Inclusion of marginalised communities during post-disaster context in Sri Lanka: what methodology?

Abstract

Research methodology is a general research strategy that defines how research should be carried out. It includes a system of beliefs and philosophical assumptions that shape the understanding of the research questions and underpins the choice of research methods. Additionally, research methodology is an integral part of any research and helps to ensure consistency between chosen tools, techniques, and underlying philosophy. Therefore, this article shows the perspectives to choose the most effective methodology to increase the inclusion of marginalised communities during the post-disaster phase in Sri Lanka. A systematic literature review comprising of 61 articles adopted as the best-suited methodology for this research. The philosophical position of this research is interpretivism, whereas the abductive approach is utilised for theory development. Hence, more than one qualitative data collection method is used, and this research adopts a multi-method qualitative approach. Furthermore, case study and survey strategies are chosen as the most suitable strategies for this research. Two Grama Niladhari divisions affected by natural disasters in Sri Lanka are selected as the cases. Data collection techniques adopted in this research are literature review, structured interviews, desk study, stakeholder interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and expert validation interviews. Data analysis techniques are literature synthesis, relative importance index, stakeholder analysis, and code-based content analysis. Furthermore, the article discusses how researchers achieve the reliability and validity of research findings and ethical considerations.