The ARC Bibliography

The ARC Bibliography is a resource for researchers working in fragile, conflict or violence-affected contexts or on related topics. The majority of materials focus on the ethical, logistical, and methodological issues that may arise in such work.

At this point, these materials have been curated by scholars trained predominantly in political science and located in the US and Europe. We are avowedly methodologically and epistemologically pluralist. We have included materials from across research traditions and from scholars located around the world; the works are, however, predominantly in English. We include some relevant materials from sociology, anthropology, history, area studies, and other disciplines. We welcome further suggestions and additions via email.

Given the volume of scholarship available, this bibliography is a work in progress. We do our best to update our resources as new, relevant work is published and are continuously adding material (in particular, book chapters). We are a small group of scholars and we are not paid for our efforts, so additions may not always be immediate. We are unfortunately unable to send listed materials to people, but strive to link to un-gated publications when possible.

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The ARC Bibliography is divided into the following categories (click to view sections or download full bibliography in pdf here):

Research Ethics

Power, Politics, and Representation

Vulnerability, Emotions, and Trauma

Field Logistics, Data Security, and Risk Management

Institutional Review, IRBs, Ethics Codes

Publication, Research Openness, and Participant Protection

Researcher Identity, Reflexivity, and Positionality

Methods and Reflections on Fieldwork

There are also several blogs that focus expressly on these issues:

Anthrodendum: https://anthrodendum.org/about/

From Poverty to Power: https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/

Research in Difficult Settings: http://conflictfieldresearch.colgate.edu/

Governance in Conflict Network. “(Silent) Voices Blog: The Bukavu Series:” https://www.gicnetwork.be/silent-voices-blog-bukavu-series-eng/

Research Ethics

Abedi Dunia, O., Eriksson Baaz, M., Mwambari, D., Parashar, S., Toppo, A. O. M., & Vincent, J. B. M. (2020). “The Covid-19 Opportunity: Creating More Ethical and Sustainable Research Practices.” Items. [Link]  

Baele, S. J. et al. (2018). “The Ethics of Security Research: An Ethics Framework for Contemporary Security Studies.” International Studies Perspectives, 19(2): 105–127. [Link] 

Basini, H. (2016). ‘‘Doing No Harm’: Methodological and Ethical Challenges of Working with Women Associated with Fighting Forces/Ex-combatants in Liberia.’ In A. Wibben (Ed.), Researching War: Feminist Methods, Ethics and Politics (pp.163-184). Oxon & New York: Routledge. [Link]  

Blee, K. M., & Currier, A. (2011). “Ethics Beyond the IRB: An Introductory Essay.” Qualitative Sociology, 34(3), 401-413. [Link] 

Blee, K. M., & Vining, T. (2010). Risks and Ethics of Social Movement Research in a Changing Political Climate. In P. G. Coy (Ed.), Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (Vol. 30), pp. 43–71. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. [Link] 

Campbell, S. P. (2017). “Ethics of Research in Conflict Environments.” Journal of Global Security Studies, 2(1), 89–101. [Link] 

Carpenter, C. (2012). ‘‘You Talk of Terrible Things So Matter-of-Factly in This Language of Science’: Constructing Human Rights in the Academy.” Perspectives on Politics, 10(2), 363–383. [Link]  

Clark, J. N. (2012). “Fieldwork and Its Ethical Challenges: Reflections from Research in Bosnia.” Human Rights Quarterly, 34(3), 823–39. [Link] 

Cramer, C.; Hammond, L., & Pottier, J. (Eds.). (2011). Researching Violence in Africa: Ethical and Methodological Challenges. Leiden: Brill. [Link]  

Cronin-Furman, K., & Lake, M. (2018). “Ethics Abroad: Fieldwork in Fragile and Violent Contexts.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 51(3), 607-614. [PDF] 

Curtis, D. A. (2019). “What Is Our Research For? Responsibility, Humility and the Production of Knowledge about Burundi.” Africa Spectrum, 54(1), 4-21. [PDF] 

Dauphinee, E. (2007). The Ethics of Researching War: Looking for Bosnia. Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press. [Link] 

Desai, D., & Tapscott, R. (2015). “Tomayto Tomahto: The Research Supply Chain and the Ethics of Knowledge Production.” Humanity Journal Blog. [Link]  

Devries, K. M. et al. (2015). “‘I Never Expected That It Would Happen, Coming to Ask Me Such Questions’: Ethical Aspects of Asking Children About Violence in Resource Poor Settings.” Trials, 16(516), 1–12. [PDF] 

Eck, K., and Cohen, D.K. (2019). “Ethics of Student Research on Political Violence: Starting a Dialogue.” Political Violence at a Glance (blog). August 29, 2019. [Link]

Eck, K., & Cohen, D. K. (2021). “Time for a Change: The Ethics of Student-led Human Subjects Research on Political Violence.” Third World Quarterly, 0(0), 1–12. [Link]

Eriksson Baaz, M., & Utas, M. (2019). “Exploring the Backstage: Methodological and Ethical Issues Surrounding the Role of Research Brokers in Insecure Zones.” Civil Wars, 21(2), 157–178. [Link]  

Fiesler, C., & Proferes, N. (2018). “Participant” Perceptions of Twitter Research Ethics. Social Media + Society, 4(1). [Link]

Fujii, L. A. (2012). “Research Ethics 101: Dilemmas and Responsibilities.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 45(4), 717–23. [PDF] 

Frazer, M. L. (2020). “Respect for Subjects in the Ethics of Causal and Interpretive Social Explanation.” American Political Science Review, 1–12. [Link]  

Goodhand, J. (2000). “Research in Conflict Zones: Ethics and Accountability.” Forced Migration, 8(4), 12–15. [PDF] 

Guillemin, M., & Gillam, L. (2004). “Ethics, Reflexivity, and ‘Ethically Important Moments’ in Research.” Qualitative Inquiry, 10(2), 261–280. [Link] 

Habib, R. R. (2019). “Ethical, methodological, and contextual challenges in research in conflict settings: The case of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon.” Conflict and Health, 13(1), 29. [Link] 

Henrion, E., and Thorley, L. (2019). “Ethical Standards Rapid Literature Review: Final Report.” Research Communications and Uptake. London: Department for International Development. [Link] 

Hoover Green, A., & Cohen, D. K. (2020). Centering Human Subjects: The Ethics of “Desk Research” on Political Violence. Journal of Global Security Studies, 29. [Link]  

Humphreys, M. (2014). “How to make field experiments more ethical.” Washington Post. November 2, 2014. [Link]  

Jentzsch, C. (2018). “Intervention, Autonomy and Power in Polarised Societies.” In B. Browne & A. Rivas (Eds.), Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence: Fieldwork Interrupted. Policy Press. [Link] [PDF]

Kaplan, L., Kuhnt, J., & Steinert, J. I. (2020). “Do no harm? Field research in the Global South: Ethical Challenges Faced by Research Staff.” World Development, 127. [Link] 

