Field research in the conflict zone: an empirical study of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh

This chapter tells the story about a field study in a conflict zone, major challenges a researcher may face, and possible processes for addressing the challenges while collecting data. Based on an empirically driven personal experience of a graduate research student in a conflict zone, this chapter presents the methods, processes, and steps of conducting filed study in a conflicting area in Bangladesh. For empirical purpose, mixed methods consisting of survey and interview with the local people have been employed to explore the perception of the respondents regarding the migration and conflict relationship in the CHT in Bangladesh. Here, the conflict zone refers to violent and latent conflict situation where people frequently face the violence and human rights violation. In a conflict situation, the security forces (for example, army) try to control and dominate every sphere of life of the local citizen. As a result, conducting field study in a conflict situation requires methodological flexibility, strong ethical consideration, and safety and security of the researcher and respondents. This chapter identifies some issues, such as safety, security, silence, mistrust between communities, culture of violence, unwilling to share information and interference of the security forces in the context of conflict research. After identifying the challenges, this chapter recommend that predetermined methodology may not work out in the practical situation; rather flexibility in selecting the methodology could help the researcher to conduct the field as per the situation demand. Researcher, particularly the outside researcher (researchers who do not belong to the country where the conflict zone exists), face enormous challenges and, thus, every researcher in a conflict zone should think about the underlying causes of the silence of the respondents, security situation, conflict parties and the consequences of conflict. This chapter will guide future research students in regard to design their research and conduct the field in the conflict zone in any location in the world.