Open AccessManoeuvring the Complexities of Field Research in Africa: Experiences from Voter Turnout Research in Ghana
Author(s) -
Fortune Agbele,
Alexander Stroh
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
e-journal of humanities, art and social sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2720-7722
DOI - 10.38159/ehass.2020102
Subject(s) - field (mathematics) , realm , voter turnout , turnout , relevance (law) , public relations , field research , politics , political science , empirical research , identification (biology) , sociology , social science , voting , epistemology , philosophy , botany , mathematics , pure mathematics , law , biology
Field research enables interaction between a researcher and research participants, offering an opportunity for the discovery of primary empirical data. As exciting as field research can be, for a novice researcher or research in unfamiliar terrain, community field research can also be daunting. These challenges may include, but are not limited to, the determination of community entry strategies, identification of potential respondents, as well as dealing with the non-availability of respondents. Based on field experiences, this research note offers practical suggestions on how to deal with these challenges within the realm of political science fieldwork. The experiences from a Voter Turnout research in Ghana shared in this note are of particular relevance to field research designs in the subject area of voter participation, focusing on voters as informants rather than experts or members of a professional network.Keywords: Field Research; Political Science; Field Strategies; Voter Turnout.