THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

Notes on conducting research in GhanaJonathan Hulland, the Ghana researcher, arrived in Accra on December 30, 2008, two days after apresidential election run-off vote, and in the middle of Ghana’s Christmas holiday. During ourresearcher’s two and a half week-stay in Accra, it proved difficult to track down journalists forinterviews due to the election. The election itself remained unresolved until January 5, 2009, with theoccasional violent skirmish that threatened to spill over into something more serious. As such, thecity was more or less paralyzed for the first few days of the trip.Even after the election was resolved, many newspapers remained shut for an annual Christmas/NewYear’s holiday that dragged on until the middle of January, making it impossible to reach certainpublications. Many journalists went back to their family homes during this time, and were notavailable in Accra. However, Jonathan still managed to conduct 22 interviews with a variety ofinterview subjects, including past and present journalists, NGO workers, and academics.Other than the time constraint imposed by the trip’s length and the unfortunate timing of the trip,the main challenges to the research involved trip logistics (expenses and transportation) and severalno-show interviews. Accra’s brutal traffic, for instance, limited the number of meetings possible in aday. The capitol city was also more expensive than anticipated, which contributed somewhat toresearch difficulties (avoiding taxis was almost impossible, and fares quickly added up, for example).Eating out was also quite costly, for all but the cheapest street food was priced comparably to foodin New York. Development gaps also impeded ease of research. Internet in Ghana, for instance, isstill making inroads. Good connections exist, but they are rare. A reasonably high bandwidthconnection for personal household use is still prohibitively expensive, costing upwards of $200 permonth. Basic hotels with even spotty, slow Internet were, as a result, quite expensive (starting at $60a night). Indeed much of Accra seemed to function on a dual-economy: with richer-country pricesfor any products or services used by the well-to-do and those engaged in development and business,and local prices for much everything else.Overall, however, Accra proved to be an easy-going, welcoming city that seemed well accustomed toinfluxes of researchers and NGO-workers.– 55 –