key practices for activist researchers
peace 071b
simon elichko
-
Generate some research leads by doing a quick preliminary analysis.
-
Use the full range of research tools, resources, and approaches at your disposal - including asking for help!
-
Keep track of what you find
Three Key Practices for Activist Researchers
Preliminary Analysis
Example:
Anti-hydrofracking protest in Lawrence County, PA. Activists demonstrated outside the gates to a farm that had been leased to a gas company.
Go to this link:
bit.ly/prelim-research-nv
Sign in to Google, then follow prompt to copy the doc. Use your own case, if you have one!
• Quick preliminary analysis •
Start from what you know (from the case description).
• Who?
Activist group name? (local? chapter of larger org?)
Farmer's name? Name of gas company?
• Where?
Name of nearest larger town/city?
• What?
What words do activists use to describe the action?
What about the target? Opposition more broadly?
• When?
What relevant date(s) do you know?
What else was happening at this time?
Go to this link:
bit.ly/prelim-research-nv
Sign in to Google, then follow prompt to copy the doc. Use your own case, if you have one!
Start filling out the info you have (approx dates, etc.)
Preliminary analysis --> Initial research direction
• Who?
Social media and web sources from activist group
Blog posts, press releases from larger organization
News and other media quoting or referencing the
farmer, gas company, and/or activists
• Where?
Names of local and regional newspapers + media
Info about other similar actions in the local area
• Keywords and links
Use to search different sites, including web archives
• When?
More manageable search results (narrow by date)
Sources + Leads
• Found a Facebook post on the demonstration by a
member of the activist group.
---> searched Access World News for this person's
name, found out that she's quoted in
newspaper articles you hadn't found before
• Read a local newspaper article quoting a gas company
representative.
---> searched for the gas company name,
learned that they testified in front of the
state Department of Environmental Protection,
obliquely referencing the demonstration
Use the full range of research tools and resources at your disposal
-
Access to databases, news sites, books + from the library
- Lots of resources that don't come up in a general search
- Can sometimes request PDFs of articles we don't have access to
-
Creative use of search engines
- Small changes to search terms (e.g. "phrase search", filetype:pdf) can help you find significantly different content
- Looking up social media posts by using Google prioritizes different results vs. searching in the app
- Get different results searching in DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc.
-
Use archived versions of websites
- Get around broken links (sometimes)
- See older versions of pages as they changed over time
-
Location-specific
- Mapping sites, including Street View over time (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, etc.)
- Satellite imagery in Google Earth
- User-generated content like reviews (including photos)
Creative use of search engines: Google
Phrase searching
- Use this when you need to find an exact phrase, or require than a certain word appears on the page
- Enclose in quotes: "your phrase here"
- Try putting an organization name in quotes, then add more specific keywords (not in quotes): "vera institute" pennsylvania
Search tools bar (on results page)
- Limit results by date updated
- Verbatim mode (results more closely match your exact keywords)
Filetype:pdf
- Limits results to PDF documents (often more extensive)
- Add to your search: "greenpeace" norway filetype:pdf
Advanced Search panel - see more options
Creative use of search engines
Basic set-up
your keyword site:swarthmore.edu
How to search multiple platforms at once:
railroad strike site:instagram.com | site:tiktok.com | site:pinterest.com
-
Put the URL immediately after site: (don’t leave spaces)
-
Leave spaces around the pipe | separating multiple sites.
Creative use of search engines
Edit site URLs to find specific kinds of content:
-
Find Instagram posts (instead of profiles):
keyword site:instagram.com/p -
Find TikToks (instead of Discover pages w/ multiple videos):
keyword site:https://tiktok.com/@
Limit results by date range
-
Posted after 2021: "fly a drone" site:tiktok.com after:2021
-
Posted between 11/1/21–3/1/22:
drone site:tiktok.com after:2021-10-31 before:2022-03-02
Creative use of search engines
You can get significantly different search results by searching the same keywords in different search engines, for example:
- Google
- Change your location in Google to prioritize results for that country
- DuckDuckGo
- Bing
- Perplexity
- Search engines popular in the country you're researching (e.g. Baidu, Yandex)
Web Archives
-
Find the website for a newspaper, TV station, or other media outlet based near your case.
-
Copy the URL. (e.g. nytimes.com)
-
Look up the site on the Wayback Machine on archive.org.
Using archived versions of websites can let you:
-
Get around broken links
- Use the Wayback Machine to view an archived version:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120318201527/http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/archives/2008/10/coal_gets_the_boot_in_the_gree.html
- Use the Wayback Machine to view an archived version:
- See older versions of pages as they changed over time
You’ve likely used Google Maps Street View to see photos of specific locations.
You can sometimes use Street View to see older photos too. For example, compare Philadelphia’s Dilworth Park in March 2012 with Dilworth Park in 2023.
Consider looking up photos of the locations where your cases took place, in case understanding what it looked like (from one vantage point) helps.
Maps
Other map services a with street view feature include Bing Maps, KartaView, Baidu Maps, and Yandex Maps. Each service has different geographic coverage. Find more from Wikipedia's List of street view services by country.
Keep track of what you find.
Search logs (see Tools + Worksheets)
Take good notes
• Names (individuals, organizations, agencies)
• Terms used by or to describe people involved
• Any alternative spellings, transliterations, translations
• Locations of importance
• Historical, colonial, or postcolonial names
• Key dates (consider making a simple timeline)
• Legislation, policies - any specific focal point / impetus
• Vocabulary that is characteristic of each side
Reach out!
Look through the PEAC 71B Research Guide
Reach out to Simon for suggestions and advice.
- Email: selichk1@swarthmore.edu
- Make an appointment: bit.ly/selichk1
key practices for activist researchers peace 071b simon elichko
Research workshop PEAC 071B: Strategy & Nonviolent Struggle
By selichk1
Research workshop PEAC 071B: Strategy & Nonviolent Struggle
- 97
