Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography

by Iain Hay

• ISBN13: 9780199010905
• ISBN10: 0199010900
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2016-12-01
• Publisher: Oxford

Summary

Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography is a comprehensive, practical guide to understanding and conducting qualitative research in human geography. Using a unique "how-to" approach to focus on the practical application of research in human geography by providing real-world examples of research methods at work in case studies, this fourth edition teaches students how to plan, execute, interpret, and effectively communicate qualitative research. With the inclusion of new Canadian and North American examples throughout, in addition to international and Asia-Pacific examples, the text achieves its goal of providing an in-depth overview of qualitative research methods relevant to human geography that is both readable and accessible for students.

Now in its fourth edition, Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography returns with improved readability for undergraduate students, end-of-chapter review exercises, and an appendix of example field notes, making the text much more accessible, current, and relevant to today's human geography students. Three new chapters have also been added on the topics of feminist and indigenous approaches, visual methods, and new media.

Author Biography

Iain Hay, Distinguished Professor, School of Geography, Human Geography, Flinders University, South Australia

Table of Contents

Boxes and Figures
Notes on Contributors
Preface
Part I "Introducing" Qualitative Research in Human Geography
1. Qualitative Research and Its Place in Human Geography, Hilary P.M. Winchester and Matthew W. Rofe
Chapter Overview
Introduction
What is Qualitative Research?
- What Questions Does Qualitative Research Answer?
- Types of Qualitative Research
- The Contribution of Qualitative Techniques to Explanation in Geography
The Relationship Between Qualitative and Quantitative Geography
The History of Qualitative Research in Geography
Contemporary Qualitative Geography - Theory/Method Links
Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercise
Useful Resources
2. Power, Subjectivity, and Ethics in Qualitative Research, Robyn Dowling
Chapter Overview
Introduction: On the Social Relations of Research
Research Ethics and Institutional Review of Research Ethics
- Privacy and Confidentiality
- Informed Consent
- Harm
Ethics and Online Research
Criticisms of, and Moving Beyond, Ethical Guidelines
Critical Reflexivity
Power Relations in Qualitative Research
Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Intersubjectivity in Qualitative Data Collection
Summary and Prompts for Critical Reflexivity
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Note
3. Cross-Cultural Research: Ethics, Methods, and Relationships, Richie Howitt and Stan Stevens
Chapter Overview: An Explanation of Our Writing Method
Modes of Cross-Cultural Engagement: Colonial, Post-colonial, Decolonizing, and Inclusionary Research
Getting Started: Research Legitimacy and Local Authorization
Doing the Work
- The Scale Politics of Cross-Cultural Research Projects
- Social/Cultural Transmission and Creation of Knowledge
- Collaborative and Participatory Research
- Constructing Legitimacy
Making Sense, Reaching Conclusions
Postscript
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Notes
4. Empowering Methodologies: Feminist and Indigenous Approaches, Jay T. Johnson and Clare Madge
Chapter Overview
Introduction
Feminist Research Practice
Indigenous Research
Using Empowering Methods
1. Approaching the Research
2. Doing the Research
3. The Politics of the Research
Summary: A Critical Reflection
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercise
Useful Resources
Acknowledgement
5. Writing a Compelling Research Proposal, Janice Monk and Richard Bedford
Chapter Overview
The Research Challenge
Where Do Research Ideas Come From?
Getting Started
Specifying Your Research Question
Framing Your Research
Developing Your Methodology
Writing the Proposal
Seeking Funding for Research
A Concluding Comment
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Notes
6. Qualitative Research Design and Rigour
Chapter Overview
Introduction
Asking Research Questions
- From Asking Research Questions to Conducting Research
Selecting Cases and Participants
- Selecting Cases
- Selecting Participants
- Participant Selection
- How Many Participants?
Ensuring Rigour
Final Comments
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
7. Case Studies in Qualitative Research, Jamie Baxter
Chapter Overview
What Is a Case Study?
The historical development of the case study
N=1 and the Importance of Depth and Context
Types of Case Studies
- Theory Testing and Theory Generating cases
- Case Studies across Time and Space
Are Case Studies Generalizable?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Notes
Part II "Doing" Qualitative Research in Human Geography
8. Interviewing, Kevin Dunn
Chapter Overview
Interviewing in Geography
- Types of Interviewing
- Strengths of Interviewing
Interview Design
- The Interview Schedule or Guide
Types of Questions
- Ordering Questions and Topics
Structured Interviewing
Semi-Structured Interviewing
Unstructured Interviewing
Interviewing Practice
- Contact
- The Interview Relation
- Closing the Interview
Recording and Transcribing Interviews
- Recording
- Transcribing the Data
- Assembling Field Note Files
Analyzing Interview Data
Presenting Interview Data
