My Research Process Narrative
Since I was young, I have been fascinated by business and investing. My grandfather runs his own business out of his office in our basement, and my uncle is an investor. So, when I found out that I had been assigned a research paper on a current event, I began to search for an event regarding business. After an hour or so of ineffectual searching, my father recommended that I look into the drought in Ethiopia. It was at this time that I developed my research question. I wanted to know how the drought and the social unrest surrounding it would affect international investment within Ethiopia. Not wishing to be too broad, I decided to focus on private international investment, and this remained the focus of my research for the duration of my research process.
Due to the recent nature of the drought, the internet was my best bet for finding relevant information. What I found there was a complicated conglomeration of seemingly contradictory facts and statistics which confused me and forced me to change my thesis many times. Add to this my lack of business knowledge and the limited time that I had to write the paper, and I was in a serious pickle. Ethiopia's economy is the fastest growing in the world (Gray). However, it is also one of the poorest countries in Africa ("The World Bank in Ethiopia"). "How can this be?" I asked myself. What I came to find was that the bulk of this growth was tied to government intervention and planning. Next, I had to ask myself, "What are the ramifications of this fact in light of the drought, and how will those ramifications affect private international investment?" My research revealed concerning ramifications that I concluded would lessen private international investment.
Today the drought will continue to affect private international investment. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, the drought will continue and the threat of famine will increase.
Due to the recent nature of the drought, the internet was my best bet for finding relevant information. What I found there was a complicated conglomeration of seemingly contradictory facts and statistics which confused me and forced me to change my thesis many times. Add to this my lack of business knowledge and the limited time that I had to write the paper, and I was in a serious pickle. Ethiopia's economy is the fastest growing in the world (Gray). However, it is also one of the poorest countries in Africa ("The World Bank in Ethiopia"). "How can this be?" I asked myself. What I came to find was that the bulk of this growth was tied to government intervention and planning. Next, I had to ask myself, "What are the ramifications of this fact in light of the drought, and how will those ramifications affect private international investment?" My research revealed concerning ramifications that I concluded would lessen private international investment.
Today the drought will continue to affect private international investment. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, the drought will continue and the threat of famine will increase.
Works Cited
Gray, Alex. “These are the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2017.” World Economic Forum, 9 June 2017, Accessed
4 Dec. 2017.
"Increased, Sustained Assistance Needed to Mitigate Large Food Consumption Gaps in Somali Region." FEWS NET,
Sept. 2017, Accessed 5 Jan. 2018.
“The World Bank in Ethiopia.” World Bank , 30 Oct. 2017, Accessed 4 Dec. 2017.
4 Dec. 2017.
"Increased, Sustained Assistance Needed to Mitigate Large Food Consumption Gaps in Somali Region." FEWS NET,
Sept. 2017, Accessed 5 Jan. 2018.
“The World Bank in Ethiopia.” World Bank , 30 Oct. 2017, Accessed 4 Dec. 2017.