- PhD student
- Date
- Thursday 30 Jun 2022, 13:15 - 14:15
- Type
- Seminar
- Spoken Language
- English
- Room
- Room 4.39
- Location
- International Institute of Social Studies
- Ticket information
Registration is not required.
In this Research in Progress Seminar entitled 'Testing claims through qualitative methods; insights from analysing region creation conflicts in Ghana', Dennis Penu investigates the drivers of grievances in a recent referendum in Ghana to separate some of its regions.
From 2017 to 2018, a referendum in Ghana to separate some of its regions was resisted in some cases but not in others.
The popular arguments used to justify the resistance suggested that the contentions were driven by grievances over inappropriate procedures (the logic of appropriateness). However, after tracing the 20-month process and evaluating the evidence in two cases that had different outcomes, this study finds that the resistance was mainly fuelled by fears over material interests at stake (the logic of consequence).
Thus, the logic of appropriateness was the tip of the iceberg, if not a smokescreen, to the main logic of consequence driving the conflict mechanism.
Such hypothesis testing using qualitative methods is not common in the social sciences. However, the study design and findings to be shared in this seminar will show how a hypothesis can be induced and tested in qualitative research.
- More information
The Research in Progress seminars provide an informal venue for presentations of ongoing research by ISS scholars and scholars from the wider development studies community.