Kitchin Rob - Conducting research in human geography: theory, methodology and practice

CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Theory, Methodology and Practice

Rob Kitchin and Nicholas J. Tate

First published 2000

by Pearson Education Limited

Published 2013

by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 2000, Taylor & Francis.

The rights of Rob Kitchin and Nicholas J. Tate to be identified as authors of this Work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices

Knowledge and best practice in this held are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

ISBN 978-0-582-29797-5 (pbk)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

EPC/10

For our parents

This book is concerned with the process of undertaking a research project. It is designed to guide you, the student, through all aspects of the research process, from the nurturing of your ideas and the development of a proposal, to the design of an enquiry, the generation and analysis of data, the drawing of conclusions from your results, and the presentation of your findings. In essence, the aim is to take you from a novice researcher towards being a competent investigator capable of independent enquiry.

The book has been written because, in the course of teaching and research, we have noted the absence of a single book which covered all the ingredients needed to produce a good human geography researcher. Instead we have referred students to a mixture of reference books, often with a quantitative or qualitative bias, none of which we felt to be fully adequate.

We appreciate that as novice researchers you may be apprehensive about a number of different matters. For example, you might be concerned about the generation of data, especially if it involves interviewing one or more individuals, or about the analysis or interpretation of data, or possibly the use of statistics or a computer. This book is specifically written with these concerns in mind. As any seasoned academic will tell you, research is never simple or easy; there are always problems that need to be solved or hurdles to clear. Even experienced, professional researchers can become unstuck, or encounter totally new situations that hinder their progress. However, with foresight, appropriate planning and the right skills, the majority of problems encountered can be overcome in a sensible and uncomplicated manner. As we demonstrate throughout this book, the task need not be as daunting as it might seem at first. Research can be challenging, but it can also be rewarding and exciting.

We have taken some care to try to make all the description and explanation as simple as possible, and to use detailed step-by-step examples derived from real research in human geography to provide essential background knowledge and structure to your learning experience. Many types of research and research techniques are covered, but as with any book that tries to cover the whole breadth and depth of research in a discipline, certain compromises have had to be made. This book is no exception. We provide a broad overview of the theoretical underpinnings and detail some of the main research methodologies currently being used in contemporary human geography. We refer you to other texts where appropriate. As with any textbook, it is only advice that can be given - the best source of understanding and learning is through actually doing research. This book will guide you around some of the worst pitfalls and give you sufficient practical advice to get you started. Ultimately, we claim responsibility for the content of the book and any remaining errors or oversights.

Navigating the book.

Navigating the book

This book is designed to be both comprehensive and easy to follow. It can be either read as a linear text (i.e., starting at the beginning and reading to the end) or dipped into selectively. What is relevant will depend on the nature of your research project, and doubtless portions of the text will be inappropriate in this context. Although the exact route will be up to you, our suggested method of use is outlined schematically in and then again whilst actually generating and analysing your data. The first visit is to help ensure that the project is planned rigorously. All stages of a project need to be considered before data is generated and analysed so that problems that might be encountered at a later date can be identified and strategies to combat them implemented. The second visit will help guide you through the details of implementing specific techniques.

The data sets that we use as examples can all be downloaded from Pearson Education's web site: is saved in the file Table41.dat).

A number of people have provided constructive advice concerning the contents of this book and/or supplied the example data sets and unpublished material we have used throughout. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Blades, Paul Boyle, Mike Bratt, Chris Chatfield, John Coshall, Nick Cox, Robin Flowerdew, Reg Golledge, Alastair Grant, Ian Gregory, Keith Halfacree, Robin Haynes, Phil Hubbard, Dan Jacobson, Nuala Johnson, Iain Lake, David Livingstone, Paul Longley, Andrew Lovett, David Mark, Dave Martin, Victor Mesev, Stan Openshaw, Julian Parfitt, Charlie Richards, Steve Royle, Ian Shuttleworth, John Spain, Bob Taft, Chris Taylor, Nick Williams, Peter Williams, Heather Winlow, Neil Wrigley, and the Cartographic Unit in the School of Geosciences, The Queen's University of Belfast, for the preparation of the figures; Mike Wood for the idea behind .

The computer program GASP, used in , was developed and programmed by Mike Bratt and Rob Kitchin. We are grateful to Mike for his time and effort. We would also like to acknowledge the work and patience of Matthew Smith and Shuet-Kei Cheung at AWL, and Sally Wilkinson for commissioning the book.