IFRA methodological training on “Conducting qualitative interviews” by Dr. Gernot Klantschnig and Dr. Ini-Dele Adedeji

Location: IFRA-Nigeria’s library, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan

Date: Wednesday 11^th of March, from 10am to 12am

On Wednesday 11^th of March, from 10am to 12am, IFRA-Nigeria hosted a methodological training at IFRA-Nigeria’s library themed on “Conducting qualitative interviews” . The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Gernot Klantschnig and Dr. Ini-Dele Adedeji

What was it about?

This 2-hour interactive workshop introduced students to the interview as a method of qualitative research. The workshop covered three main aspects: (1) Rationales for conducting qualitative research and interviews; (2) the nature of interviews and their limits; and (3) how to prepare for an interview. As part of the workshop, students discussed the preparation and practice of an interview, and also consider the ethical issues that arise from this methodological approach.

The workshop was led by two researchers with extensive experience of conducting qualitative research and interviews in Nigeria, especially on sensitive topics, such as drugs, crime and terrorism, and in difficult settings, such as prisons, hospitals, drug markets and police agencies. In preparation for the workshop, students were adviced to read (Denzin and Lincoln, chapter 24; Silverman, chapter 14).

 

Who facilitated this workshop?

Dr Gernot Klantschnig is Senior Lecturer in International Criminology at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on the politics of drugs and crime in West Africa. He is the author of Africa and the War on Drugs (Zed, 2012, with Neil Carrier) and Crime, Drugs and the State: The Nigerian Connection (Brill/RoL, 2013). He recently completed a British Academy-funded project on Fake Drugs in Nigeria and is currently leading an ESRC project on the Hidden Narratives of Transnational Organised Crime in West Africa and another on Cannabis Africana: Drugs and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr Ini Dele-Adedeji is a Research Associate in the School of Policy Studies at the University of Bristol and the main researcher of the Hidden Narratives of Transnational Organised Crime in West Africa project. He received his doctorate in Political Science from the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. His doctoral thesis (shortlisted for the Audrey Richards Prize) was an ethnographic study of the nuances behind the support expressed for the Boko Haram sect amongst a section of the Muslim public in northern Nigeria. He has previously lectured at SOAS, Wellesley College, The American International University in London, Richmond, and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

18 fellows, mainly master and early PhD students attended this methodological workshop.