The Reality and Dilemma in Using Community Risk Assessment as a Disaster Risk Reduction Tool in Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to introduce qualitative methods as providing unique and critical contributions for developing risk reduction strategies at the local level. It summarises the principles and practices in study design, data collection and analysis and presents a synthesis of standards for ensuring rigor and enhancing credibility in qualitative research. The methodology involves a comprehensive literature review, which culled information from risk reduction research-related fields and years of field research experience. The findings reveal how the method can be used to understand complex social processes and capture more nuanced aspects of a phenomenon through the lens of the study community. Such qualitative studies are often exploratory and seek to generate novel insights using inductive rather than deductive approaches. They help uncover the beliefs, values, and motivations that underlie participants’ actions and behaviours, which are crucial in implementing DRR strategies at the local level. Disaster risk reduction research seeks to inform the development and evaluation of policy guidelines that foster effective interventions and these aspects of risks may be most appropriately examined using the qualitative research methods.