Knott, E. (2018). “Beyond the Field: Ethics After Fieldwork in Politically Dynamic Contexts.” Perspectives on Politics, 17(1), 140-153. [PDF] 

Kostovicova, D., & Knott, E. (2020). “Harm, Change and Unpredictability: The Ethics of Interviews in Conflict Research.” Qualitative Research. [Link]  

Krause, J. (2021). “The Ethics of Ethnographic Methods in Conflict Zones.” Journal of Peace Research. [Link]

Lake, M., & Parkinson, S. E. (2017). “The Ethics of Fieldwork Preparedness.” Political Violence at a Glance. [Link] 

Mackenzie, C., McDowell, C., and Pittaway, E. (2007). “Beyond ‘Do No Harm’: The Challenge of Constructing Ethical Relationships in Refugee Research.” Journal of Refugee Studies 20, no. 2: 299–319. [Link] 

Masterson, D., and Mourad, L. (2019). “The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in the Syrian Refugee Crisis.” APSA MENA Politcs 2(1). [Link]

Mitchell, A. (2013). ‘’Escaping the ‘Field Trap’: Exploitation and the Global Politics of Educational Fieldwork in ‘Conflict Zones.’’’ Third World Quarterly, 34(7), 1247–1264. [Link]  

Monson, J. (2020). “Ethics of Transregional Research and the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Items. (Blog.) [Link] 

Mwambari, D., Purdeková, A., and Bisoka, A.N. (2021). “Covid-19 and Research in Conflict-Affected Contexts: Distanced Methods and the Digitalisation of Suffering.” Qualitative Research. [Link].

Nouwen, S. (2014). “‘As You Set out for Ithaka’: Practical, Epistemological, Ethical, and Existential Questions about Socio-Legal Empirical Research in Conflict.” Leiden Journal of International Law, 27(1), 227–260. [Link]

Paczynska, A., & Hirsch, S. F. (Eds.). (2019). Conflict Zone, Comfort Zone: Ethics, Pedagogy, and Effecting Change in Field-Based Courses. Ohio University Press. [Link] 

Parkinson, S.E. (2015) “Towards an Ethics of Sight: Violence Scholarship and the Arab Uprisings.” LSE Middle East Center Blog, August 26, 2015. [Link]

Pittaway, E.; Bartolomei, L., & Hugman, R. (2010). ‘‘Stop Stealing Our Stories’: The Ethics of Research with Vulnerable Groups.” Journal of Human Rights Practice, 2(2), 229–251. [PDF] 

Project on Middle East Political Science. (2014). POMEPS Studies 8: The Ethics of Research in the Middle East. Washington, DC: Project on Middle East Political Science [PDF] 

Schmidt, R. (2021). “When Fieldwork Ends: Navigating Ongoing Contact with Former Insurgents.” Terrorism and Political Violence, 33(2), 312–323. [Link]

Schulz, P. (2020). “Recognizing Research Participants’ Fluid Positionalities in (Post-)conflict Zones.” Qualitative Research, 1–18. [PDF] 

Schwedler, Jillian. (2014). “Toward Transparency in the Ethics of Knowledge Production.” POMEPS Studies 8: The Ethics of Research in the Middle East Washington, DC: Project on Middle East Political Science. [Link]. 

Shanks, K., & Paulson, J. (2022). “Ethical research landscapes in fragile and conflict-affected contexts: Understanding the challenges.” Research Ethics, 18(3), 169–192. [Link]

Smith, N. (2020). “Member Checking: Lessons from the Dead.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research, 17–18(1), 60–65. [Link]

Steinert, J. I., Nyarige, D. A., Jacobi, M., Kuhnt, J., & Kaplan, L. (2021). “A Systematic Review on Ethical Challenges of ‘Field’ Research in Low-income and Middle-income Countries: Respect, Justice, and Beneficence for Research Staff?” BMJ Global Health, 6(7). [PDF]

Subotić, J. (2020). “Ethics of Archival Research on Political Violence.” Journal of Peace Research, 1–13. [PDF] 

Thomson, S., Ansoms, A., & Murison, J. (Eds.). (2013). Emotional and Ethical Challenges for Field Research in Africa: The Story Behind the Findings. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [Link]  

Thomson, S. (2009). “Developing Ethical Guidelines for Researchers Working in Post-Conflict Environments.” Research Report, States and Security Program, City University of New York. 

United Nations Population Fund. (2021). Reporting Tip Sheet on Digital Violence: A Practical Reference Guide for Journalists and Media. United Nations Population Fund: Resources. Retrieved November 28, 2021. [Link]

University of Edinburgh. (2020). Some Ethical Considerations When Rethinking Research Projects in Light of Covid-19 Situation. [PDF] 

Villamil, M. D. D. (2021). “Gender and War: Rethinking Harmful Research Practices in 2021.” OpenGlobalRights. [Link]

Wackenhut, A. F. (2018). “Ethical Considerations and Dilemmas Before, During and After Fieldwork in Less-Democratic Contexts: some Reflections from Post-Uprising Egypt.” The American Sociologist, 49(2), 242-257. [PDF]  

Wood, E. J. (2006). “The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in Conflict Zones.” Qualitative Sociology, 29(3), 373–86. [Link]  

Wood, E.J. (2007). “Field Research During War: Ethical Dilemmas.” In New Perspectives in Political Ethnography, edited by Lauren Joseph, Matthew Mahler, and Javier Auyero, 205–23. New York, NY: Springer New York. [Link].  

Wood, E. J., Rogers, D., Sivaramakrishnan, K., & Almeling, R. (2020). “Resuming Field Research in Pandemic Times.” Items. [Link]

Vulnerability, Emotions, and Trauma

Akello, G. (2012). “The Importance of the Autobiographic Self during Research among Wartime Children in Northern Uganda.” Medische Antropologie, 24(2), 289-300. [PDF] 

Allam, H. (2019). “‘It Gets to You.’ Extremism Researchers Confront the Unseen Toll of Their Work.” NPR.org. September 20. [Link]  

Ansoms, A. (2020). “Living with the Psychological Burdens of Academic Research.” Africa at LSE (blog). August 26. [Link] 

Aroussi, S. (2020). “Researching wartime rape in Eastern Congo: why we should continue to talk to survivors?” Qualitative Research, 20(5), 582–597. [Link]

Brayne, Mark. 2009. “Trauma & Journalism: A Practical Guide.” Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, March 24. [PDF]  

Campbell, R. (2002). Emotionally Involved: The Impact of Researching Rape. Routledge. [Link] 

Cirhuza, E., Bahati, I., Précieux, T., & Ansoms, A. (2020). “Contracts and Lived Experiences of Global South Local Researchers.” Africa at LSE (blog). June 11. [Link]  

