Problems Associated with Transnational Sociological Research Collaboration in Cambodia

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper the focus will be the following applied social research projects I have been involved with - (1) role of rural women in the rehabilitation of local irrigation systems; (2) a study of contextual factors affecting risk-related sexual behaviour among young people between the ages of 15 and 25; (3) participatory action research project looking at problems of natural resource management; (4) sociological study of an urban wastewater project in a provincial town still affected by forms of low level insurgency - to illustrate the problems associated not simply with the research process but with the nature of collaborative research itself. However, an underlying purpose of this paper is not to argue against international collaboration on a range of research-based problems, but how we can better communicate the nature of our research and enhance its credibility. Living and working in a society like Cambodia that has yet to develop a critical academic culture of interest, relevance and utility to the international scholarly community, particularly in the field of sociology, is an issue that will be confronted in this paper.