Methodology
The study espouses an emancipatory approach that centres youth agency and draws on
best practices in the field of ‘participatory action research’. Rather than serve as local
enumerators for an international project, the researchers developed the research
questions themselves, and built the project in accordance with their own vision for their
community with support from academic researchers.
This participatory research project empowers young people residing in Cox’s Bazar to
interview their fellow youth as well as adults and elders in their community. The model
builds on Dr. Rebecca Sutton’s visit to Cox’s Bazar in July 2019, where she delivered
intensive training to members of the ‘Rohingya Youth for Legal Action’ (RYLA)
[4]
organization, focusing on participatory action research. For more information
on that
training exercise, see ‘Field Note: Knowledge Exchange in Rohingya Camps in Cox’s
Bazar’.
Participants in the project
Researchers
Three dedicated community-based researchers supported the project. The main (adult)
researcher guided two youth researchers to engage in community-based research and
report their research findings to international donors and civil society organizations in
Cox’s Bazar. The three reported to, and were supported by, a small team of three
international research coaches. The remote support team assisted the main researchers
to identify appropriate participants and to develop selection criteria for community
interviews. All research activity took place within the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh.
The research coaching team comprised Imrul Islam, a graduate student of Conflict
Resolution at Georgetown University who is originally from Bangladesh; Jessica Olney,
an independent research consultant; and Dr. Rebecca Sutton, from Edinburgh Law
School.
Respondents
Responses were collected throughout the months of May, June, and July 2020. This
report draws on overall findings from the larger project (which includes 68 interviews in
6