Davis, J.M., and Wilfahrt, M. (2023) “Enumerator Experiences in Violent Research Environments.” Comparative Political Studies. [Link]

Diphoorn, T. (2013). “The Emotionality of Participation: Various Modes of Participation in Ethnographic Fieldwork on Private Policing in Durban, South Africa.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 42(2), 201–225. [Link]

Enria, L. (2018). “Elective Affinities: Fragility and Injustice in the Field.” The New Ethnographer. April 25. [Link]

Estrella, A. (2019). “El Cruce de la Muerte: Fieldwork and Carework at the Crossroad of Death.” Anthrodendum (blog). November 7. [Link] 

Fiorella, Giancarlo. (2022) “How to Maintain Mental Hygiene as an Open Source Researcher.” Bellingcat, November 23. [Link]

Gentile, M. (2013). “Meeting the ‘Organs’: The Tacit Dilemma of Field Research in Authoritarian States.” Area, 45(4), 426-432. [Link] 

Hage, G. (2009). “Hating Israel in the Field On Ethnography and Political Emotions.” Anthropological Theory 9(1): 59–79. [Link] 

Hedström, J., & Phyo, Z. M. (2020). “Friendship, Intimacy, and Power in Research on Conflict: Implications for Feminist Ethics.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, 22(5), 765–777. [Link] 

Hummel, C., and El Kurd, D. (2021). “Mental Health and Fieldwork.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 54(1), 121-125. doi:10.1017/S1049096520001055. [Link] 

Jamar, A., & Chappuis, F. (2016). “Conventions of Silence: Emotions and Knowledge Production in War-Affected Research Environments.” Parcours anthropologiques. [PDF] 

Kaplan, O. (2018). “Key Informant Loss.” Political Violence at a Glance (blog). September 19 [Link]  

Kreft, A.K. (2019). “On Difficult Research and Mental Wellbeing.” anne-kathrinkreft.com. [Link] 

Lawlor, R. (2020). “Working with Death: The Experience of Feeling in the Archive.” Perspectives on History. December 05. [Link]

Lecoocq, B. (2002). “Fieldwork Ain’t Always Fun: Public and Hidden Discourses on Fieldwork.” History in Africa 29, 273-282. [Link]  

Lewis, K. J. (2019). “Writing, Silence, and Sensemaking after Fieldwork Trauma.” Anthrodendum (blog). November 6. [Link] 

Liamputtong, P. (2007). Researching the Vulnerable. A Guide to Sensitive Research Methods. London: Sage. [Link]  

Loyle, C. E., & Simoni, A. (2017). “Researching under Fire: Political Science and Researcher Trauma.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 50(1), 141-145. [PDF] 

Macaspac, N. V. (2018). “Suspicion and Ethnographic Peace Research (Notes from a Local Researcher).” International Peacekeeping, 25(5), 677–694. [Link]

Markowitz, A. (2019). “The Better to Break and Bleed With: Research, Violence, and Trauma.” Geopolitics, 0(0), 1–24. [Link]  

McClinton Appollis, T., Lund, C., de Vries, P. J., & Mathews, C. (2015). “Adolescents’ and Adults’ Experiences of Being Surveyed About Violence and Abuse: A Systematic Review of Harms, Benefits, and Regrets.” American Journal of Public Health, 105(2), e31–e45. [Link]  

Moghnieh, L. (2017). “‘The Violence We Live In’: Reading and Experiencing Violence in the Field.” Contemporary Levant, 2(1), 24–36. [Link]

Nassif, H. (2017). “To Fear and to Defy: Emotions in the Field.” Contemporary Levant, 2(1), 49–54. [Link]

Palmer, J. (2015). “Vicarious Trauma among Researchers: Recognizing and Dealing with It.” UAA Justice Center (blog). February 24. [Link] 

Pearce, R. (2020). “A Methodology for the Marginalised: Surviving Oppression and Traumatic Fieldwork in the Neoliberal Academy.” Sociology, 54(4), 806–824. [PDF] 

Pearlman, W. (2022). “Emotional Sensibility: Exploring the Methodological and Ethical Implications of Research Participants’ Emotions.” American Political Science Review, 1–14. [Link]

Porterfield, K. (2019). “Working with a Traumatized Child: Creating a Frame and Minimizing Harm.” Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. November 19. [Link] 

Robins, J. (2021). Can Historians Be Traumatized by History? The New Republic. February 16. [Link]

Salem, W. (2022). “Scenes From My Ongoing Egyptian Captivity: How an innocent trip back home has ensnared me in a labyrinth of endless imprisonment.” New Lines Magazine, First Person. [Link]

Schulz, P., & Kreft, A.-K. (2021). “Researching Conflict-related Sexual Violence: A Conversation between Early-career Researchers.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, 0(0), 1–9. [Link]

Schulz, P., Kreft, A.-K., Touquet, H., & Martin, S. (2022). “Self-care for gender-based violence researchers – Beyond bubble baths and chocolate pralines.” Qualitative Research [Link]

Shesterinina, A. (2018). “Ethics, Empathy, and Fear in Research on Violent Conflict.” Journal of Peace Research, 56(2), 190-202. [PDF] 

Sloan, K., Vanderfluit, J., & Douglas, J. (2019). “Not ‘Just My Problem to Handle’: Emerging Themes on Secondary Trauma and Archivists.” Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies, 6. [Link]

The Dart Center. (n.d.). “Understand How Your Own Emotional Wellbeing Is Part of This Too.” Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Last accessed 29 August 2021. [Link]

Theidon, K. (2014). “‘How Was Your Trip?’ Self-care for Researchers Working and Writing on Violence.” Social Science Research Council DSD Working Papers on Research Security, Working Paper Series.

Thomson, S.M., Ansoms, A., and Murison, J. (2013). Emotional and Ethical Challenges for Field Research in Africa—The Story Behind the Findings. Palgrave Macmillan. [Link]  

University of Sheffield. (2019). Emotionally Demanding Research: Risks to the Researcher. Specialist Research Ethics Guidance Paper. [PDF] 

Williamson, E., Gregory, A., Abrahams, H., Aghtaie, N., Walker, S.-J., & Hester, M. (2020). “Secondary Trauma: Emotional Safety in Sensitive Research.” Journal of Academic Ethics, 18(1), 55–70. [Link]

Wolfe, Lauren. 2017. “10 Do’s and Don’ts on How to Interview Sexualized Violence Survivors.” WMC: Women Under Siege, May 17. [Link]

World Health Organization. (2011). Psychological First Aid: Guide for Field Workers. WHO Press. [PDF]

Field Logistics, Data Security, and Risk Management

Baird, A. (2018). “Dancing with Danger: Ethnographic Safety, Male Bravado and Gang Research in Colombia.” Qualitative Research, 18(3), 342–360. [Link] 

Carayannis, T., & Bolin, A. (2020). “Research in Insecure Times and Places: Ethics of Social Research for Emerging Ecologies of Insecurity.” Items. [Link]  

