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319 views12 pagesWinchester, H.P.M. 2003. Qualitative Research and Its Place in Human Geography. in Hay, I. (Ed) - Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography, P. 1-21
Uploaded by
Andrés Ramírez GamboaCopyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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/ 12
‘Oxford University Press have also provided thoughtful comment and
‘ongoing support for which Lam very grateful.
Fist also express a special note of thanks tothe contributors to this
volume. They pur up with repeated emailed requests and comments
from me that were often as long asthe chapters themselves! I renember
sending out thowe message uttering, as [pressed the “send button, a
quiet prayer to the effect: ‘please, please dant let them spit the dummy
nd pull out of this project!” Ladmite che authors’ tolerance, persistence
aan fortinade in the face of both my editing style and the varioss other
forms of personal and professional adversity they encountered during the
course ofthis project
Finally, 1 owe very special chanks to Cecile Cutler. Cecile has the
misfortune to occupy the office next to mine. As a result, she not only
thas to contend with doorstamming (its the wind, really...) out aso
with my incessant request to look over work for sense and style Her eye
is evercritical, her humour infectious and her comments frank. Thanks
Cecile!
Iain Hay
Qualitative Research
and its Place in
Human Geography
Hilary B. M. Winchester
ConTENTS
Chapter overview
Introduction
‘What is qualitative research?
What questions does qualitative research answer!
‘Types of qualitative research
‘The contsbution of qualitative techniques to explanation in
seography
‘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
‘Suggested reading
(CHAPTER OVERVIEW
‘This chapter ims fist 1 provide an overview of contemporary qualiaiv
research methads in human geography. The rage of methods eommonty se
jn huenam geography is considered ana categorised, weer with some of th 2 QuauaTIVeRESEanci Memione my Humans Geoomariy
sways in which those methods are used wo provide explanation. Second, che
‘chapter ain eo vview brfly she context rom which qualiaive research as
develope inhuman ecgnaphy. This is achiceed by examining changing schols
of though within the discipline, recogng changes are mesy, overlapping nd
‘coexisting, Thin, the chapter aoms to link methodological debaes to wider theo-
retical perspectives in gecgnap.
INTRODUCTION
Contemporary human poogeaphers study places, people, bodies,
discourses, silenced voices and fragmented landscapes. The researc
«questions of today’s human geographers require a muliplicity of concep
tual approaches and methods of enquiry. Increasingly, the research
methods ured are qualitative ones intended to elucidate human envi
ronments, individeal experiences and social processes. This inttoche-
tory chapter aims to set the scene of qualitative research in human,
‘geography and to highlight issues and techniques ehat are examined in
mote detail in later chapters. Th
chapter has three main. and inter-
linked objectives.
First, i provides an overview of qualitative methods, their contest,
and the links between methodology and theory. The categories used and
‘established here are relatively fluid they are designed merely a a way of|
‘organising this growing field, and are not meant to be fixed or
‘constraining. Indeed, some recent research, such as that on the body
and embodied experiences in place, essentially defies categorisation. A
number of isues mised in this intioduction are more fully developed
later in the volume, particularly those that relate to ethical practices
(Chapter 2), the positioning of the author relative to the audience
(Chapters 2, 7 and 9), as well as the broad issues of credibility, depen
ability and confiibility (Chapter 3).
Second, the chapter outlines the arguments about, and differences
{and some of the similarities) between, qualitative and quantitative
‘methods. Furthermore, the cutrent debate on combining methoss
through telangulation and mixod-method approaches is reviewed. The
resurgence of qualizative techniques and the current qualitaive/quani
tative debate in human geography are set in the context of the disc
pline’ development and evolution, Inevitably a thumb-nail sketch of
the evolution of geographical thoughe in part of just one chapter will
necessitate some broad generalisations. However, in this context itis
(Quattarve RESeAR! AND TTS PLAGE BC HIOMAN GRCORANH 3
{important to recognise that controversy about che nature and validity of
research methods has existed for decades. Methodological debates may
entrench polarised positions, for example between quantitative and
qualicative, objective and subjective. The apparent polarity berween
those positions may infact prove to be largely a false dichotomy. Inthe
past, such debates in geography have raged around other extremes
(Wrigley 1970). Geographers in the early decades of the ewentieth
century have argued, for example, over the merits of determinism versus
possbilism (the extent to which humans have control over or are
controlled by their environment) (Wrigley 1970). The current ating of
the qualitative versus quantitative debate may in one sense be liken to
the resurrection ofa dinosaur in the shape ofa false dichotomy, while in
‘nother sense it is sgn of healthy debate and intellectual vigour within
the discipline.
