Conducting Research in Russia:Tips and Thoughts

Diana Yefanova, Ph.D.Comparative and International Development Education,

UMTC

My experience

• Home = Penza• 2 months in St. Petersburg in summer of 2008• 11 months in Hiroshima, Japan, 2009-2010

While conducting overseas research, how do we manage…

• To be productive• To enjoy the experience• To stay safe and sane

Things to consider…• The value of preparing at home• Project feasibility• Being flexible/ realistic expectations• Language and culture• D.A. E. model for cross-cultural learning

Some more cultural aspects

• Building trust/personal relationships

• Safety• Meeting people/going out: finding your scene• Work-life balance• Finding internships/volunteer positions• Bureaucratic and Legal Matters/ethical conduct• Nationality, Gender, Class, Age

Sensitive topics

• What is a sensitive topic? – “circumstances in which the research entails a compiling

of information that has the potential to prove damaging to certain interests.” (Belousov et al, 2007: pp. 158-159).

• What are the interests? – Political interests– Security interests– Human rights and law– Immigration and inter-ethnic relations– …???

Sensitive topics• What do we do about it?

• Treat it as exploratory research• Realize your values and goals• Start writing in the field• Change/adjust your topic

Overseas Research: Takeaway Tips•Contact researchers who do similar things (can share non-public data and contacts)•Be purposeful in your selection of a tool

Use Google and Wikipedia to help, start, not main source•Look for gray literature

Use bibliographies of articles/dissertations/thesesRead the abstracts or executive summaries

•Start keeping track in bibliographic software todayAnnotate, Annotate, Annotate

•Organize yourselfUse folders on your computer or in NetfilesRSS feeds: google Reader, Bloglines, Mozilla plug ins, moreUse tags/keywords consistently (especially important for social bookmarking – Delicious, Digg)

Resources for research

• Datasets– ВШЭ longitudinal survey (household and individual level data on health, demographics, etc.)– Sova Center, Levada Center (polls; regional differences, human rights, hate crimes, religion)– Data libraries, EastView (U of Illinois) ICPSR (U of MI)– Caucasus Barometer (USAID, foundations, accurate empirical data)– World Religion Database, World Christian Database– Cross-national databases (World Values Survey, International Social Survey Programme --

cross-national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research ; European Social Survey)

– World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study– UNICEF database (might have to get permission for datasets)– US Census International Database

Other Resources1. The news2. Internet sources (both Russian and foreign) other than the Lonely Planet guide

• http://www.government.ru/• http://www.inosmi.ru/• http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/• http://www.undp.ru/• http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/russia• http://rbth.ru/

3. Travel communities (use common sense)• http://www.lonelyplanet.com (country forums)• http://www.waytorussia.net/ • http://www.couchsurfing.org/• http://www.hospitalityclub.org/

4. social networking sites• http://vk.com (and, increasingly, Facebook)• Livejournal• Оdnoklassniki.ru

Thank you and stay in touch

Diana Yefanovayefan001@umn.edu

Minnesota Russian Soul is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, preservation and promotion of the Russian language, Russian folk culture and art.

http://www.rusculturemn.com/