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1
damental questions about the premises behind policies is often considered irrelevant and thus excluded from having any political impact. Decision makers instead
demand instrumental knowledge that they can immediately use, and that does not
threaten their own position. Therefore, there may be limited opportunities for critical research to be used directly (Nustad and Sending 2000). However, in a longer
time perspective critical research may contribute to changing perspectives and
political agendas.
Another problem is that critique may also involve a personal risk for the individual researcher in terms of loss of further research funding or job opportunities.
Political ecology has increasingly gained more ground as a university subject
during the last 20 years, especially in the English-speaking world, but it still has a
limited political influence. ‘Apolitical approaches’ continue to dominate in providing premises for policy-making (7 Chap. 2).
Methods: What Research Questions to Ask?
Research questions are usually key tools in research projects, including student
papers and dissertations. After deciding on a topic, and perhaps after also selecting a more narrow focus on a case, students need to think about research questions.
We can divide research questions into several categories, although there may
also be combinations between these. We will here highlight three types of research
questions that are often asked in political ecology studies; descriptive, explanatory
and normative.
Most methodology books seem to agree that descriptive and explanatory questions are the most important ones, and some even argue that these are the only
legitimate research questions (e.g. White 2017).
Descriptive questions aim at identifying what aspect to focus on in characterizing a topic or a case. When answering descriptive questions, knowledge is gathered as basis for further investigations. Descriptive questions may start with ‘what’,
‘who’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’. Students are often expected to formulate at least
one descriptive question in their papers or dissertations. At the same time, they are
usually also expected to ask at least one other type of research question building
on insights gained from descriptive questions.
If a student chooses to focus on the case of mining, a descriptive question
could, for instance, be about whether the mine has positive or negative impacts for
local inhabitants or for mine workers. And this could again lead to specifications
of subordinate questions about different types of impacts.
Explanatory questions may start with ‘why’ or ‘how’ and be articulated to focus
on causes explaining the situation discovered through descriptive questions. This
could, for instance be a question about the causes behind the establishment of the
particular mine, and which actors took part in the process of deciding on the
investment and with the use of which power resources. There could also be a question to explain, for instance, how a mining company was able to appropriate land
from farmers. Another question could be why the mining activity resulted in particular environmental problems such as polluting the ground water. Were these
1.10 · Tenth Synthesis: Critical and Constructive Contributions
1
damental questions about the premises behind policies is often considered irrelevant and thus excluded from having any political impact. Decision makers instead
demand instrumental knowledge that they can immediately use, and that does not
threaten their own position. Therefore, there may be limited opportunities for critical research to be used directly (Nustad and Sending 2000). However, in a longer
time perspective critical research may contribute to changing perspectives and
political agendas.
Another problem is that critique may also involve a personal risk for the individual researcher in terms of loss of further research funding or job opportunities.
Political ecology has increasingly gained more ground as a university subject
during the last 20 years, especially in the English-speaking world, but it still has a
limited political influence. ‘Apolitical approaches’ continue to dominate in providing premises for policy-making (7 Chap. 2).
Methods: What Research Questions to Ask?
Research questions are usually key tools in research projects, including student
papers and dissertations. After deciding on a topic, and perhaps after also selecting a more narrow focus on a case, students need to think about research questions.
We can divide research questions into several categories, although there may
also be combinations between these. We will here highlight three types of research
questions that are often asked in political ecology studies; descriptive, explanatory
and normative.
Most methodology books seem to agree that descriptive and explanatory questions are the most important ones, and some even argue that these are the only
legitimate research questions (e.g. White 2017).
Descriptive questions aim at identifying what aspect to focus on in characterizing a topic or a case. When answering descriptive questions, knowledge is gathered as basis for further investigations. Descriptive questions may start with ‘what’,
‘who’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’. Students are often expected to formulate at least
one descriptive question in their papers or dissertations. At the same time, they are
usually also expected to ask at least one other type of research question building
on insights gained from descriptive questions.
If a student chooses to focus on the case of mining, a descriptive question
could, for instance, be about whether the mine has positive or negative impacts for
local inhabitants or for mine workers. And this could again lead to specifications
of subordinate questions about different types of impacts.
Explanatory questions may start with ‘why’ or ‘how’ and be articulated to focus
on causes explaining the situation discovered through descriptive questions. This
could, for instance be a question about the causes behind the establishment of the
particular mine, and which actors took part in the process of deciding on the
investment and with the use of which power resources. There could also be a question to explain, for instance, how a mining company was able to appropriate land
from farmers. Another question could be why the mining activity resulted in particular environmental problems such as polluting the ground water. Were these
1.10 · Tenth Synthesis: Critical and Constructive Contributions