Sub-Regional Methodology Workshops for Social Research in Africa

The 2010 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research disciplines. These disciplines are uniformly confronted with broadly similar difficulties of understanding social reality and the challenges posed by techniques of data collection and analysis, which, on account of their “qualitative” nature, are suspected by some to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour. Each workshop will have the following concerns at its core:

 

i) A critical assessment of the distinction between “quantitative” and “qualitative” research with particular attention to the question of measurement in the social sciences. Participants will be taken through presentations and exercises aimed at showing that the mode of processing data that is collected depends both on the field constraints encountered and the paradigmatic options of data interpretation that are available. The procedures for the “quantification” of “qualitative” approaches will also be reviewed through discussions on the distinction between the non-metrical and “comprehensive” presentation of data and the more mathematical renditions favoured by the quantitativists.

 

ii) A presentation of the methodological principles of “object construction” which enables the researcher to transcend the illusions of immediate knowledge and undertake a hypothetical reconstruction of social reality. This demands that the status of the researcher, as well as the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.

 

iii) An assessment of various techniques of data collection and “fact-finding” instruments available to the researcher. The usual tools of qualitative research such as interviews, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to locate their potentiality for construction of successful research projects.

 

The methodology workshop is designed for doctoral and masters students and young, mid-career African researchers resident in all countries of North Africa. The working language to be employed during the workshop will be Arabic and French.

 

The workshop will be run by a senior scholar who will work as the scientific coordinator, assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged expertise in the application of social science research methods. Senior researchers wishing to be considered for a role as resource persons are invited to send an application which indicates their interest and includes their current CV and an outline of issues they would like to cover in four lectures of two hours each. The outline submitted should be detailed enough to enable the director of the workshop to compile a syllabus for the guidance of the resource persons and laureates. Apart from the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the resource persons will also be expected to submit a bibliographic list of texts relevant to the theme of the workshop and which can be made available to the laureates.

 

Scholars and younger, mid career researchers wishing to be considered for participation in the workshop, are required to submit an application that should comprise the following:

 

i) A letter of motivation which should also clearly indicate the area of research or topic on which they are working;

ii) A statement of their research project (maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic that is being addressed, the kinds of field research to be undertaken, the theoretical and methodological framework being used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered ;

 

iii) A detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae;

 

iv) Two reference letters, one of which must be from the thesis supervisor and the other from the head of the department in which the applicant is registered. The reference letter from the supervisor is expected to address the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approaches used, as well as the results expected. The reference letter from the head of the department is expected to attest to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate; and

 

v) A letter confirming the institutional affiliation of the applicant.

 

All selected applicants will be expected to give a presentation of their proposals to resource persons and other laureates during the methodology workshop.

Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research question being addressed, a commitment to gender balance that is central to CODESRIA’s institutional strategy, and the desire for a geographical diversity that will, in itself, constitute an important aspect of the learning experience at the workshops. Applications must be submitted by 6th August, 2010. All applications should be sent to:

 

CODESRIA Sub-Regional Methodology Workshops,

CODESRIA,

P.O. Box : 3304, Dakar, CP 18524 – Senegal.

Tél. : +221-33 825.98.22/23

Fax : +221-33 824.12.89

E-mail : methodological.workshop[@]codesria.sn

Web site : http://www.codesria.org

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CRASC

Cité Bahi Ammar Bloc n°1- Es-Sénia – Oran

BP 1955 El M’Naouer

31000 – Oran / Algérie

Tel : 213.41.58.32.77 / 81 / 84

Fax : 231 41 58 32 86

E-mail : methodological.workshop[@]crasc.org