I gave this presentation for a group of University of Minnesota undergraduate students embarking on their short-term research trip to Russia in 2012. Students for Amity Among Nations SPAN

1. Conducting Research in Russia:
Tips and Thoughts
Diana Yefanova, Ph.D.
Comparative and International Development Education,
UMTC

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

3. While conducting overseas research,
how do we manage…
• To be productive
• To enjoy the experience
• To stay safe and sane

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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
– …???

7. 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

8. 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/theses
Read the abstracts or executive summaries
•Start keeping track in bibliographic software today
Annotate, Annotate, Annotate
•Organize yourself
Use folders on your computer or in Netfiles
RSS feeds: google Reader, Bloglines, Mozilla plug ins, more
Use tags/keywords consistently (especially important for social
bookmarking – Delicious, Digg)

9. 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

10. Other Resources
1. The news
2. 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/
1. Travel communities (use common sense)
• http://www.lonelyplanet.com (country forums)
• http://www.waytorussia.net/
• http://www.couchsurfing.org/
• http://www.hospitalityclub.org/
1. social networking sites
• http://vk.com (and, increasingly, Facebook)
• Livejournal
• Оdnoklassniki.ru

11. Thank you and stay in touch
Diana Yefanova
yefan001@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/