Interviews Using Computer-Mediated Communication
- Advantages of CMC Interviewing
- Challenges of CMC Interviewing
- Strategies for good CMC Interviews
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Exercises
Review Questions
Useful Resources
9. Oral History and Human Geography, Karen George and Elaine Stratford
Chapter Overview
Introduction
What is Oral History and Why use It in Geographical Research?
How is Oral History Different from Interviewing?
- Starting Ethically
- Getting to Know Your Participant - The Preliminary Meeting
- Sensitive Issues
- Multiple Interviews
- The Question of Questions
- Interview Structure
- Questioning the Source
- Sound Quality, Interview Sites, and Other Technical Issues
Why and How to Make Oral History Accessible
Uses of Oral History - Spreading the Word
Last Words
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
10. Focusing on the Focus Group, Jenny Cameron
Chapter Overview
What are Focus Groups?
Using Focus Groups in Geography
Planning and Conducting Focus Groups
- Selecting Participants
- Composition of Focus Groups
- Size and Number of Groups
- Recruiting Participants
- Questions and Topics
- Conducting Focus Groups
- Online Focus Groups
Analyzing and Presenting Results
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
11. Historical Research and Archival Sources, Michael Roche
Chapter Overview
Introduction
What is Archival Research?
Advice on Conducting Good Historical and Archival Research
Challenges of Archival Research
Ethics and Archives
Presenting the Results of Archival Research
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercise
Useful Resources
Notes
12. Using Questionnaires in Qualitative Human Geography, Pauline M. McGuirk and Phillip O'Neill
Chapter Overview
Introduction
Questionnaire Design and Format
Sampling
Pre-Testing
Modes of Questionnaire Distribution
Maximizing Questionnaire Response Rates
Analyzing Questionnaire Data
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercise
Useful Resources
13. Visual Methodology, Jim Craine and Colin Gardner
Chapter Overview
Visual Methods in Geography
Psychoanalysis and Semiotics
Discourse Analysis
Exploring the Virtual
Geovisualization as Method
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
14. Doing Foucauldian Discourse Analysis - Revealing Social Identities, Gordon Waitt
Chapter Overview
Introducing Discourse Analysis
Doing Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
- Choice of Source Materials or Texts
- Suspend Pre-Existing Categories: Become Reflexive
- Familiarization: Absorbing Yourself In and Thinking Critically About the Social Context of Your Source Materials
- Coding: Once for Organization and Again for Interpretation
- Power, Knowledge, and Persuasion: Investigate your source materials for "Effects of Truth"
- Resilience and Rupture: Take Note of inconsistencies within your sources
- Silences: Silence as Discourse and Discourses that Silence
Reflecting on Doing Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
15. Placing Observation in the Research Toolkit, Robin A. Kearns
Chapter Overview
Purposes of Observation
Types of Observation
Participant Observation
Power, Knowledge, and Observation
Stages of Participant Observation
- Choice of Setting
- Access
- Field Relations
- Talking and Listening
- Recording Data
- Analysis and Presentation
- Ethical Obligations
Reflecting on the Method
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
16. New Media, Jamie Winders
Chapter Overview
What are New Media?
Thinking Spatially about and With New Media
What New Media Do
Who Are We on New Media? Who Are We With?
Putting It All Together
Key Terms
Review Question
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Notes
17. Empowering Approaches: Participatory Action Research, Sara Kindon
Chapter Overview
What is Participatory Action Research?
Conducting "Good" Participatory Action Research
The Value and Rewards of Participatory Action Research
Challenges and Strategies
Presenting Results
Reflecting on Participatory Action Research
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Notes
Part III "Interpreting and Communicating" Qualitative Research
18. Organizing and Analyzing Qualitative Data, Meghan Cope
Chapter Overview
Introduction: Making Sense of Data
Making Meaning I: Memos
Making Meaning II: Concept Mapping
Making Meaning III: Coding
- Types of Codes and Coding
- The Purposes of Coding
- Getting Started with Coding
Developing the Coding Structure
Coding with Others
Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) and Qualitative GIS
Being in the World, Coding the World
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Notes
19. Writing Qualitative Geographies, Constructing Meaningful Geographical Knowledges, Juliana Mansvelt and Lawrence D. Berg
Chapter Overview
Styles of Presentation
- Positivist and Neo-Positivist Approaches: Universal Objectivity
- Post-Positivist Approaches: Situated Knowledges
Balancing Description and Interpretation - Observation and Theory
- The Role of "Theory" and the Constitution of "Truth"
- Writing and Researching as Mutually Constitutive Practices
- Issues of Validity and Authenticity
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Notes
20. Communicating Qualitative Research to Wider Audiences, Eric Pawson and Dydia DeLyser
Chapter Overview
Introduction
Understanding Audiences
Organizing and Representing Qualitative Findings
The Power of Qualitative Research
Conclusion
Key Terms
Review Questions
Review Exercises
Useful Resources
Appendix: Field Notes Example: Interviewing Sam
Glossary
References
Index