Dixit, M. (2013). “Field Research in Conflict Zones: Experience from India and Sierra Leone.” International Studies, 49(1–2), 133–150. [Link]

Electronic Frontier Foundation Resource for Academic Researchers. Surveillance Self-defense. [Link] 

Ellis, R. (2021). “What Do We Mean By a ‘Hard-to-reach’ Population? Legitimacy Versus Precarity as Barriers to Access.” Sociological Methods & Research. [Link] 

Ginty, R. M., Brett, R., & Vogel, B. (Eds.). (2021). The Companion to Peace and Conflict Fieldwork. Palgrave Macmillan. [Link]

Goldstein, D.M. (2014). “Qualitative Research in Dangerous Places: Becoming an Ethnographer of Violence and Personal Safety.” Social Science Research Council DSD Working Papers on Research Security, Working Paper Series. [PDF]

Grimm, J.J, Lust, E., Koehler, K., Parkinson, S.E., Schierenbeck, I., and Zayed, D.. (2022). “Back to Field: Uncertainty and Risk in Field Research.” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, 2022, 21–24. [Link]

Grimm, J. J., Koehler, K., Lust, E. M., Saliba, I., & Schierenbeck, I. (2020). Safer Field Research in the Social Sciences: A Guide to Human and Digital Security in Hostile Environments. SAGE Publications Ltd. [Link]

Hackblossom (Digital Security Resource). “A DIY Guide to Feminist Cybersecurity.” [Link]

Henry, C., Gohdes, A., & Dorff, C. (2022). “Digital Footprints and Data-Security Risks for Political Scientists.” PS: Political Science & Politics, First View (The Profession), 1–5. [Link]

Hilhorst, D.; Hodgson, L.; Jansen, B.; Mena, R. (2016). Security Guidelines for Field Research in Complex, Remote, and Hazardous Places. The Hague: International Institute of Social Studies. English [PDF], French [PDF], Arabic [PDF]  

Kapiszewski, D., MacLean, L.M., and Read, B.  (2015). Field Research in Political Science: Practices and Principles. Cambridge University Press. 

Malejacq, R., & Mukhopadhyay, D. (2016). “The ‘Tribal Politics’ of Field Research: A Reflection on Power and Partiality in 21st-Century Warzones.” Perspectives on Politics, 14(4), 1011-1028. [PDF]  

Mertus, J. A. (2009). “Maintenance of Personal Security: Ethical and Operational Issues.” In C. Sriram et al. (Eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations (pp. 165-176). London & New York: Routledge. [Link] 

Milliff, A. (2022). “Data security in human subjects research: new tools for qualitative and mixed-methods scholars.” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, 19/20 (2/1) , 31–39. [Link]

Nilan, P. (2002). “‘Dangerous Fieldwork’ Re-examined: The Question of Researcher Subject Position.” Qualitative Research, 2(3): 363–386. [Link]

Nordstrom, C., & Robben, A. (Eds.). (1995). Fieldwork under Fire: Contemporary Studies of Violence and Survival. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Link] 

Norman, J. M. (2009). “Got Trust? The Challenge of Gaining Access in Conflict Zones.” In C. Sriram et al. (Eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations (pp. 71-90). London & New York: Routledge. [Link] 

Palys, T., & Lowman, J. (2012). “Defending Research Confidentiality ‘To the Extent the Law Allows’: Lessons From the Boston College Subpoenas.” Journal of Academic Ethics, 10(4), 271–297. [Link] 

Parkinson, S. E. (2014). “Practical Ethics: How U.S. Law and the ‘War on Terror’ Affect Research in the Middle East.” POMEPS Studies 8: New Challenges to Public and Policy Engagement. Project on Middle East Political Science: Washington, DC. [Link]

Parkinson, S. E. (2017). “Through the Looking Glass: Information Security and Middle East Research.” POMEPS Studies 24: New Challenges to Public and Policy Engagement. Project on Middle East Political Science: Washington, DC, March 13. [Link] 

Peter, M., & Strazzari, F. (2017). “Securitization of Research: Fieldwork under New Restrictions in Darfur and Mali.” Third World Quarterly, 38(7), 1531-1550. [Link]  

Richmond, O. P.; Kappler, S., & Björkdahl, A. (2015). “The ‘Field’ in the Age of Intervention: Power, Legitimacy, and Authority Versus the ‘Local’.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 44(1), 23-44. [Link] 

Ross, K. (2015). “‘No Sir, She Was Not a Fool in the Field’: Gendered Risks and Sexual Violence in Immersed Cross-Cultural Fieldwork.” The Professional Geographer, 67(2), 180–186. [PDF]

Romano, David. 2006. “Conducting Research in the Middle East’s Conflict Zones.” PS: Political Science & Politics 39 (03): 439–41. [Link]

Sharp, G., & Kremer, E. (2006). “The Safety Dance: Confronting Harassment, Intimidation, and Violence in the Field.” Sociological Methodology, 36(1), 317–327. [Link]

Sluka, J. A. (2018). “Too Dangerous for Fieldwork? The Challenge of Institutional Risk-Management in Primary Research on Conflict, Violence and ‘Terrorism.’’ Contemporary Social Science 0(0), 1–17. [Link] 

Sluka, J. A. (2007). “Reflections on Managing Danger in Fieldwork: Dangerous Anthropology in Belfast.” In A. Robben & J. A. Sluka (Eds.), Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Anthropological Reader (pp. 283-296). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. [Link] 

Styan, David. (2020). “Is Research Getting More Dangerous? Roland Marchal’s Plight Suggests So.” African Arguments (blog), March 17. [Link]   

Thomas, D., et al. (2017). “Ethical Issues in Research Using Datasets of Illicit Origin.” Proceedings of IMC ’17. [PDF] 

Thomson, S. (2009). “‘That is Not What We Authorised You to Do …’: Access and Government Interference in Highly Politicised Research Environments.” In C. Sriram et al. (Eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations (pp. 108-123). London & New York: Routledge. [Link] 

Thomson, S. (2010). “Getting Close to Rwandans since the Genocide: Studying Everyday Life in Highly Politicized Research Settings.” African Studies Review 53, (03): 19–34. [Link]

Van Baalen, S. (2018). “‘Google Wants to Know Your Location’: The Ethical Challenges of Fieldwork in the Digital Age.” Research Ethics, 14(2), 1-17. [PDF] 

Verweijen, J. (2020). “On Assessing Risk Assessments and Situating Security Advice: The Unsettling Quest for ‘Security Expertise’.” In B. B. de Guevara & M. Bøås (Eds.), Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention: A Guide to Research in Violent and Closed Contexts (pp. 127–142). Bristol University Press. [Link] 

Wood, E. J. (2009). “Field Research.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, by Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. [Link]

