Data collection on acid attack survivor women: a PhD researchers experience from Bangladesh

Abstract

This book chapter reports the data collection experiences of a study titled “Community-based rehabilitation for acid assault victims of Bangladesh”. The study was conducted in Dhaka and Sylhet, two divisions of Bangladesh. It was a qualitative case study method. In-depth interview, Focus Group Discussion and Key Informant Interviews were used as data collection techniques. The objective of this chapter is to explain the challenges faced during data collection and strategies used to overcome them. Finding potential respondents, convincing them for interviews and finally making them express their situations was a big challenge. Using the Acid Survivor Foundation as the gatekeeper for research helped in this regard. Some social and physical aspects like behaviour of people surrounding the acid survivors and bad transport and communications system of the country posed barriers to data collection. Civil society engagement and the researcher’s expression of forbearance and empathy solved these problems. All the survivors suffer from identity crisis which had to be dealt with utmost care. Creating a comfortable environment for interviews earned the respondents’ trust. Taking care of their emotional stress and assurance of safety and confidentiality helped create a bond with the researcher resulting in spontaneous responds from them. Furthermore, given the nature of the topic, the issue of value conflict also arose, which had to be handled by means of building individualized perspective. This chapter may prove to be useful for researchers working on sensitive issues like violence against women.