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QualitativeMethodsGeographyOxfordBibliographies

QualitativeMethods
AnnetteWatson
LASTREVIEWED:06MAY2015
LASTMODIFIED:25NOVEMBER2014
DOI:10.1093/OBO/97801998740020109

Introduction
Muchofthecurrentqualitativescholarshipingeographycanbecharacterizedasinductiveordescriptive,theorybuilding
work.Inunderstandinghumanexperience,qualitativemethodsaimtobeholisticandtoarticulateactualcausesofparticular
eventsorphenomena,thuspreservingthecontextofdataincollectingandproducingevidence.Bycontrast,quantitative
workaimstobedeductiveorhypothesisdriven,testingdatatomakegeneralizations.Butqualitativemethodscanbe
designedtotesthypotheses,oftenrelyinguponapproachesoftriangulation(correspondenceofevidenceacrosscontextsor
sources)tomakegeneralizations.Acomplaintsharedamongmanysocialsciencesisthatqualitativemethodsarenot
explicitlytaughtorwellarticulated,comparedtoquantitativemethods.Perhapsbecauseofgeographyshistoryof
borrowingmethodsdevelopedinotherdisciplines,orbecauseofthecomplexityofsomemixedmethodresearchdesigns,
geographerscanberelativelysilentabouttheiruseofqualitativemethods.Butthedisciplinehascontributedtodeveloping
thesemethodsinkeyways,becauseofgeographysepistemologicalandontologicalcommitmentstoanalyzespace,place,
andscale,andbecauseofitstraditionoffieldwork.DuringtheAgeofExplorationandamidsttheriseofEnlightenment
humanism,earlygeographerswereexplorersandnaturalhistoriansgeographyasadisciplineevolvedinservicetothe
nationstate,cartographicallycircumscribingterritoriesanddescribingregionsandtheirresources.Geographersarticulated
aregionalapproachtodescribeplacesintheearly20thcentury,butitwasnotuntilthequantitativerevolutionofthe1960s
thatgeographersmorecarefullybegantoarticulatequalitativemethodsinthediscipline.Humanisticapproachesto
understandingsenseofplaceandlandscapedevelopedmorerigorousmethodstoanalyzequalitativehuman
experience,expandingonacoreoffieldworkandinterviewingtechniques.Recentengagementswithsocialtheory,
especiallyfeministtheory,havespawnedmanycontributionstounderstandingqualitativeexperience,andengagements
withpoststructuralandpostcolonialscholarshiphavealsoproducedagrowingliteratureincriticalqualitativemethods.
Todaysglobalproblemshaveincreasedinvestmentsintounderstandingqualitativeexperiencesofplaceandspace,such
asthemeaningsandpracticessocietiesdevelopwithinurbanexperience,theglobalpoliticaleconomy,orinresponseto
climatechange.Theworksofcriticalqualitativegeographersarealsofindingincreasingrelevanceinanagewhereboth
researchandgovernanceisbecomingdecentralizedandparticipatory.Geographershaverecentlybeguntoexplorepost
humanistepistemologiesandnaturesocietyontologiescalledthemorethanhumanandintheseandotherways,they
arepoisedtocontributetopostEnlightenmentqualitativeresearchacrossthesocialsciences.

TextbooksandEditedCollections
Thefollowingvolumes,allwithsignificanthowtoapproachestoqualitativemethods,areusefulindesigningcoursesyllabi
onmethods.Thechoicesbelowreflectthevarietyofcontextsinwhichqualitativemethodsingeographyaretaughtthese
sourcesareinstructivefordevelopingresearchprojectsfrombeginningtoend,bothinsideandoutsidetheclassroom.
GomezandJones2010Clifford,etal.2010andFlowerdewandMartin2005covertheentirerangeofthediscipline,across
humanandphysicalgeography,bothqualitativeandquantitativemethods.Thesetextsareespeciallyusefulin
undergraduateteaching,whendesigningmixedmethodsprojects,orwhenengaginginlargerscaleprojectsthatbridge
multiplesubfieldsofthediscipline.Amongthoseworksthatfocusonlyonhumangeographyorqualitativemethods,thereis
surprisingdiversityinrangeoftopicsandhowthechaptersareorganized.Forexample,Cloke,etal.2004andDeLyser,et
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QualitativeMethodsGeographyOxfordBibliographies