Institutional Review, IRB, and Ethics Codes

Bhattacharya, S. (2014). “Institutional Review Board and International Field Research in Conflict Zones.” PS: Political Science & Politics 47(4): 840–844. [Link] 

Bloemraad, I., & Menjívar, C. (2021). “Precarious Times, Professional Tensions: The Ethics of Migration Research and the Drive for Scientific Accountability.” International Migration Review. [Link]

Bosk, C., & de Vries, R. (2004). “Bureaucracies of Mass Deception: Institutional Review Boards and the Ethics of Ethnographic Research.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 595(1), 249–263. [Link]  

Callaway, E. (2017) “South Africa’s San People Issue Ethics Code to Scientists.” Nature News 543(7646): 475. [Link] 

Clark-Kazak, C. (2019). “Developing Ethical Guidelines for Research.” Forced Migration Review 61, 12–14. [PDF] 

Goyes, Paulette, Jessica Grant, Patricia Kaishian, Tobias Policha, Daniel C. Thomas, & Roo Vandegrift (2021). “Code of Conduct for Inter-Institutional Field Work.” (Version v1.0.1). [Link] 

Hemming, J. (2009). “Exceeding Scholarly Responsibility: IRBs and Political Constraints.” In C. Sriram et al. (Eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations (pp. 21-37). London & New York: Routledge. [Link] 

Houston Institute for Race and Justice. (2021). “Fool’s Gold: How RCT Research Harms Communities Impacted by Criminal Punishment.” Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice. January 26. [Link]  

Clark-Kazak, C. (2019). “Developing Ethical Guidelines for Research.” Forced Migration Review, 61, 12–14. [PDF]  

Goyes, Paulette, Jessica Grant, Patricia Kaishian, Tobias Policha, Daniel C. Thomas, & Roo Vandegrift (2021). “Code of Conduct for Inter-Institutional Field Work.” (Version v1.0.1). [Link]  

Hemming, J. (2009). “Exceeding Scholarly Responsibility: IRBs and Political Constraints.” In C. Sriram et al. (Eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations (pp. 21-37). London & New York: Routledge. [Link]  

Houston Institute for Race and Justice. (2021). “Fool’s Gold: How RCT Research Harms Communities Impacted by Criminal Punishment.” Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice. January 26. [Link] 

Makhoul, J., El-Alti, L., Qutteina, Y., Nasrallah, C., Sakr, C., Nakkash, R., & Alali, K. (2014). “‘Protecting’ or ‘Policing’: Academic Researchers’ View of IRBs in an Arab Context.” Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 9(5), 25–35. [Link]

Makhoul, J., & Nakkash, R. (2017). “Challenges to Research Ethics Regulations: Academic Researchers’ Voices in the Arab World.” In H. Silverman (Ed.), Research Ethics in the Arab Region (pp. 281–290). Springer International Publishing. [Link]

Michelson, M. R. (2016). “The Risk of Over-Reliance on the Institutional Review Board: An Approved Project Is Not Always an Ethical Project.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 49(2), 299–303. [Link]  

Nakkash, R., Qutteina, Y., Nasrallah, C., Wright, K., El-Alti, L., Makhoul, J., & Al-Ali, K. (2017). “The Practice of Research Ethics in Lebanon and Qatar: Perspectives of Researchers on Informed Consent.” Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 12(5), 352–362. [Link]

Nordling, L. (2017). “San People of Africa Draft Code of Ethics for Researchers.” Science (blog), March 17. [Link] 

Office for Human Research Protections. 2018. “International Compilation of Human Research Standards: 2018 Edition.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [PDF] 

Yanow, D., & Schwartz-Shea, P. (2008). “Reforming Institutional Review Board Policy: Issues in Implementation and Field Research.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 41(3), 483–494. [Link]  

Publication, Research Openness, and Participant Protection

Arjona, A. M., Mampilly, Z. C., & Pearlman, W. (2019). Research in Violent or Post-Conflict Political Settings (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3333503). Social Science Research Network. [Link]   

Bleich, E., Pekkanen, R., Trachtenberg, M., Cramer, K., Shih, V., Parkinson, S., Wood, E. J., Pachirat, T., Romney, D., Stewart, B., Tingley, D. H., Davison, A., Schneider, C., Wagemann, C., & Fairfield, T. (2015). Transparency in Qualitative and Multi-Method Research: A Symposium. Qualitative & Multi-Method Research, 13(1). [PDF]  

Brigden, N. K., and Gohdes, A. R. (2020). “The Politics of Data Access in Studying Violence across Methodological Boundaries: What We Can Learn from Each Other?” International Studies Review, 22(2), 250–267. [Link]     

Fassin, D. (2015). ‘The Public Afterlife of Ethnography.’ American Ethnologist, 42(4), 592-609. [Link] 

Fujii, L. A. (2016). “The Dark Side of DA-RT.” Comparative Politics Newsletter, 26(1), 25-27.

Gault, M. (2020). “Photographs, Trauma and the Ownership of the Dead.” Writing the ‘Troubles’ (Blog). December 14. [Link] 

Gault, M. (2020). “Photographs, Trauma and the Ownership of the Dead.” Writing the ‘Troubles’ (Blog). December 14. [Link]  

Golder, M., & Golder, S. N. (Eds.). (2016). Symposium: Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT). Comparative Politics Newsletter, 26(1), 10-64. [PDF]   

Harper, Robin A. (2018). “Thinking about Journals, IRBs, and Research Partners (Interviewees).” Excerpt from a paper presented at WPSA, 2018. [PDF]  

Issa, Z., Camburn, J., Schenck-Yglesias, C., Almalla, M., & Jabbour, S. (2022). Who funds what? Humanitarian research and innovation funding flows analysis (pp. 1-59). Elrha. [Link]

Jacobs, Alan M., Tim Büthe, et. al. “The Qualitative Transparency Deliberations: Insights and Implications.” Perspectives on Politics 19, no. 1 (2021): 171–208. [PDF]

Jacobs, A. M., Buthe, T., Arjona, A. M., Arriola, L. R., Bellin, E., Bennett, A., Björkman, L., Bleich, E., Elkins, Z., Fairfield, T., Gaikwad, N., Chestnut Greitens, S., Hawkesworth, M., Herrera, V., Herrera, Y. M., Johnson, K. S., Karakoç, E., Koivu, K., Kreuzer, M., … Yashar, D. (2019). Transparency in Qualitative Research: An Overview of Key Findings and Implications of the Deliberations (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3430025). Social Science Research Network. [Link]  

Khan, S. (2019). “The Subpoena of Ethnographic Data.” Sociological Forum, 34(1): 253–63. [Link]

Krystalli, R. (2018). “Negotiating Data Management with the National Science Foundation: Transparency and Ethics in Research Relationships.” Memo. [PDF]  

Lake, M., Majic, S., & Maxwell, R. (2019). Research on Vulnerable and Marginalized Populations (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3333511). Social Science Research Network. [Link]    

