The data collection took place during five months from November 2011 to March 2012 in the West Bank. The first month was spent studying documents and literature in order to get a better overview of the situation before doing the primary data collection. I also made the first contacts with civil society organisations, people in PNA and went on initial field visits to find Bedouin communities. The rest of the time was spent collecting data and analysing and comparing the results to literature. The majority of the interviews were carried out either in the respective offices or communities; some were less formal conversations carried out other places.
Within qualitative methodology, there are five main methods for data collection; participant observation, interviews, focus group discussions, discourse, and document analysis (Bryman 2008). When using a case study approach, the qualitative interview and participant observation are particularly relevant methods as they both allow for an extensive
understanding of the topic (Bryman 2008). The methods employed in this thesis are qualitative, with emphasis on interviews, focus group discussions, participant observations and document analysis.
As the research is based on one particular cultural group, the research can be seen as ethnographic. Ethnographic research focuses on the social structures and the routines of the people within their own cultural setting (Fetterman 1998). The research is largely based on the insider’s perspective, in this case the perspective of the Bedouin of Area C.
4.5.1 Interviews
The purpose of the qualitative interview is to gain information about how people experience and understand their own situation (Thagaard 2003) and was thus the most suitable way to gain knowledge about the situation. There are however, different ways of conducting such interviews. The semi-structured interview consists of some set questions, but the questions are used more as a framework for the interview, rather than as a more formally structured set of questions (Bryman 2008).
Most of the interviews conducted were semi-structured. I had prepared four different interview guides for the different groups of actors. One for the community leader in the community, one for households, one for representatives from the Civil society and one for government officials. Some questions were open-ended, others closed-ended. However, in some cases I did not use the guides, as time was limited (especially with government officials), or what I changed my interview depending on the subject the informant wanted to talk about, especially in the Bedouin communities, where unexpected stories and problems were common. As my focus was on the household level in Bedouin communities, many of the interviewed were conducted with more than one representative from the household present. This worked very well in most cases as they could fill each other in and discuss the questions before giving me an answer.
Some of the interviews became more as conversations, unstructured and open-ended. According to Bryman (2008), this can be disadvantageous as it can generate too much irrelevant information. However, I found it helpful in meetings with members of the civil society. Some of these unstructured interviews happened with representatives from NGOs that
I met by chance in the Bedouin communities, others with people that had a connection to a Bedouin community that I met outside of the actual research setting.
4.5.2 Focus Group Discussions
A focus group discussion is a setting where participants are asked questions and can discuss them freely with the other members of the discussion. It is a suitable technique to observe the behaviour between people and underlying causes for behaviour. According to Thagaard (2003), focus group discussions are most suited in situations where the participators are in the same situation, such as in a village. I conducted a few focus group discussions, however some were not planned, but occurred as I shared meals with Bedouin women separate from the men or as several members of the community were present during the interviews, or for part of the interviews.
The discussions were useful in gaining information about certain subjects, especially when asking questions about the future and how they see their own communities. It was also when talking about the interaction with civil society and the government. It was also useful to get more information from women, who were sometimes reluctant to interfere when I was interviewing the household.
4.5.3 Participant Observation
Participant Observation is especially relevant in ethnographic studies (Fetterman 1998), and is important for effective fieldwork. It is a method where the researcher actively participates in a groups activities over time in order to be able to see the world through the eyes if the objects of the study (Bryman 2008). The participant observation technique involves listening and to participate in conversation, observe behaviour and interaction (Bryman 2008).
For this research, participant observation was used complimentary to interviews. I visited each community several times in order to gain a deeper understanding of their lives and how they live and how their lives are. Also, as the data was collected over a period of five months, I went back to some of the communities after some time has passed to see how they were coping, if there were any changes, and to ask follow-up questions. This was particularly relevant in one of the communities as they had only had electricity for a few weeks during the
first visit, but after three months they had lived with the solar power system for a while. This technique was also useful as I got to observe how the NGOs worked with the Bedouin, both in meetings and in other interactions.
I also shared meals and drank tea with several of the informants. This lead to more casual conversations, and I could get to know more about the daily life of the Bedouin by observing myself, rather than only by them telling me about it through answering my questions.
4.5.4 Qualitative Analysis of Documents
As much of this research is based on official documents from the PNA, time was spent on a qualitative analysis of the development plan and follow up reports from the government. These documents can be classified as an institutional, official source (Holme and Solvang 1996). The analysis has been done through carefully reading the official plans for state building, and development from the PNA. In addition, the follow up reports and literature have been added in order to get a deeper understanding of the “Fayyadism” that is dominating Palestinian politics.
The analysis is being done with the Bedouin in mind, trying to investigate what the official plans for the Palestinian state are for them, and how the plans will affect the lives of the Bedouin in the West Bank.