This document outlines the research design for a study examining violence directed at humanitarian aid workers in Angola from 1998-2002. It will use a mixed methods approach, including qualitative interviews with aid workers and actors from both sides of the conflict to understand their experiences, and quantitative analysis of existing data on violence incidents. Specifically, the research will involve in-depth interviews with 20-25 participants in Huambo and Luanda provinces of Angola, as well as analysis of secondary data sources covering the 1998-2002 period. The interviews aim to provide insight from different groups across ethnic and experience divides, while controlling for age and gender. A major challenge will be the language barrier as the researcher does not speak Portuguese or local languages, but this

1. Chapter Three
Research Design:
The fulfilment of this study’s objectives will require research approaches that not only
explain the relationships between variables, but also the real life experiences of people.
Hence as a result, the researcher will choose a mixed method approach in order to meet the
aims of the study.
Therefore this research design will consist of two components namely: qualitative methods to
seek insight from individuals about their experiences as humanitarian aid workers under
violent threats in Angola and also the experiences of actors from both sides (UNITA and
MPLA) in the Angolan conflict: while the quantitative methods will seek to examine
available data on violence acts directed at humanitarian aid workers trying to establish causal
relationships. Complementing these aspects is the use of in-depth interviews with key
informants to ask about the experiences of aid workers and that of the main conflict parties in
the Angolan dispute. This approach will not only reveal how data pertaining to the
monitoring of violence directed at aid workers does not sufficiently explain the causes of
these attacks by providing an avenue for hearing from the different sides of the divide in the
Angolan conflict. And also go deeper into giving an explanation for the notable proportion of
local aid workers who were victims of armed violence in the Angolan conflict. This is in spite
of the fact of being Angolan citizens and supposedly neutral in carrying out their
humanitarian aid intervention.
The in-depth interviews which will consist of about 20-25 participants collectively and
individually aged between 20 and 65 years will provide data for the qualitative part of the
study. While the quantitative part will consist of secondary data from Dennis King (2002)
Reliefweb publications and www.aidsecurity.org for a period covering 1998-2002 i.e. a-five
year period of the Angolan dispute. In summary, both primary and secondary data will be
used in study.
Research Settings
49

2. The State of Angola is divided into eighteen administrative provinces which are further
subdivided into 163 municipalities. The State of Angola consists of three major tribes namely
the Ovimbundu, Ambundu and the Bakongo.
Although all these tribes have a peculiar language, the Portuguese language is the official
language of the Angolan state. There are however marked differences between the major
tribes that constitute the entity called Angola. While the most populous tribe is the
Ovimbundu, followed by the Ambundu and lastly the Bakongo. They also have distinct
languages, values and beliefs. More on these can be seen in ________(_____). This section is
not to discuss these in details.
3.3 Study Area.
The research areas will be carried out in two core provinces of the Angolan state i.e. the
Huambo province and Luanda the capital of Angola. Field work will adopt the stratified
random sampling techniques to select its study population. The provinces used for this study
were selected based on the dominant support each major actor in the conflict received from
them and the incidence of violent attacks recorded against humanitarian aid workers during
the Angolan conflict between 1998 and 2002, based on available preliminary data. This is
done in an effort to give a balanced representation of the major/dominant factions in the
Angolan conflict.
Study Population
People who have had experiences in the 1998 to 2002 civil war either as victims, combatants
and. However since not all the categories of people specified above can be reached by the
researcher, hence the need for a target population as specified below.
Furthermore, humanitarian aid staff of ADRA, ICRC and Caritas present in Angola will also
interviewed as regards their perceptions and experiences about the attacks on aid staff during
the conflict especially the local staff members who are indigenes of Angola.
Thus different groups across the identified divides will serve as respondents for the informal
and in-depth interviews. This will be done without age restrictions but with an emphasis on
people aged 22 and above. This is to ensure that people who are of age as at the time of the
50

3. dispute are interviewed. So also scholars in tertiary institutions in Angolan who are
knowledgeable about the Angolan conflict will also be interviewed. The study intends to
interview a maximum of between 60-100 respondentsboth male and female in the course of
the study’s field work.
Methods of Data Collection
The data collection methods for this study will be a mixed method approach i. e both
qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative data shall be sourced from available
data on the statistics on incidence of violence directed at aid workers working in Angola
between 1998 and 2002 especially in the delineated areas of study. While the qualitative data
shall be sourced from primary and secondary sources which include FGD’s focus group
discussions, key informant interviews, informal and in-depth interviews, review of literature
that are relevant and life histories of the different major ethnic groups involved in the
Angolan conflict.
Primary Sources of Data:
Key Informants Interview
This study requires information from credible sources men and women who are
knowledgeable about the subject of this study or who can supply information about the topic
of investigation in the study. These categories of people will serve as key informants for the
study. Questions that will be asked will include the nature and process of humanitarian aid
services in Angola, perception of aid workers recorded involve local aid workers who were
nationals of Angola? Selectionof key informants will be informed by their ages and deep
knowledge of humanitarian activities in the Angolan conflict between 1998 and 2002.
stated sources will form the bulk of secondary data that will be used for this study.
Likely Challenges
The major foreseeable challenge is that of language barrier as the researcher does not speak
either Portuguese which is the official language of the citizens of Angola, or any of the local
51

4. tribal languages. However this deficiency will be addressed via the use of local assistants
who will serve as interpreters for the purpose of this study.
52