Lynch, M. 2016. “Area Studies and the Cost of Prematurely Implementing DA-RT.” Comparative Politics Newsletter 26(1): 36–39. [PDF] 

McMurtrie, B. (2014). “Secrets from Belfast.” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 26. [Link]  

Morris MacLean, L., Posner, E., Thomson, S., & Wood, E. J. (2019). Research Ethics and Human Subjects: A Reflexive Openness Approach (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3332887). Social Science Research Network. [Link]  

Parkinson, S. E., & Wood, E. J. (2015). “Transparency in Intensive Research on Violence: Ethical Dilemmas and Unforeseen Consequences.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research, 13(1), 22–27. [PDF]   

Shesterinina, A., Pollack, M. A., & Arriola, L. R. (2019). Evidence from Researcher Interactions with Human Participants (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3333392). Social Science Research Network. [Link]  

Shih, V. (2015). “Research in Authoritarian Regimes: Transparency Tradeoffs and Solutions.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research, 13(1), 20–22. [Link]  

Sriram, C. (2009). “Maintenance of Standards of Protection during Writeup and Publication.” In C. Sriram et al. (Eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations (pp. 57–68). London & New York: Routledge. [Link]   

Tripp, A. M. (2018). “Transparency and Integrity in Conducting Field Research on Politics in Challenging Contexts.” Perspectives on Politics, 16(3), 728–738. [PDF]

Researcher Identity, Reflexivity, and Positionality

Al-Ali, N., & Pratt, N. (2016). “Positionalities, Intersectionalities, and Transnational Feminism in Researching Women in Post-invasion Iraq.” In A. Wibben (Ed.), Researching War: Feminist Methods, Ethics and Politics (pp. 76–91). Oxon & New York: Routledge. [Link]   

Bahati, I. (2019). The Challenges Facing Female Researchers in Conflict Settings. The Bukavu Series. June 10. [Link]

Bond, K.D. (2018). “Reflexivity and Revelation.” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, 16(1): 45–47. [Link]

Bouka, Y. (2015). “Researching Violence in Africa as a Black Woman: Notes from Rwanda.” Research in Difficult Settings (Blog). [Link] 

Bressmer, J. (2020). “Reflections on Unlearning Whiteness during Research Fieldwork.” Africa at LSE (blog). January 28. [Link]  

Brigden, N., & Hallett, M. (2020). “Fieldwork as Social Transformation: Place, Time, and Power in a Violent Moment.” Geopolitics, 0(0), 1–17. [PDF]  

Brown, S. (2009). “Dilemmas of Self-Representation and Conduct in the Field.” In C. Sriram et al. (Eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations (pp. 213–226). London & New York: Routledge. [Link] 

Calvey, D. (2018). “The Everyday World of Bouncers: A Rehabilitated Role for Covert Ethnography.” Qualitative Research, 19(3), 247-262. [Link] 

Davenport, C. (2013). “Researching While Black: Why Conflict Research Needs More African Americans (Maybe).” Political Violence at a Glance (Blog). [Link]

Driscoll, J., & Schuster, C. (2018). “Spies Like Us.” Ethnography, 19(3), 411–430. [Link] 

Gillespie, K., & Lopez, P. J. (Eds.). (2019). Vulnerable Witness: The Politics of Grief in the Field. University of California Press. [Link]

Hartman, A.C., Khan, S., Lake, M., Karim, S., Cheema, A., Liaqat, A., and Khan Mohmand, S. (2022) “Field Experiments on Gender: Where the Personal and Political Collide.” PS: Political Science & Politics 55, no. 4: 764–68. [Link]

Henderson, F. B. (2009). “‘We Thought You Would Be White’: Race and Gender in Fieldwork.” PS: Political Science and Politics, 42(2), 291–294. [Link] 

Hermez, S. (2017). “In the Meanwhile: Theory and Fieldwork in Protracted Conflict.” War Is Coming: between Past and Future Violence in Lebanon, Chapter 1. University of Pennsylvania Press. [Link] 

Johansson, L. (2015). “Dangerous Liasons: Risk, Positionality, and Power in Women’s Anthropological Fieldwork.” Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, 7(1), 55–63. [PDF] 

Marchais, G. (2020). “Contemporary Research Must Stop Relying on Racial Inequalities.” Africa at LSE (blog). January 30. [Link]  

Mertens, C., Perazzone, S., & Laudati, A. (2020). “Ethics and Identity in Globally Unequal Structures of Research.” Africa at LSE (blog). January 27. [Link]  

Mohamed, S. Q. (2020). “Spontaneity in Fieldwork is Essential to the Situated Researcher.” Africa at LSE (blog). February 3. [Link]   

Muchukiwa, B. (2020). “Surviving Life-threatening Intimidation as a Researcher.” Africa at LSE (blog). June 24. [Link]  

Ortbals, C. D., & Rincker, M. E. (2009). “Embodied Researchers: Gendered Bodies, Research Activity, and Pregnancy in the Field.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 42(2), 315–319. [Link] 

Pacheco-Vega, R., & Parizeau, K. (2018). “Doubly Engaged Ethnography: Opportunities and Challenges When Working with Vulnerable Communities.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods. [Link] 

Parashar, S. (2019). “Research Brokers, Researcher Identities and Affective Performances: The Insider/Outsider Conundrum.” Civil Wars, 21(2), 249–270. [PDF]

Roxburgh, S. (2017). “Read Black and White: Decolonizing African Studies in North America.” Research in Difficult Settings. [PDF]

Schulz, P. (2021). “Recognizing research participants’ fluid positionalities in (post-)conflict zones.” Qualitative Research, 21(4), 550–567. [Link]

Schwedler, J. (2006). “The Third Gender: Western Female Researchers in the Middle East.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 39(3): 425–428. [Link]

Thaler, K. (2019). “Reflexivity and Temporality in Researching Violent Settings: Problems with the Replicability and Transparency Regime.” Geopolitics, 0(0): 1–27. [Link]

Thapar-Björkert, S., & Henry, M. (2004). “Reassessing the Research Relationship: Location, Position and Power in Fieldwork Accounts.” International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 7(5), 363–381. [Link]

Thomas, L. (2018). “Dear Political Science, It Is Time for a Self-Reflexive Turn!” Duck of Minerva. [Link]

Thomas, L. (2018). “Unmasking: The Role of Reflexivity in Political Science.” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research. 42–44. [Link]

Thompson, M. (2009). “Research, Identities, and Praxis: The Tensions of Integrating Identity into the Field Experience.” Political Science & Politics, 42(2), 325-328. [Link] 

Townsend-Bell, E. (2009). “Being True and Being You: Race, Gender, Class, and the Fieldwork Experience.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 42(2), 311–314. [Link]

Verdery, K. (2018). My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File. Duke University Press. [Link]

