The application of qualitative methodology to peacebuilding research in Africa

Abstract

This chapter explores the applications of qualitative research methodology to strengthen policy research and peacebuilding in Africa. Over the past decade, there have been diverse donor-funded peacebuilding research outputs and publications in Africa, and most of these studies have shown a predilection for qualitative research methodologies. There are diverse methods of qualitative research, but it will suffice to concentrate on the key methods that tend to be frequently used in contemporary peacebuilding research, namely interviews, observation, Focus Group Discussions, and ethnographic method. It is because of this seemingly undue discursive power advantage in the hands of the interviewer/researcher that many mainstream empiricists inclined to quantitative research tend to view studies based exclusively on qualitative methodology with strong reservation and suspicion.