Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa : Methodological and Ethical Challenges

In conducting political science research today, one's methodology is of paramount concern. Yet, despite the obvious chasm between theory and practice that all scholars experience in the field, there are no specific guidebooks on meeting the methodological and ethical challenges that fieldwork presents. Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa helps fill this vacuum, focusing specifically on doing research in the one of the most important regions in contemporary world politics. Janine A. Clark and Francesco Cavatorta have gathered together a large and diverse group of researchers who study the region and focus on methodological "lessons learned" from their first hand experiences of employing a variety of research methods while conducting fieldwork. The contributors also look at the challenges of conducting field research in a variety of contexts, such as in areas of violence, and using research methods such as interviewing and ethnography. This volume will therefore be an invaluable companion book to more standard methods books and a useful tool, not just for Middle East scholars, but for all researchers conducting research in complex settings. Cover Half-Title Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Contributors Half-Title 1. Introduction: The Methodological and Ethical Challenges of Conducting Research in the Middle East and North Africa Part I. Context 2. Encountering the Mukhabarat State 3. What Is So Special about Field Research in Iran? Doing Fieldwork in Religiously Charged Authoritarian Settings 4. Authoritarianism, Gender, and Sociopolitics in Saudi Arabia 5. Research in and on the Palestinian Occupied Territories 6. Seeing beyond the Spectacle: Research on and Adjacent to Violence 7. Doing Research during Times of Revolution and Counterrevolution 8. Researching the Countryside: Farmers, Farming, and Social Transformation in a Time of Economic Liberalization Part II. Methods 9. Interviewing: Lessons Learned 10. Interviewing Salafis: Negotiating Access and Ethics 11. Interviewing Salafis: Overcoming Fear and Mistrust in Middle Eastern and European Contexts 12. Interviewing and Gender 13. Process Tracing and the Political Economy of Development in the Middle East 14. Ethnography Is an Option: Learning to Learn in/​through Practice 15. Coding in Qualitative Research 16. Quantitative Research in MENA Political Science 17. Of Promise and Pitfalls: Population-​Based Experimental Research in the Middle East 18. Online Media as Research Topic and Research Tool: Fact, Fiction, and Facebook 19. Researching Twitter Part III. Ethics 20. Blurred Lines of Inclusion and Exclusion: Research Ethics for Political Sympathizers 21. Playing with Positionality? Reflections on “Outsider”/​“Insider” Status in the Context of Fieldwork in Lebanon’s Deeply Divided Polity 22. Intersectionality Theory and Working with “Both Sides” 23. The (Ambiguous) Fieldwork Experiences of a German Moroccan in Jordan Notes Bibliography Index "Political Research in the Middle East and North Africa focuses specifically on doing research in one of the most important regions in contemporary world politics. It is also one of the most difficult areas to do research in given the current high levels of violence, political instability, and authoritarianism that plague the region. Gathering together a large and diverse group of researchers who study the region, Janine Clark and Francesco Cavatorta's volume will serve as a foundational methods guide for young academics on how to conceive and carry out their research projects. At the same time the topics in the book provide a useful refresher to more established scholars so that their methodological training and ethical considerations keep pace with novel approaches and changing obstacles in the field. What makes this volume especially useful is its focus on methodological 'lessons learned' from the contributors' first hand experiences. Each chapter deals with the challenges of implementing qualitative and quantitative methods in the field, the real-life obstacles encountered and the possible solutions to overcoming them. It will therefore be an invaluable companion book to more standard methods books, which focus on the 'how to' of methods but are often devoid of any real discussion of the challenges of on-the-ground fieldwork."...Publisher's summary In conducting political science research today, one's methodology is of paramount concern. Yet, despite the obvious chasm between theory and practice that all scholars experience in the field, there are no specific guidebooks on meeting the methodological and ethical challenges that fieldworkpresents. __Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa__ helps fill this vacuum, focusing specifically on doing research in the one of the most important regions in contemporary world politics. Janine A. Clark and Francesco Cavatorta have gathered together a large and diverse groupof researchers who study the region and focus on methodological "lessons learned" from their first hand experiences of employing a variety of research methods while conducting fieldwork. The contributors also look at the challenges of conducting field research in a variety of contexts, such as inareas of violence, and using research methods such as interviewing and ethnography. This volume will therefore be an invaluable companion book to more standard methods books and a useful tool, not just for Middle East scholars, but for all researchers conducting research in complex settings.