Vogel, C., & Musamba, J. (2022). “Towards a politics of collaborative worldmaking: Ethics, epistemologies and mutual positionalities in conflict research.” Ethnography, 14661381221090896. [Link]

Winfield, T. P. (2021). Vulnerable Research: Competencies for Trauma and Justice-Informed Ethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 08912416211017254. [Link]

Yacob-Haliso, O. (2018). “Intersectionalities and Access in Fieldwork in Post-conflict Liberia: Motherland, Motherhood, and Minefields.” African Affairs, 118(470), 168–181. [Link]

Methods And reflections on fieldwork

Ahram, A. I., & Goode, J. P. (2016). “Researching Authoritarianism in the Discipline of Democracy.” Social Science Quarterly, 97(4), 834–849. [Link]   

Al-Masri, M. (2017). Sensory Reverberations: Rethinking the Temporal and Experiential Boundaries of War Ethnography. Contemporary Levant, 2(1), 37–48. [Link]

American Political Science Association Qualitative Transparency Deliberations: Final Reports. [Link] 

Anderson, K., & Jessee, E. (2020). Researching Perpetrators of Genocide. University of Wisconsin Press. [Link]

Ansoms, A., Bisoka, A. N., & Thomson, S. (Eds.). (2021). Field Research in Africa: The Ethics of Researcher Vulnerabilities. James Curry. [Link]

Balcells, L., and Sullivan, C.M. (2018). “New Findings from Conflict Archives: An Introduction and Methodological Framework.” Journal of Peace Research, 55 (2): 137–46. [Link]

Barnes, N. (2021). The Logic of Criminal Territorial Control: Military Intervention in Rio de Janeiro: Comparative Political Studies. [Link] (See methodological appendix)

Browne, B. C. (2020). “Conflict Fieldwork.” In The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies (pp. 1–8). Springer International Publishing. [Link]  

Calarco, J. (2018). “Notes from the Field: Show How You Know What You Know.” Scatterplot. (Blog). [Link]

Calvey, D. (2017). Covert Research: The Art, Politics and Ethics of Undercover Fieldwork. London: Sage. [Link] 

Cancian, M. F., & Fabbe, K. E. (2019). “Informal Institutions and Survey Research in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 52(3), 485–489. [Link]  

Childress, C., Calonga, A., & Schneiderhan, E. (2020). “Beyond Triangulation: Reconstructing Mandela’s Writing Life through Propulsive Facilitation at the Archive.” Qualitative Sociology, 43(3), 367–384. [Link]   

Chirambwi, K. (2023). “Rethinking research methods in protracted violent conflicts in Mozambique: Fieldwork in complex emergencies.” Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print). [Link]

Clark, J.N. (2009). “Genocide, War Crimes and the Conflict in Bosnia: Understanding the Perpetrators.” Journal of Genocide Research 11(4), pp.  421–445. [Link] 

Davenport, C., and Ball, B. (2002). “Views to a Kill: Exploring the Implications of Source Selection in the Case of Guatemalan State Terror, 1977–1995.” The Journal of Conflict Resolution 46 (3): 427–50. [Link] 

De Juan, A., & Koos, C. (2021). Survey Participation Effects in Conflict Research. Journal of Peace Research. [Link]

Dembour, M.-B. (2000). Recalling the Belgian Congo: Conversations and Introspection. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books, Chapter 5. [Link] 

Desposato, S. (Ed.). (2016). Ethics and Experiments: Problems and Solutions for Social Scientists and Policy Professionals. London & New York: Routledge. [Link] 

Desposato, S. W. (2014). Ethical Challenges and Some Solutions for Field Experiments. [PDF] 

Driscoll, J. (2016). ‘Prison States and Games of Chicken.’ In S. Desposato (Ed.), Ethics and Experiments: Problems and Solutions for Social Scientists and Policy Professionals (pp. 81–96). New York & London: Routledge. [PDF] 

Driscoll, J. (2021). Doing Global Fieldwork: A Social Scientist’s Guide to Mixed-Methods Research Far from Home. Columbia University Press. [Link]

Einwohner, R. L. (2011). “Ethical Considerations on the Use of Archived Testimonies in Holocaust Research: Beyond the IRB Exemption.” Qualitative Sociology, 34(3): 415–30.  [Link]

Eqeiq, A. (2017). “From Palestine to Mexico (and Back): Reflections of a Literary Scholar.” Contemporary Levant, 2(1), 61–66. [Link]

Eriksson Baaz, M., & Stern, M. (2016). “Researching Wartime Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Methodology of Unease.” In A. Wibben (Ed.), Researching War: Feminist Methods, Ethics and Politics (pp. 117–140). Oxon & New York: Routledge. [Link]  

de Guevara, B. B., & Bøås, M. (Eds.). (2020). Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention—A Guide to Research in Violent and Closed Contexts. Bristol University Press. [Link] 

Feenan, D. (2002). “Researching Paramilitary Violence in Northern Ireland.” International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 5(2), 147–163. [Link]

Finkel, E. (2017). Ordinary Jews: Choice and Survival during the Holocaust. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. Methods appendix (discusses use of written and video archival evidence related to the Holocaust). [Link]

Frank-Vitale, A. (2021). “Rolling the Windows Up: On (Not) Researching Violence and Strategic Distance.” Geopolitics, 26(1), 139–158. [Link]

Fujii, L.A. (2010). “Shades of Truth and Lies: Interpreting Testimonies of War and Violence.” Journal of Peace Research 47 (2): 231–41. [Link]

Fujii, L.A. (2015). “Five Stories of Accidental Ethnography: Turning Unplanned Moments in the Field into Data.” Qualitative Research 15 (4): 525–39. [Link]

Fujii, L.A. (2018). Interviewing in Social Science Research: A Relational Approach. New York & London: Routledge. [Link]  

Gerson, K., & Damaske, S. (2020). The Science and Art of Interviewing. Oxford University Press. [Link]

Ghosn, F. and Parkinson, S.E. (2019). “‘Finding’ Sectarianism and Strife in Lebanon.” PS: Political Science and Politics, 52 (3): 494–497. [PDF]

Glasius, M., De Lange, M., Bartman, J., Dalmasso, E., Lv, A., Del Sordi, A., Michaelsen, M., & Ruijgrok, K. (2017). Research, Ethics and Risk in the Authoritarian Field. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. [PDF] 

Gohdes, A. R. (2018). ‘Studying the Internet and Violent Conflict.’ Conflict Management and Peace Science, 35(1), 89–106. [Link] 

Greenwald, D. B. (2019). “Political Science Research in Settings of Intractable Conflict.” PS: Political Science & Politics, 52(3), 498–502. [Link]  

Haar, G.V.D., Heijmans, A., and Hilhorst, D. (2013). “Interactive Research and the Construction of Knowledge in Conflict-affected Settings.” Disasters, 37(1), 20–35. [Link] 

Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London & New York: Routledge, Chapter 10. [Link]

Herman, B., Panin, A., Wellman E.I., Blair, G., Pruett L.D., Opalo, K.O., Alarian H.M., et al. (2022). “Field Experiments in the Global South: Assessing Risks, Localizing Benefits, and Addressing Positionality.” PS: Political Science & Politics 55, no. 4: 769–72. [Link]

Höglund, K., & Öberg, M. (Eds.). (2011). Understanding Peace Research: Methods and Challenges. Oxon: Routledge. [Link] 

Humphreys, M. (2015). “Reflections on the Ethics of Social Experimentation.” Journal of Globalization and Development, 6(1), 87–112. [PDF] 

Jok, J. M. (2013). “Power Dynamics and the Politics of Fieldwork under Sudan’s Prolonged Conflicts.” In D. Mazurana, K. Jacobsen, & L. A. Gale (Eds.), Research Methods in Conflict Settings: A View from Below. Cambridge University Press.

