International survey for areal researchers

1 February 2024

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The international survey "Research, training and expertise in "prevented" or "hindered" fields: practices, methods and new resources", initiated by Inalco, invites researchers and young scholars in areal studies to respond to a questionnaire based on their most recent field experience. The questionnaire aims to shed light on the evolution of practices, survey methods and research training in SHS in contexts where access to fieldwork and data collection are made difficult or "prevented" by various circumstances.
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Enquête internationale : « Recherche, formation et expertise sur des terrains "empêchés" ou "entravés" © Pixelshunter / Freepik‎

Inalco is engaged in a reflection on the adaptation of training and research in areal studies, in a dual-context of restricted access to many fields and rapidly evolving methods of collecting and processing data obtained remotely:

  • How to maintain areal expertise when access to the field and to data is "prevented", "hindered", or made "difficult" by various circumstances (pandemic, bureaucracy, security, conflict, censorship...)?
  • What sources should be favored, what devices should be invested in, and what methods should be consolidated to contextualize and make analyses more reliable, when surveys are based on data collected remotely, often patchy, sometimes biased?
  • How do we move from bricolage to method, when we're training young researchers who may not have access to the "field" during the duration of their theses?
  • What place for OSINT and AI in SHS research work and training?

The survey aims to take stock of practices, databases, methods and needs in terms of research and research training in these fields. It also aims to gather the widest possible range of areal, disciplinary, thematic and methodological expertise.

The results will be made available, in open source, to the entire academic community.

Average length of questionnaire: 15mn (34 questions).

Access the questionnaire

Survey elaborated by Delphine Allès (Inalco, CASE), Ayrton Aubry (Inalco, Université Jean Moulin Lyon III) and Emilija Pundziute-Gallois (Inalco, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania).

Contacts: delphine.alles@inalco.fr / emilija.pundziute-gallois@inalco.fr