al.2010containchaptersexplaininghowtocollectandanalyzedatausingparticularqualitativeapproachesbutCloke,et
al.2004isorganizedmoreasatextbook,whileDeLyser,etal.2010focuseslessonstepbystepinstructionbecauseeach
chapterdrawsontheauthorsparticularresearchexperiences.Pryke,etal.2003andShurmerSmith2002areusefulto
graduatestudentsinthattheydevotechapterstyingtheorytothepracticeofqualitativemethodswithinspecificgeographic
subfields.Hay2010coversissuessuchasethicsandrepresentingresults,importantconsiderationsforallgeographic
research,andnotnecessarilytiedtoparticularresearchpractices.

Clifford,Nicholas,ShaunFrench,andGillValentine,eds.KeyMethodsinGeography.2ded.London:SAGE,2010.
Coversthebroadspectrumofqualitativeandquantitativeapproachesingeography.Authorsdownplayliteraturereviewsto
emphasizeahowtofocusindividualchapterscouldbeusedforundergraduatesaswellasforintroducinggraduate
studentstopracticingqualitativemethods.Somechaptersarehighlightedinthisbibliographyasparticularlyinstructive.

Cloke,Paul,IanCook,PhillipCrang,MarkGoodwin,JoePainter,andChrisPhilo,eds.PracticingHumanGeography.
London:SAGE,2004.
Primarilyinformsthecollectionofqualitativedataincludingchaptersonofficialsources(p.41),nonofficialsources(p.
62),andimaginativesources(p.93).Alsoinstructiveonhowtoprocessqualitativedata,suchasthesiftingandsorting(p.
215)thatresearchersdointheireffortstoassesspatternsintheirdata.

DeLyser,Dydia,SteveHerbert,StuartAiken,MikeCrang,andLindaMcDowell,eds.TheSAGEHandbookofQualitative
MethodsinHumanGeography.London:SAGE,2010.
Excellentforgraduatestudentsbecauseofparticularemphasisontracingtheliteratureoftheuseofqualitativemethodsin
geographyauthorsdoblendtheirheavylitreviewswiththeirownpracticesandpracticalexperience.

Flowerdew,Robin,andDavidMartin,eds.MethodsinHumanGeography:AGuideforStudentsDoingaResearch
Project.NewYork:PrenticeHall,2005.
Comprehensivestepbystepguideforundergraduatesandgraduatesespeciallyusefularechaptersonconducting
literaturereviews,aswellasstructuringandpresentingdataandevidenceindissertations.

Gomez,Basil,andJ.P.JonesIII,eds.ResearchMethodsinGeography:ACriticalIntroduction.NewYork:JohnWiley,
2010.
Comprehensiveacrossqualitativeandquantitativetraditionsingeography,tiesthecollectionandanalysisofdatatothe
disciplinesmainontologicalandepistemologicalcommitments.Mostusefulatthegraduatelevel.

Hay,Iain,ed.QualitativeResearchMethodsinHumanGeography.3ded.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2010.
Usefulespeciallyforgraduatestudents,particularlychaptersdiscussingcasestudiesandtheethicsofcrosscultural
research.Thefinalsectionincludesessaysonwritingresearchproposalsandwritinggeographyforthepublic.

Pryke,Michael,GillianRose,andSarahWhatmore,eds.UsingSocialTheory:ThinkingThroughResearch.London:
SAGE,2003.
Thisvolumeinformstheaskingofresearchquestionsusingsocialtheory.Chapterscarefullytietheorytomethodological
practiceparticularlyfieldpractices.
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ShurmerSmith,Pamela,ed.DoingCulturalGeography.London:SAGE,2002.
Collectionthataddressestheconnectionbetweentheoryandpracticeinthesubfieldofculturalgeography.Earlychapters
reviewhumanistic,Marxist,feminist,poststructuralist,andpostcolonialepistemologies,followedbyasectiononcollecting
qualitativedata,andafinalsectiononissuesinpresentingresearch.

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