Applying to Olson Scholars last spring, I proposed a research topic on the role of innovative technologies, specifically geographical information systems, in changing natural disaster response in Southeast Asia. The overarching questions/research puzzles I asked then were:
- Is crowd-sourced data from civilians accurate and successful at detecting areas of need and curtailing aid to fit the needs of recipients?
- How has natural disaster relief evolved over the last few decades to embrace new technologies?
- How have international NGOs doing on-the-ground work in these natural disaster-prone countries worked towards risk reduction? Are they doing enough?
Backtrack to five years ago, Typhoon Haiyan—the strongest tropic storm in history make landfall—hit the Philippines, my home country. The storm affected the lives 16 million people, destroyed much of the infrastructure in the Visayas, economically devastated the already struggling nation. I remember my family and I packing huge boxes filled with canned goods, blankets, clothes etc. to ship back home and donate to the relief effort. Years later, I read an article titled “Responding to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines” [1] outlining the major health and initiatives that took place in the storm’s aftermath. Within the international community, emergency response in the Philippines was heralded as a huge success, but I often wondered how humanitarian aid at this large a scale was accomplished. Thus, my research interest in the efficacy of modern-day disaster relief efforts came to be.
Fast forward to now, I am an Alternative Break leader for an international program in Vietnam, Ghosts of War: Post Conflict Recovery after Four Decades. My co-leader and I, both interested in the rapid economic growth within Southeast Asia, shifted the focus of this seasoned program to also discuss sustainable development. The research I have done for Alternative Break Vietnam has arisen new research questions pertinent to natural disaster risk reduction in that region:
- How can housing and real estate development in the Southeast Asian countries be further regulated to prevent unnecessary loss of life among the poorest communities?
After reading the first week’s reading in Abbott’s Methods of Discovery, I have some sense of how I want to conduct my research. Small-N Comparison is the most logical approach moving forward, as I am analyzing the efficacy of crowd-sourced data, and on a broader sense measuring social media’s impact in aid. I see my project taking a data-driven, statistical analysis path and exploring only a handful of cases.
Notes
[1] McPherson, M., Counahan, M., & Hall, J. L. (2015). Responding to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal : WPSAR, 6(Suppl 1), 1–4. http://doi.org/10.5365/WPSAR.2015.6.4.HYN_026
Hi Nailia! I think you’ve found a really interesting research area. It seems like you are going in the direction of the final research question posed in this blog post. I think it could be a really interesting topic to explore, but I don’t quite think I’ve gotten enough of a sense of what the question is or how you plan to go about pursuing that question. It might be helpful to think of your question in terms of something that you can explain (à la Abbott). More of a why question rather than a how question.
P.S. Your alt break trip sounds really interesting!
You are off to a good start here, Naila, with some good thoughts on the general direction that your research might take. Investigating scholarship on this broad/general topic area is a good next step since identifying the debates among scholars (debates about what we understand / what we don’t understand) is one important part of identifying your own specific research puzzle. As you think about the puzzle itself I would suggest that you think more about explanatory (“why…?” “what explains…?”) questions. Ultimately you are working towards a good “why…?” or “what explains…?” question that points to something that you want to explain. The “how…?” questions are good background research questions, but those are also questions that you can work on answering now so that you can identify that explanatory puzzle. Thinking about methodologies is also a good thing at this stage, but remember that you will have to think about how you would conceptualize your research in all 3 of our methodological worlds–and you might be surprised by what you learn, then, so don’t become too locked in on a particular methodology just yet! I look forward to seeing how your research develops!
Hi Naila,
This is such a relevant topic to be researching given the massive damage natural disasters can do to a population and the fact that as the world sees more and more of the effects of climate change, the number and intensity of natural disasters is going to increase. The fact that you have a level of personal connection to the area you are currently focusing on adds a layer of intimacy that may not necessarily found in other research projects.
Would you be looking at and incorporating what has happened in American cities and communities following natural disasters for one of your case studies? I think all four of your guiding questions could be used to look domestically, especially since there has been so much criticism of FEMA’s response in Puerto Rico and the fact that one can still very visibly see the effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Overall, you seem very passionate about your research topic, and I can’t wait to see what answers you find in your research.
I think that you have a topic that can really hold a lot of knowledge for you to discover. The intersection of looking at the housing/real estate in areas affected by climate change seems to be a conversation that is just starting to get popular. By being at the forefront of this I think you will be able to gain lots of material on this topic. I think by looking at areas that are already subject to rising sea levels such as Seychelles and Bangladesh would be a good way to understand how their real estate markets are reacting.