Methodology in Creating and Analyzing the ICWES Database

This chapter presents the qualitative and quantitative database that was collected on the ICWES conferences, and the description of the methodology the authors followed to write this book. The ICWES database contains the conference documents (programs, proceedings, reports, booklets, etc.) for ICWES-I to ICWES-XVII, as well as testimonials, bibliographies, letters, emails, transcriptions of testimonies, and instructive oral sources. It also contains some artifacts such as photos and, for ICWES-VIII, recorded tapes and their (partial) transcription into text. Quantitative information for ICWES-I to ICWES-XII has been collected using Excel files: Table 1.1 provides an overview of the conference dates, location, main themes, and chair person, and Table 1.2 presents a summary of the quantitative content of the proceedings from ICWES-I to ICWES-XII (number of participants from the host country, number of nonlocal participants, number of participants from each of the 11 ICWES regions, and the number of countries represented at each ICWES). Appendix 3 presents details for each conference. The 11 current regions used in this book relate to the 11 regions of the world defined after INWES was created (see the historical details in Appendix 2).