Writing negotiations: Collaborative field note-taking during global environmental meetings

Alice B.M. Vadrot; Paul Dunshirn; Arne Langlet; Simon J. Fellinger; Silvia C. Ruiz-Rodríguez; Ina Tessnow von Wysocki

doi:10.1177/14687941251341984

Writing negotiations: Collaborative field note-taking during global environmental meetings

Department of Political Science

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Participant observation and collaborative field note-taking are increasingly being used to study global environmental meetings. However, taking field notes in these complex and dynamic settings is challenging. This is illustrated by multilateral negotiations towards an ocean protection treaty that involved many state and nonstate actors both in-person at the United Nations Headquarters and online. We developed and used a fieldnote-taking method and tool supporting team research and systematic participant observation to track 5 years of negotiations that resulted in a marine biodiversity agreement. Our tool supports researchers to collect data systematically and collectively while allowing individual interpretations or styles of recording field notes. Hence our field note-taking practice constitutes a key methodological innovation for negotiation scholars, although with some epistemological, practical, and ethical limitations.

Original language	English
Article number	14687941251341984
Pages (from-to)	251-272
Number of pages	22
Journal	Qualitative Research
Volume	26
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941251341984
Publication status	Published - Apr 2026

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the H2020 European Research Council (grant number 804599). This research presented in this paperis part of the MARIPOLDATA project led by Prof. Alice Vadrot (www.maripoldata.eu) that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme] (Grant agreement No. 804599). The authors give special thanks to the International Studies Association (ISA), United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS), and the organisers of the BBNJ Informal Dialogues for granting access of the research team to the different BBNJ negotiation formats. We thank our advisory network, colleagues, and critical friends, who have supported our research since 2018.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

506007 International relations

Keywords

collaborative event ethnography
data collection
field notes
fieldwork
global environmental agreement-making
international negotiations
participant observation

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https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2345743Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

Cite this

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Writing negotiations: Collaborative field note-taking during global environmental meetings

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

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