IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/gigawp/76.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Qualitative Data Help in Addressing Central American Violence? Research Note on Data Collection

Author

Listed:
  • Oettler, Anika

Abstract

Taking as its point of departure debates on the value of criminal statistics and victimization surveys, this article explores the methodological challenge of an alternative approach to Central American violence(s). How can we collect qualitative data that help address the social construction of (in)security? The research project 'Public Spaces and Violence in Central America' used multiple data sources, including guided interviews and pupils' essays. Drawing on research experience in Nicaragua, this paper asks, How can we collect data that reveal lifeworld experiences as well as hegemonic and counter-discourses on violence? Why is it crucial to keep a research diary? What is a 'failed' or a 'good' interview? This article argues for a research design based on theoretical considerations, impulsiveness and, most notably, constant self-reflection.

Suggested Citation

  • Oettler, Anika, 2008. "Do Qualitative Data Help in Addressing Central American Violence? Research Note on Data Collection," GIGA Working Papers 76, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:gigawp:76
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/47857/1/608728012.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huhn, Sebastian & Oettler, Anika & Peetz, Peter, 2006. "Construyendo Inseguridades. Aproximaciones a la violencia en Centroamérica desde el análisis del discurso [Constructed insecurities. Discourse analysis and the understanding of violence in Central ," GIGA Working Papers 34, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    2. Huhn, Sebastian, 2008. "Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: Social Perceptions in Everyday Life," GIGA Working Papers 81, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    3. Oettler, Anika, 2007. "Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua: National Patterns of Attention and Cross-border Discursive Nodes," GIGA Working Papers 65, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    4. Huhn, Sebastian & Oettler, Anika & Peetz, Peter, 2006. "Exploding Crime? Topic Management in Central American Newspapers," GIGA Working Papers 33, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peetz, Peter, 2008. "Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: Youth, Crime, and the Responses of the State," GIGA Working Papers 80, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peetz, Peter, 2008. "Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: Laws and the Construction of Drug- and Gender-Related Violence," GIGA Working Papers 72, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    2. Peetz, Peter, 2008. "Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: Youth, Crime, and the Responses of the State," GIGA Working Papers 80, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    3. Huhn, Sebastian, 2008. "A History of Nonviolence: Insecurity and the Normative Power of the Imagined in Costa Rica," GIGA Working Papers 84, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    4. Huhn, Sebastian, 2008. "Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua: Social Perceptions in Everyday Life," GIGA Working Papers 81, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    5. World Bank, 2010. "Crime and Violence in Central America : A Development Challenge - Executive Summary," World Bank Publications - Reports 2979, The World Bank Group.
    6. Argueta, Otto, 2010. "Private Security in Guatemala: The Pathway to Its Proliferation," GIGA Working Papers 144, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    7. Stroh, Alexander, 2007. "Crafting Political Institutions in Africa. Electoral Systems and Systems of Government in Rwanda and Zambia Compared," GIGA Working Papers 43, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    8. Huhn, Sebastian, 2009. "The Culture of Fear and Control in Costa Rica (II): The Talk of Crime and Social Changes," GIGA Working Papers 108, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    9. Huhn, Sebastian, 2009. "The Culture of Fear and Control in Costa Rica (I): Crime Statistics and Law Enforcement," GIGA Working Papers 104, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:gigawp:76. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dueiide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.