Research Methods in Geography: A Critical Introduction

Citation

Gomez, B., & Jones, J. P., III (Eds.). (2010). Research Methods in Geography: A Critical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell. Critical Introductions to Geography.

Chapter Summary

This edited textbook of about 480 pages has twenty-five chapters by specialist contributors, arranged in four parts: theory and methodology, collecting data, representing and analysing data, and the researcher's obligations. It is co-edited by a physical geographer (Gomez) and a human geographer (Jones), and the introduction presents the book as a deliberate attempt to bridge the divides between human and physical geography, between theories, and between qualitative and quantitative methods. Every chapter includes "Additional Resources" and "Practical Exercises" sections, and the book ends with a glossary.

Chapter 1: Introduction

The editors explain how geography's methods became increasingly quantitative in the twentieth century and how new technologies and theoretical perspectives since the 1970s widened them, raising questions of ethics, positionality and reflexivity. They set out the book's framework, in which ontology and epistemology inform paradigms, paradigms inform methodology, and methodology informs methods, with influence running both ways, and they give a checklist of methodological questions, from choosing objects of study to ethical safeguards.

Part I: Theory and Methodology (Chapters 2–6)

• Chapter 2: Theorizing Our World introduces ontology and epistemology and four paradigms at work in geography today: spatial science, humanism, critical realism and poststructuralism.
• Chapter 3: Observing Our World, Chapter 4: Measurement and Interpretation and Chapter 5: Operational Decisions are the "cross-cutting" chapters, each co-authored by geographers of different theoretical and substantive backgrounds, to show what human and physical geographers share in observing, measuring and designing research.
• Chapter 6: Sampling Our World completes the part on research design.

Part II: Collecting Data (Chapters 7–15)

The data-collection chapters move from physical to human geography: Physical Landscapes, Climates, Vegetation and Remote Sensing; then Secondary Data; Social Surveys, Interviews, and Focus Groups; Ethnography and Participant Observation (by a team of seven authors that includes Ian Cook); Cultural Landscapes; and Human–Environment Field Study.

Part III: Representing and Analyzing (Chapters 16–23)

The analysis chapters cover Maps and Diagrams, Descriptive Statistics, Explanatory Statistics, Mathematical Analysis, Regional Analysis, Modeling, Geographic Information Systems (by Michael Goodchild) and, for qualitative material, Analyzing Meaning.

Part IV: Obligations (Chapters 24–25)

The book closes with The Politics and Ethics of Research (by David M. Smith) and Writing It Up (by Dydia DeLyser), on the researcher's duties to research subjects and to readers.

Key Concepts

Chapter 1 and Part I: Theory and Methodology

• Ontology and epistemology: questions about the nature of reality and about how it can be known.
• Paradigm: a body of theory that a group of researchers follows; the book discusses spatial science, humanism, critical realism and poststructuralism.
• Methodology versus method: the design decisions of a study (objects, questions, safeguards) versus the concrete techniques of collecting and analysing data.
• Positionality and reflexivity: how researchers are positioned in relation to what they study, and how they reflect on that relationship.
• Sampling: selecting the cases, places or people from which data are collected.

Part II: Collecting Data

• Secondary data: data collected by others and reused, as distinct from data the researcher gathers in the field or by remote sensing.
• Qualitative fieldwork: interviews, focus groups, ethnography and participant observation as ways of studying meaning and practice.
• Cultural landscape: the landscape read as evidence of social and cultural processes.

Parts III–IV: Representing, Analyzing and Obligations

• Descriptive and explanatory statistics: summarising data versus testing relationships, for example with regression.
• Modeling and GIS: formal representations of geographic processes and systems for storing and analysing spatial data.
• Research ethics: obligations to research participants and to the integrity of results, including avoiding plagiarism.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Human and physical geography together. The editors present this as what sets the book apart: they argue that methods teaching is too often split along the human–physical divide, and the cross-cutting chapters in Part I are co-written across that divide.
• Theory before technique. Starting from ontology, epistemology and paradigms means students learn why a method suits a question, not only how to apply it; the introduction's checklist of methodological questions is a practical tool for planning a dissertation.
• Specialist authors. Each chapter is written by researchers working in its area, including Michael Goodchild on GIS, Douglas Stow on remote sensing and Dydia DeLyser on writing.
• Built for self-directed learning. The editors acknowledge that no instructor will be expert in every chapter, and every chapter therefore has additional resources and practical exercises, with a glossary of key terms.

Limitations

• Breadth over depth. Twenty-five chapters in some 450 pages of text give each method roughly 12–25 pages; students undertaking a statistics-heavy or GIS project will need specialised texts.
• Gaps in coverage. The contents include no chapters on archival or historical research, laboratory analysis, or online and digital methods.
• Dated technology. Published in 2010, the chapters on remote sensing, GIS and secondary data predate many current data sources and tools, and no later edition is listed.

Where It Fits in the Course

The course pairs geographic thought with research methods, and this book is the one that joins them. Its closest companion is Clifford, Cope and Gillespie's Key Methods in Geography, an edited handbook with short practical chapters on planning, fieldwork, archives, online data and qualitative, quantitative and modelling techniques; it is more recent and more hands-on, while Gomez and Jones put more weight on the theory behind method choice. Matthews and Herbert's Geography: A Very Short Introduction is a quick overview of the discipline to read first.

On the thought side, Tim Cresswell's Geographic Thought: A Critical Introduction explains the traditions behind Chapter 2's paradigms in much more depth, while Johnston and Sidaway's Geography and Geographers and Livingstone's The Geographical Tradition are histories of the discipline for students who want to understand how those paradigms emerged.

How to Use This Book

The editors wrote the book primarily for second- and third-year undergraduates who are starting more focused study in human or physical geography, human–environment relations or geographic techniques, and especially those preparing a senior thesis or undergraduate dissertation. Some chapters, they suggest, also suit beginning master's and doctoral students.

• Read Chapters 1–6 in full. They provide the framework and the research-design questions that apply whatever method is chosen.
• Choose from Parts II and III according to your project: physical geographers will focus on Chapters 7–10 and 16–22, human geographers on Chapters 11–15, 16–18 and 23, and human–environment projects on Chapter 15 together with both sets.
• Read Part IV before fieldwork and again before writing. Ethics approval and a writing plan are easier to manage if considered early.
• Do the practical exercises in the chapters you rely on, and use the additional resources to find more specialised guidance.
• Read published papers alongside. The editors' second aim is to help students assess the research of others; read a paper in your field after each relevant chapter and identify its paradigm, methodology and methods.