    
    1. Be clear about what you will be doing, your goals, and how much time your work will take from the group members.
    2. Make an agreement with the community about the purposes of the research, what it will be used for, and what you will “give back” to the community (see section II below). ²
    3. Be sure to tell potential participants they have the right to refuse to be in a study or to discontinue their participation at any time.
    4. Recognize the community’s goals of image management. Be clear about whether or not you will let members of the community determine the shape of your reporting on the research. ³
    5. Make sure the community knows that nothing may come of this research, unless you have some way of ensuring publication.
       

Next >> II. Working With the Community: What's in it for Them?

² Many issues arise regarding agreements with a community on the topic and shape of the research. They deserve a more thorough treatment than we can give here, but they include: 1) Researchers are often tempted to “over-promise.” We all commonly underestimate the time it takes to do something. This is fine when we are the only ones to suffer the consequences, but when we promise something to others that we can't deliver on, we cross the line into unethical behavior. 2) Sometimes researchers find it hard or impossible to develop appropriate guidelines on what should be agreed on, as the community itself may come to understand its concerns only as the research develops. The researcher should try to anticipate as many concerns as possible, and provide many moments of consultation throughout so that concerns may be voiced as soon as they occur. See Section II for more on this topic.
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³ This topic deserves further discussion, more than we can provide here.
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