Mixed-Methods Approaches in a Post-Conflict Ethnographic Case Study with War-Wounded People

What is it about?

This is a short and simple explanation of how to use mixed methods in a post-conflict environment.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

My anthropological PhD study was situated in a post-conflict setting in Sierra Leone several years after a civil war there had ended. Anthropology typically involves a researcher participating in local life to produce ethnographic accounts or descriptions of a fieldwork setting over an extended period of time. However, when I began a literature review, I found that almost nothing had been written anthropologically in Sierra Leone about people who had become wounded during the conflict. I knew that many people had suffered and gained impairments both directly and indirectly as a consequence of war. I wanted to understand how they were being reintegrated back into society and what their needs were. In order to do this, I decided to use a qualitative mixed-methods and multi-sited approach to fieldwork that would enable me to collect detailed information from a wide variety of sources and people but be strong enough to stand as a case study.

Perspectives