Finally, ehe chapter focuses particularly on links between theory and
methodology and rises ssses of ethics, authorship and power. The
contemporary use of qualitative methods in human geography is posi-
tioned within the theoretical debates and intellectual evolution of the
discipline, while raising issues for consideration by reflexive and
committed researchers. Incense arguments about methodology are often
4s mach to do with researchers’ belies and feelings about che structure
ofthe world as abour thei regard for a particular research method, such
1 participant observation or in-depth interviews. While creationists
and catastrophists clearly subscribe to particular world-view (giving
credence to the biblical account of eacths creation and catastrophic
‘geomorphological events such as the Great Flood), other geographers
may hold equally strong, but perhaps less obvious, views about the onler,
strucrare, measurement, and knowability of phenomena. In complex
ways, ontology (beliefs about the world) and epistemology (ways of
Jnowing the world) are linked to the methods we choose to use for
research (Sayer and Morgan 1985)
WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
‘What questions does qualitative research answer?
Qualicarive esearch is used in many areas of human geography: In a
road sense, qualitative research is concemed with elucidating human
environments and human experiences within a variety of conceprual 4 QUALMARIVE RESEARCH Memos IN Henny Gtockarar
frameworks, The term ‘esearch’ is used here to mean the whole process
from defining a question to analysis and interpretation. ‘Method! is used
asa much more specific term for the investigative technique employed,
‘A huge range of methods is wed in many different situations. Some of
the variety that springs to mind range from interviews about health
issues in postcolonial New Zealand/Aotearoa (Dyck and Kearns 1995);
through participant observation with homeless children in abandoned
dlocklands ofthe city of Newcastle, New South Wales (Winchester and
Costello 1995); wo deconstruction of films and textual rsatria
analysing Australian gendernvironment relations (Aitken and Zonn,
1993), Inevitably, i is difficule to summarise the questions adresed by
sel variety of research, However, it is instructive to recall the answer
ro a similar question posed two decades ago in relation to statistical
analysis in geography. In that cext, Ron Johnston (1978, pp. 1-5) argued
thar the gamut of statistical techniques answered two fundamental ques-
tions. Those questions were either about the relationships between
phenomena and places, oF the differences between them. The elegant
simplicity of Johnston's questions can be paralleled by a diferent, but
similaely boad, pair of questions which qualitative research s trying to
The two fundamental questions tackled by qualitative researchers are
concerned either with social structures or with individual experiences
‘This dualism is one which in practice may be hard to disentangle, but i
‘of fundamental importance in explanation. The behavicur and experi
ences ofan inividual may he determined not so much by thei personal
characteristics but by their position in the social structure, ‘together
with theie associated resources, constants or rules (Sayer 1992, p. 93).
“The fest question may be phrased as:
‘Quetin Ones Wht he sap of ita races ay wha rss ae they
insoucied, mata, lise and esl?
“The seeuctres which geographers are analysing may be social, cultural
economic, political or environmental, Suructures may be defined as
‘internally related objects ot practices. Andrew Sayer (1992, pp. 92-5)
ives the example of the landlord-tenant relationship, where sructures
exist in relation co private property and ownership, where rent i paid
between the (wo parties, and where the structure may survive a
continual tumover of individuals, Furthermore, he emphasises chat
tenants almost certainly exist within other structures; for example they
(QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ANDTSPLACE INHUMAN GkoGRAIBNY_ 5
say be students affected by educations!
