Title: Approaches and Methods in Human Geography
1Approaches and Methods in Human Geography
Source Claire Jantz Revised by Greg Bryan
02/11/05
2Outline
- Types of fields in human geography
- Theoretical approaches to studying human
geography - Methodology approaches to studying human geography
3Types of fields in Human Geography
- Cultural (Demography migration acculturation
assimilation) - Economic (employment location theory
manufacturing marketing retailing services
trade) - Gender studies (feminisms)
- Rural (economy planning population and change)
- Industrial (location organization regional
development technological change) - Medical (epidemiology)
- Urban (economy housing morphology politics
population renewal retailing sociology
theory models systems
- Political (electoral geopolitics)
- Population (demography change migration)
- Recreational (leisure sport tourism)
- Historical (countryside industry population
towns) - Social (ethnicity theory socio-economic status)
- Transport (rural/urban)
- (1993 listing of the Institute of British
Geographers and the Association of American
Geographers in Kitchen and Tate 2000)
4Approaches
- What perspective do you use to observe a
phenomenon - How should it be construed and represented
- Three basic approaches
- empirical-analytical
- historical-hermeneutic
- critical
5I. Empirical-analytical science
- Empiricism (fact seeking)
- facts speak for themselves
- science should be observe phenomena in the real
world - value-free (non-bias)
- Descriptive analysis
- Positivism (scientific)
- Scientific statement (hypothesis)
Scientific observation - formation of theory Scientific law
absolute truth - human behavior can be derived and used for
predictions - value-free (non-bias)
- requires that hypotheses be presented and
verified or falsified by repeatable observations - quantitative methods and models
6What do you think is the variable displayed in
this map What does it tell us about America
7II. Historical-hermeneutic science
- Hermeneutics (self-interpretation)
- The study of interpretation and meaning.
- - Ex. Biblical interpretation of clarification
of the meaning of Gods word. - - Is not used as frequent
- Behavioralism (spatial analysis)
- Emphasizes the role of cognitive and decision
making variables as mediating the relationship
between environment and spatial behavior. - model spatial behavior through peoples ability
to remember process and evaluate geographic
information. - empirical quantitative but measuring the
intangible.
8Idealism there is no real world reality is a
construction of the mind explain patterns of
behavior through an understanding of the thoughts
behind them Does not need theories because it is
interested in the theories expressed by the human
subjects Phenomenology rejects scientific
quantitative approaches Instead tries to
understand the world instead of explaining it
scientifically. reconstruct the worlds of
individuals their actions and the meanings of
phenomena in those worlds to understand
individual behavior without drawing upon a-priori
theories.
9III. Critical science
- based on critical theory (truth merit
motivations meanings symbols) - Marxist approaches (alternative)
- society is structured to perpetuate the
production of capital - political and economic structures that underlie
and reproduce capitalist modes of production and
consumption - ask how conditions might be under different
social circumstances
10Realism (origin) underlying mechanisms and
structures of social relations discovering the
building blocks of reality studies underlying
mechanisms of policy and practice not
interaction between individuals how something
happens and how extensive the phenomena is what
causes change what allows or forces
change Postmodernism (multiple perspective) all
other approaches fail to account for differences
within society there is no one answer no one
discourse is superior or dominant to another and
that all voices should be included in a
dialogue there is no absolute truth and no truth
outside of interpretation readings (instead of
observations) interpretations (rather than
findings)
11Poststructuralism relationship between society
and culture is mediated through language the way
we live our lives within society the constraints
and empowerment that operate take effect in
language deconstruct (tease apart) the multiple
messages conveyed in language Feminism science is
dominated by and reflects the position of men
(white wealthy Western men) a need for
re-negotiation of the role and structure of
institutions and the production of knowledge a
need for re-negotiation of power relations in
society so that our knowledge of the world is
more reflective of the people living in it
12My digression
- It is important to understand not only the
theoretical background that you are working
under but also that of the people who write the
books and articles you are reading
- A brief history of social-geographical thought
- Immanuel Kant
- Space and time exist only as perceptions of them
- Thomas Malthus
- Direct and economic relationship between humans
and environment predicted an agricultural crisis - Hegel
- Dialectic - Thesis anithesis and sythesis
13Geographic Thought
- Marx
- Probably most influential thinker of modern era
- Tied hegelian dialectic to social and economic
forces - Historical materialism we are shaped by the
physical realities of the world and historic
relationships
- Marx
- Labor and capital are a dialectic the synthesis
he believed would be communism - Mode of production determines the character of
society - MOP everything that goes into producing
necessities of life - raw materials labor and
capital and the relationships that exist in the
stucture of the system
14Geographic Thought
- Marx
- Structuralism people are basically pawns set in
a class structure - Geographic marxists see the physical world as a
direct result of the stuctures of capitalism - In otherwords Paris looks like Paris because of
the economic situation in which it developed
Rte. 1 looks like Rte. 1 because of 20th century
capitalism - Marxian vs. Marxist
- Mill and Smith
- Polar opposite of Marx
- Adam Smith production is and should be the
result of self-interest - Individual liberty to make decisions
- Utilitarianism greatest good for the greatest
number of people
15 Geographic thought
- Modernism
- Recognition that the the world changed radically
with the Industrial Revolution - Centralization big meaning big production big
governments functionality the key - Often Marxist
- Postmodernism
- The pendulum swing
- A return to the individual
- Small plans projects and studies
- Feminism identity politics
- Nothing is true everyone has their own
interpretation at the very least you can never
say anything with any kind of certainty
16Geographic Thought
- Giddens and Structuration
- Giddens united sociology and geographic theory in
the early 80s - 2 Major points
- Structures and individuals have a recursive
relationship - Society is created both over space and time
- Political Ecology
- Also in the 80s Piers Blakey
- Ecology is the result of political economy
- Scale of these forces varies from the global
market to the household - Both of these thinkers are chiefly concerned with
globalization
17How would a Marxist interpret this map How about
a Post-modernist
18Which approach is best
- Naturalist or anti-naturalist
- Inductive or deductive
- Value-free or action-oriented
- Objective or situated
- Top down or bottom up
- Realism or anti-realism
- Structure or agency
19Types of data
- Qualitative data
- words pictures sounds
- humanistic subjective inductive personal
idealistic meaning and understanding specific - inquiry from the inside
- Quantitative data
- Numbers statistics or empirical facts
- scientific objective numerical deductive
realistic explanation and predictive
populations generalizations society - numeric/statistical techniques
20Quantitative analyses
- Primary data
- statistical surveys
- Secondary data
- data archives
- census data
- Statistical analysis
- descriptive statistics
- correlation regression
- spatial statistics
21Geographic technologies
- Remote sensing
- provides information about the physical
environment in which people live and how they may
be interacting with it - land use data time series historical analyses
- links to social cultural and/or political
activities - GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
- data visualization
- reclassification of data overlay analyses
measuring distances and connectivity
neighborhood analyses
22Qualitative analyses
- action research case studies conversational
analysis ethnography focus group research life
history studies oral history - Primary data
- interview
- observation (participant observation)
- ethnography action research case studies
- Secondary data
- diaries letters autobiographies biographies
- literary sources and official documentation
- paintings photographs films and sound recordings
23Analyzing qualitative data
- Descriptions
- thin or thick
- context and process
- Classification
- interpretive analysis
- identifying coherent classes of data
- Connection
- relationships associations interactions between
classes - Quantitative techniques
24Corroborating evidence Are there other
alternatives that would explain the data Why
does your conclusion make sense Have other
researchers come up with similar results Data
quality How reliable is your data Are your
results biased