Fieldwork in Difficult Environments

Fieldwork in difficult environments - Methodology as boundary work in development research contains personal accounts of PhD researchers on doing field research in politically and otherwise difficult environments. The methodological flexibility required in development research is discussed around four themes: cultural difference; methodological style and the scale level of research; communication and interaction in collaborative research; and the political and ethical legitimacy of research. The volume argues that the choice and deployment of methodology is an ongoing, reflexive process of `boundary work'. It requires a flexible conceptual stance and related pragmatism as regards methodological philosophy and choice; it may require the design of specific boundary objects as evident for example in mapping techniques for participatory research, and it requires strategic shaping of the social relations of data collection.