constrained by racist stactures, The coexistence of rented. housing
seulents and minority groups produces a complex linkage and mutual
reinforcement of strictures, within which individuals lve out thei
lives. Qualtaive geographers balance a fine line between the examina
tin of structures and proceses on the one han al of individuals and
theit experiences on the thee. Structures constain indiidials snd
‘enable certain behaviours, but in some ctcustances individuals also
have the capacity to break cather than reproduce the mould. An
‘overemphasis on structures and process rather than individual could
lead toa dehumanised human geography. On the other hand, individ
uals donot have all pomerfl fc will which woud enable them to over
come the powerfl stictures embedded in society, sch as capitalism,
rately orci
Sayer (1992, p- 95) considers that the key question for qualitative
researchers about stactures may be phrased as: "What is 4 about the
strycres which produce the effects at se” Geographers have said
seructres qualitatively a muber of ways. significant focus has ben
co the ways in which they ae built, produced and reife: for example
Kay Anderson (1993) has analysed dhe documentary history which has
led rstgmatisation of the suburb of Redfern in Sydney In this example
the structures are essentially indstinguishable from the process which
ail rinfoce and ontest them. Other author ave conslered either
the maverial or syubolierepescnavions of sucures: An thelr 1994
analysis of British merchant banking, McDowell and Cour emphasise
media representations of banking patriarchs and the importance of dress
ana body image for younger female and male bankers. A further aspect
ofthe investigition of structures may be concerned with thei oppressive
or exclusionary nature: Gill Valentine’ (1993) interviews with lesbian
workers considera the ways in which workplace structures naturale
heterosexual norms, and thereby concribuce to the oppression and
sracgnalsation of workers who do not conform to these norms. Most of
the qualitative geographical work on tructares in fact emphasises the
processes and relations which sustain, moi o oppose those succes,
tater than focusing specifically cn thei frm and nature
The second question is concerned with individual experiences of
stouetates and places
‘Question Tuo: What india’ experiences of places and eens? (6 QuaLrraveResanca MErHows ft Husa GEOORAPE
Individual experience the same events and places differently, Giving
voice to individuals allows viewpoints to be heard which otherwise
might be silenced oF excluded: Jane Jacobs’ (1993) account oF the
conflicts over mining at Coronation Hill gives voice to Aboriginal
perspectives on naturalised notions of land and county. Dissident of
‘marginalised stories may be ‘given voice’ dough the use of dates, oral
hiswories, cording of interviews and conversations or through the use
of ‘alternative’ rather than ‘msinstream’ media, Participant observation
by immersion in particular settings allows multiple viewpoints to be
heard and acknowledged. A study of the post-school celebrations of
Schoolies’ Week on the Gold Coast of Australia (Winchester et al
1999) gives voice not only to the partying Schoolies (ie., high shool
students celebrating the end of the academic year, but also to agents of
control (for example, police). The experiences of individvals an the
neanings of events and places cannot necessarily be generalised, but
they do constitute part of a multi-faceted and fluid reality. Qualiative
geographical research tends to emphasise multiple meanings and ister
pretations rather than seeking. to impose any one ‘dominant’ or correct”
Ancerprctation,
‘The experiences of an individual have been used in a generalisable
1 to illuminate structures and structural change; Rimmer and
Davenport (1998) ase the travel diaries of Australian geographer Peter
Scott aan example of the huge changes in mobility and technology
which have characterised air transport since the 1950s. An autobio-
traphical example by Reginald Golledge (1997) tells his personal story
to outline the dftculies experienced by geographers and other acade-
mics faced with major physical disabilities. In some cases, the bourdary
between structure and individual experience is bared: in a study of the
Anglophone world in Quebec, Rose (1988) fel thatthe experience of
being English in Quebse was intrinsically bound up with the struccures
and behaviours ofthat society in that place. In tying to express that
incimate relationship, Rose (1988, p. 174) commented that there was
“no hasis on which express any diference (author's emphasis) erween,
the *tradiion-as-lived” (ie, being English in Quebec) and "a frame
work as an analysis ofthat tradition-as-lived™. ly other words, the expe
rience itself could ne be analytically separated from the strucares
which form the context for that experience.
(QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND ATS PLACE IN HUMANGEDORABOY 7
‘Types of qualitative research
It is clean even ftom the brief preceding section, that qualitative
‘esearch in geograpty i curently wed 1 ables huge range of ius,
vents and placer, and that chese studies tlie a varery of methods
Nonetheless, some methods are much more commonly employed than
others. Ths ection identifies three main types of qualitative research
the oral (primal ingerview-baed), che vextual (creative, documentary
and landicape) and the observational
Clearly the most popular and widely wed methods are oral. Talking
with people as reseaich subjects encompasses a wide ange of ectvtes
‘The spoken testimony of people i wed im ways that range from the
bighly indvidualati (rl histories and autobiographies othe high
generalised (the individual as one of a random sample), The later type
Of survey technique borders onthe quantitative, where responses can be
Counted, cros-tabulated and analysed statistically (or example, Oskley
1961). The former approach, often achieved through oral history
methods, ies at the more qualitative, individualistic end of the spec
trum. Such methods ate considered in. more detail in Chapter 4. A
inde ground i occupied here bythe increasingly popular echnique of
ting foes groups (ce Chaper 5). Jackson and Horock (1995) ete
tively used focus groups differentiated by age, gender, and social group to
analyse the complex meanings of the ‘everyday’ activity of shopping.