Kanafani, S., & Sawaf, Z. (2017). “Being, Doing and Knowing in the Field: Reflections on Ethnographic Practice in the Arab Region.” Contemporary Levant, 2(1), 3–11. [Link]

Kara, H., & Khoo, S. (2020). “How the Pandemic has Transformed Research Methods and Ethics: 3 Lessons from 33 Rapid Responses.” Impact of Social Sciences | LSE. 26 October. [Link]  

Khoury, D.R. (2013). Iraq in Wartime: Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, Chapter 1 (section “Sources and Methodology” discusses the ethics of using Iraqi archives housed at Stanford University). [Link] 

Khoury, R.B. “Hard-to-Survey Populations and Respondent-Driven Sampling: Expanding the Political Science Toolbox.” Perspectives on Politics 18, no. 2: 509–26. [Link]

Koonings, K., Kruijt, D., & Rodgers, D. (2019). Ethnography as Risky Business: Field Research in Violent and Sensitive Contexts. Rowman & Littlefield. [Link]

Krause, P., & Szekely, O. (Eds.). (2020). Stories from the Field: A Guide to Navigating Fieldwork in Political Science (p. 392 Pages). Columbia University Press. [Link]

Krystalli, R. (2019). “Narrating Violence: Feminist Dilemmas and Approaches. Handbook on Gender and Violence. In Shephard, L. J. Handbook on Gender and Violence. Elgar Online.  [Link] 

Lee, A., Sharma, V.P., and Verghese, A.. (2023) “Social Science Comes to the Village: Assessing Behavioral Research in Developing Countries.” SSRN Scholarly Paper. Rochester, NY, June 1. [Link]

Leiby, M. (2009). “Digging in the Archives: The Promise and Perils of Primary Documents.” Politics & Society, 37(1): 75–99. [Link]

Liamputtong, P. (2007). Researching the Vulnerable. A Guide to Sensitive Research Methods. London: Sage. [Link] 

Luft, A. (2020). “How Do you Repair a Broken World? Conflict(ing) Archives after the Holocaust.” Qualitative Sociology, 43(3), 317–343. [PDF]   

Macías, T. (2016). “Between Violence and Its Representation: Ethics, Archival Research, and the Politics of Knowledge Production in the Telling of Torture Stories.” Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice, 5(1), 20–45. [PDF]  

Mageza-Barthel, R. (2016). “Tracing Women’s Rights after Genocide.” In A. Wibben (Ed.), Researching War: Feminist Methods, Ethics and Politics (pp. 143–162). Oxon & New York: Routledge. [Link]  

Markham, A. N.; Tiidenberg, K., & Herman, A. (2018). “Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of Big Data Research—Introduction.” Social Media + Society, 4(3), 1–9. [PDF]  

Mazurana, D., Jacobsen, K., & Gale, L. A. (Eds.). (2013). Research Methods in Conflict Settings: A View from Below. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Link] 

Morgenbesser, L., & Weiss, M. L. (2018). ‘Survive and Thrive: Field Research in Authoritarian Southeast Asia.’ Asian Studies Review, 42(3), 385–403. [PDF] 

Morton, R. B., & Tucker, J. T. (2015). “Experiments, Journals, and Ethics.” Journal of Experimental Political Science, 1(1), 99–103. [PDF] 

Osorio, J. (2014). “Numbers Under Fire: The Challenges of Gathering Quantitative Data in Highly Violent Settings.” Drugs, Security, and Democracy Program. DSD Working Papers on Research Security No. 6. New York: Social Science Research Council. [PDF]

Pachirat. T. 2013. Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight. Yale University Press. [Link] (Entire text addresses method, endnotes have additional material of interest.) 

Pachirat. T. 2014. “Working Undercover in a Slaughterhouse: An Interview with Timothy Pachirat” Medium. [Link]

Pachirat, T. (2018). Among Wolves: Ethnography and the Immersive Study of Power. New York: Routledge. Act Four [Link]   

Paechter, C. (2013). “Researching Sensitive Issues Online: Implications of a Hybrid Insider/Outsider Position in a Retrospective Ethnographic Study.” Qualitative Research, 13(1): 71–86. [Link]

Parkinson, S.E. (2018). “Seeing Beyond the Spectacle: Research on and Adjacent to Violence.” Cavatorta, Francesco and Janine Clark, (Eds.), Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa, pp. 73–82. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  

Parkinson, S.E. (2022). “(Dis)Courtesy Bias: ‘Methodological Cognates,’ Data Validity, and Ethics in Violence-Adjacent Research.” Comparative Political Studies 55 (3): 420–50. [Link]

Perera, S. (2015). “Accessing the Inaccessible in Difficult Environments: The Uses and Abuses of Crowdsourcing.” Research Paper 34. Development Leadership Program. [Link] 

Perera, S. (2017). “Bermuda Triangulation: Embracing the Messiness of Researching in Conflict.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 11(1), 42–57. [Link] 

Price, M., Gohdes, A., and Ball, P. (2015). “Documents of War: Understanding the Syrian Conflict.” Significance, 12(2): 14–19. [Link]  

Procter, C. and Spector, B. (2019). “The New Ethnographer: Addressing Challenges in Contemporary Ethnographic Research.” Blog Series. [Link] 

Rodgers, D. (2007). “Joining the Gang and Becoming a Broder: The Violence of Ethnography in Contemporary Nicaragua.” Bulletin of Latin American Research, 26(4), 444–461. [PDF] 

Rudling, A. (2021). “Now Is the Time to Reassess Fieldwork-based Research.” Nature Human Behaviour, 5(8), 967–967. [Link]

Saleh, E. (2017). “A Tangled Web of Lies: Reflections on Ethnographic Fieldwork with Syrian Turkmen Women on the Side of a Road in Beirut.” Contemporary Levant, 2(1), 55–60. [Link]

Sawaf, Z. (2017). “Ethnography in Movement: Bounding the Field between the Compound and the Trailer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.” Contemporary Levant, 2(1), 12–23. [Link]

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