Critical Challenges and Solutions towards (Re)Constructing Conflict Datasets

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Reliable datasets are a key foundation for conducting descriptive and causal work in Conflict Studies and Political Science, and yet the challenges behind (re)constructing them are often opaque. There may be systemic biases and political factors that impact the accuracy of data presented. Further dilemmas scholars may run into could include ethical considerations in relation to who/what/where the dataset is observing, decisions between when to construct versus re-construct data, and how to do so. We discuss questions of who is being counted as what and the implications of amplifying existing coding conventions for path dependency in conflict studies. This timely panel brings together projects that tackle the challenges and solutions of conflict dataset (re) construction. Echoing the conference theme of ‘a post-pandemic social science’, this panel hopes to develop new insights into this fundamental process of knowledge creation, such that we (re)build more reliable, ethical and accurate datasets for the future.

Sub Unit

• Division 21: Conflict Processes

Individual Presentations

• Building Historically-Oriented Datasets: A Practical Guide - Erica Susanne De Bruin, Hamilton College; Kristen A. Harkness, University of St. Andrews; Jun Koga Sudduth, University of Strathclyde

• Documents as Data: Challenges of Constructing a Peace Agreement Dataset - Sanja Badanjak, University of Edinburgh

• Biased Media Reporting and Our Understanding of Global Unrest - Andrew C Shaver, University of California, Merced

• The Uncounted Dead: Aerial Bombardment and Civilian Fatalities in Conflict Data - M.P. Broache, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Kate Cronin-Furman, University College London; Milli Lake, London School of Economics; Agnes Yu, London School of Economics

Chair

• Agnes Yu London School of Economics

Discussants

• Carolyn Ethel Holmes Mississippi State University

• Nils B. Weidmann University of Konstanz