‘The range of ways in which oral methods are uriised in geography —
whereby subject re allowed to peak with their own voiee—is outlined
inBox Ll. feshould be noted cht the esearch questions wilt some
extent shape the methods tht will be wed. In prticuay, the methods
Fange from answering the research question about individ! meanings
an experiences at the biographical end of che spectrum, to answering
the research question about societal structures at the survey end
Surveys are undertaken to abtain information from and about individ
uals that is not avaiable ffom other sources. White an interview i
undertaken with an individual, a survey involves a more standaied
interaction with a numb of people- Oral survey of personal inorma-
tion attitudes and behaviow sully (but not inevitably) tlie qs
tionnaires Questionnaires ate mor closely suuctued and ondered than
interviews, and every eepondenarawers the same question ina tan-
daw format, Mass auilout questionnaires which do not involve 8 Quurrarive Risener Simons 9s HUMAN Gaon
personal contact and which
analysed quantitatively ate not consid
«red ere as qualitative technigues, eventhough they may includ= some
‘open-ended questions
Bx. Oral quate mein van Bow
oe
raphy inci “TT
Sunes Sunes aucured
Qussionnins—srucured Genel Sara
The second major type of qualitative research is textual analysis
(cliseussed mote fully in Chapter 7). Such texts are wide-ranging but
more difise in the hu
monies described above, Important groups of textual metheds utilise
creative, documentary and Landscape sources. Creative texts ae likely t0
include poems, fiction, fl, ait and music. Documentary sources may
include maps, newspapers, planning documents, and even postage
stamps! Landscape sources may range from the very specifi, such as the
“cemeteries and columbaria, memorials and mausoleus’ that Lily Kong,
(1999) uses in her analysis of deathscapes, to the general, such ss the
landscapes of suburbia a indicators oftheir social status (Duncan 1992).
‘The analysis of creative sources, including fictional literature, fika, a
‘and music, has shown inereasing complexity in recent years. (For an up
to-date survey of this field see Winchester and Dunn 1999. See alo
Chapter 7 ofthis volume.) Geographers have searched such sources for
lunderlying structures, ooking at paintings, for example, to understand
changing perceptions of landscape (Heathcote 1975, pp. 21-17;
Lowenthal and Prince 1965) o using film to eximine both the inspact
of city restructuring andthe ways in which itis represented (Winchester
and Dunn 1999),
Written texts have alo been used as the source of underlying
sliscoures which underpin and legitimate socal structures. Analysis of
mn geography literature than the oral testic
QuaLetve RESEARCH AND ETS PLACE N HIMANGEDCRATH 9
media representations demonstrate the myth-making power of repetitive
“loganising whether tis relates to myths of the inner city (Burgess and
‘Wood 1988) oF to the imagery of place-making (Dunn et al. 1995).
‘Herman (1999) has argued that changing place names in Hava reveal
‘an political and cultural economy into
4 transformation from Haw
vwestem capitalist forms, while Sparke (1998) shows convincingly some
‘of the ways in which The Historical Ada of Canada is enmeshed in pos
colonial politic ofthat country
‘A significant and controversial source of textual analysis isthe land
scape itself (see Chapter 7 for adiscussion ofthe debate). The angument
thar landscape may he read as text i epitomised in the work of Duncan
and Duncan (1988) where the residential Landscape is decoded ofits
social nuances. A recent study of roadside memorials in New South
‘Wales concluded that the rondsie erases and flowers were indicative
not only of individuals’ behaviour but also ofa ‘problema masculinity”
characterised by aggression, fast driving and reckless behaviour (Hartig
and Dunn 1998). Textual analyses of particular landscapes such as
‘model housing estates use techniques derived fiom semiotics (the
Tanguage of signs) co demonstrate literally the in-built naturlisation of
social roles according to gender and family status (Mee 1994). Schein
(1997) interprets landscape architecture, insurance mapping and other
elements of a discourse materialised? to explore the ways they symbolise
and constitute particular cultural ideals. Waitt and McGuirk (1996)
‘eamine both documentary and landscape texts to explore the selective
representation ofthe heritage ste of Milles Poin in Sydney; the choice
of particular buildings a5 heritage’ both reflects and reproduces a white,
male, coloniser’s view of Sydney's history while silencing other views
and voices.
‘The cind significant type of qualitative research in human geography
consists of forms of participation within the event or environment
which is being researched (see Chapter 6 for an excended discussion).
