Even when the topic of inquiry is essentially devoid of politics, data collection is not immune from local politics in a context where ethnic groups compete at the national level for access to resources. Using observations gathered in rural Malawi in 2010, this paper provides a thick description of a significant challenge to data collection: ethnic competition. In this paper, I provide an empirical account of the local reality of ethnoregional competition as demonstrated in employment (or, more likely, unemployment) of local research assistants. Analysis of quantitative data of research assistant job applicants suggests research assistants’ regional background is not a significant predictor for employment. Nonetheless, qualitative data present local perceptions to the contrary. Preliminary analysis of the subsequent survey data on research assistant effectiveness suggests research assistants from the local area (and thus typically from the majority ethnic group in the respective area) were no more efficient in completing interviews more quickly, and were no more likely to report higher degrees of cooperation during interviews. Preliminary analysis also suggests that interviewers matched with respondents by ethnicity will actually have longer interviews and report lower
degrees of cooperation.