In recent decades, large N studies of global events have gained prominence in conflict studies and contributed to the understanding of violence among and within states. The promise that this strain of research had shown, along with the increasing availability of Big Data, encouraged teams of scholars to gather conflict related data from around the world, organized it, code it and release it to the public in the form of online data repositories. These data hubs spare researchers time and effort by eliminating the labor intensive tasks of data collection, input, integration, and maintenance. Notwithstanding the advantages of the databases, the inclination of researchers to use them as an exclusive source of data for their studies, raises ontological and methodological questions that are yet to be fully addressed.
For example, many studies are data-driven. Many studies rely on a limited number of online databases. Since the data was not collected for a particular study, scholars are forced to ignore important variables, which could be highly relevant for the testing of their hypotheses or rely on proxy variables in place of more appropriate or accurate ones.
Furthermore, many studies on conflicts are conducted by scholars with greater knowledge of sophisticated statistical techniques than of the cases under consideration. The result has been a volume of statistically sophisticated research that lacks solid theoretical or contextual foundations.
Several recent developments opened new routes for overcoming some of these hurdles. Most notable among them is the ‘Big Data Revolution’. Multifaceted data from both primary and secondary sources is more accessible than ever. Much of the data is highly detailed and provides an opportunity for a combination of macro and micro foundations approaches to studying conflicts.
An important objective of this project is to pave a path for averting the problems associated with relying on easily accessible or readily available data. We will do so by rigorously collecting and coding original (and mostly primary) data.
With better and more detailed data, researchers will be able to generate more accurate findings, robust conclusions, and better-informed policy recommendations. The project is focused on more than documenting the Arab-Israeli conflict. We also strive to facilitating an alternate way to conduct quantitative conflict analyses.
With better and more detailed data, researchers will be able to generate more accurate findings, robust conclusions, and better-informed policy recommendations. The project is focused on more than documenting the Arab-Israeli conflict. We also strive to facilitating an alternate way to conduct quantitative conflict analyses.
The key differences between this database and previous ones would be:
1. Optical character recognition (OCR) documentation of primary and seconday sources. I will hyperlink the original document along with full bibliographical information to the corresponding case/variable.
2. Detailed protocols for collecting and documenting data would allow researchers full access to our original sources and add additional variables that are relevant for their research. Additional variables may also be added in the same way as new questions are generated
1. Optical character recognition (OCR) documentation of primary and seconday sources. I will hyperlink the original document along with full bibliographical information to the corresponding case/variable.
2. Detailed protocols for collecting and documenting data would allow researchers full access to our original sources and add additional variables that are relevant for their research. Additional variables may also be added in the same way as new questions are generated
CONFLICT |
BEGINNING |
END |
DURATION |
1929 Riots |
08/23/1929 |
08/29/1929 |
7 Days |
Great Arab Revolt |
04/15/1936 |
10/31/1939 |
1,295 Days |
Suez Crisis |
10/29/1956 |
11/05/1956 |
8 Days |
Six Day War |
06/05/1967 |
06/10/1967 |
6 Days |
War of Attrition |
06/11/1967 |
08/07/1970 |
1,153 Days |
Yom Kippur War |
10/06/1973 |
10/26/1973 |
20 Days |