‘The most common form of qualitative geographical research involving
participation is participant observation. Within participant obserestion,
there may be a wide variation in the tole of the observer frm passive t0
pro-active (Hammersley and Atkinson 1983, p. 93), All forms of obser-
‘vation involve problems of positioning of the author in relation to the
subject of the research (for example, Smith 1988). In particular, very 1 QUALTATWERISEARCH METHONSIN HUMAN Gnoakamiy
active participation may clearly influence the event which is being
researched, while rescatchers who are petsonally invelved, for example
by researching che community in which they grew up, may find t hard
to wear their‘comn
nig’ and ‘researcher’ hats at the same time. Pati
lows the researcher tobe, at least par, simultane-
‘ously ‘outssle™ and ‘insider’, although differences in social stats and
teackground are hard to overcome (Moss 1995). The positioning of the
researcher in relation to the ‘escarched? raises some significant ethical
tissues, especialy ifthe research is covert (Evans 1988, pp. 207-08). It
‘ean, however, have some importane advantages, for example for the
ssudent whose research work also provided him/her with gaid work ata
fast-food outlet (see Cook 1997 for an excellent
‘other staxlent projees). In-depth partiepant observation is essen
indistinguishable from ethnographic approaches, which often i
lengthy fickiwork. That ficklwork can enable meaningful relationships
with the rescarch subjects eo develop and may facilitate deep under-
standing of the research context (Eyles 1988, p. 3; Cooper 1994; 1995).
Iris usetul to follow Cook’ (1997, p. 127) terminology where he states
that participant observation is the means or method by which ethno:
‘raphic research is undertaken,
ipant observation
‘The contribution of qualitative techniques
‘o explanation in geography
In this chapter I have discussed wo fundamental questions of
‘geomraphic enquiry, those concerned with individuals and those
concerned with social structures, L have alo indicated three main
‘groups of methods the oral, dhe vextual and the pariipatory, Theres
ro simple relationship between the method used and the research ques:
tions posed. It is tempting to say that oral methods may be disected
predominantly cowatds elucidating che experiences of individuals and
their meanings; however, this is overly simplistic. People's own words do
tell us great deal about cheir experiences and attitudes, but they may
also reveal key underlying socal structures, In my own work on lone
fathers, [ found that che in-depth interviews illuminated undeslying
srucures of patriarchy and masculinity in ways which were much more
profound han anticipated (Winchester 1999). Depths of individual
anger andl despair reflected mismatches between those individual?
romantiised expectations of marriage and gendered behaviour and theie
QUALITATIVE RESEARC AND TS PLACE INHUMANGEOGRAY 11
actual experience of marred life, In this sense, the oral method chosen
Cluckdated both individual experiences and social structures in. the
holistic sense which would most frequently be associated with partici-
pant observation.
‘Similarly, it might appear thar textual methods would most commonly
bbe employed to throw light upon the social processes that underpin, leit-
imate and resist socal structures. This generalisation would probably be
more widely accepted than any equation of oral methods with research,
‘questions that focus on the individual. Textual methods have indeed been
tied to analyse some ofthe many social processes studied by conternpo-
‘ary human geographers, Examples that spring co ming include the discur-
sive construction of place (Mee 1994; Dunn, McGuitk and Winchester
1995), processes of social exclusion (Duncan and Duncan 1988) and
‘expresions of problematic’ masculinity (Hattig and Dun 1998).
‘One of the most recent areas of study in human geography focuses on
the body and on our embodied experiences. A. study by Longhurst
(1995) of the experiences of pregnant women in shopping malls showed,
how the embodied experiences of individuals (of feling marginalised, of
needing more toilets, of being uncomfortable in particular places such as
tats and lingerie shops) are indicative of the way the pregnant body i
socially constructed a other" (ie., oppositional ro or outside the main
ftream) to be confined to particular places and roles, medicalsed and
‘marginalised. The study of the body may also be as a text o asa land=
scape which may be marked or shaped in particular ways either as form
Of entity (McDowell and Court 1994 identify boaly performances of
‘male and female merchant bankers) oa a form of resistance (Bell etal.
1994 commented on lipstick lesbians as practising resistance to hetero
sexual norms). The sly ofthe body as text, as performance o as social
onstruction, illusinates some of the richness of methods thar cannot
be easily pigeoa-holed into the types of qualitative method and types of
geographical explanation identified for convenience eatier inthe
chapter.
‘THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITATIVE
AND QUANTITATIVE GEOGRAPHY
In the last two decades the pendulum of geographical methods within
hhuman geography has swung firmly from quantitative to quaitaive 12 Quaurrarve Rescate Mens I HuaeaN GedRAREY
methods. The two are generally characterised as in opposition of as
