How To:�Geographical Research
Keywords
Knowledge production
Research methods
Data source
Qualitative
Quantitative
Mixed methods
Participation
What is geographical research?
The process through which we create information about geographical processes.
It considers:
Why is knowledge production important?
Considering how we obtain and create knowledge; we can see who is heard in producing knowledge.
This shapes who is represented in decision making and whose priorities are advanced.
This is important to ensure everybody is included and represented accurately.
Knowledge production for El Niño preparedness
In northern Peru, we are shining a light on experiences of El Niño that are not represented. This is a collaborative research project.
It is important that we represent experiences accurately to inform decisions.
In our project, interviews with farmers revealed that rains benefit agriculture. This can inform water management instead of drainage.
What is data?
Primary data
First-hand collection of information through fieldwork.
Secondary data
Information collected by someone else.
Research methods
Qualitative:
Words
Quantitative:
Numbers
Mixed methods:
Both
Others
El Niño in northern Peru: data sources
Interviews
School project: participation
Newspaper archives
Geographic Information Systems
Coring
Economic analysis
Museum exhibit St Andrews
Can you tell which ones are quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods?
Interviews
Asking people questions about their knowledge and experiences.
In the project, we used interviews to learn about community experiences of the El Niño phenomenon and about their day to day lives.
Answers depend on questions. Different factors may influence responses.
Logistics required include consent, confidentiality, and communication.
Participation in education
School programme: “Rescuing ancestral knowledge about the El Niño phenomenon” through storytelling.
This educational programme is an example of participative education and research and, more specifically, co-production.
Impacts
The “subjects” of knowledge produce their own knowledge.
01
Children are given the space to input their voices.
02
Children are viewed as active agents of change rather than passive receivers.
03
Newspapers
We come to know information through what has been shared to the public.
Questions to ask:
Newspaper articles give us insight into how El Niño disaster events are represented and remembered.
“PIURA: Reporting the tragedy”
(Asiés, 1983).
Economic analysis
Economics: the movement of money and resources within societies.
We carried out a value chain analysis, following products from raw materials all the way to consumption. This helped us to understand how the El Niño phenomenon impacts fishing, farming, and livestock farming.
Raw materials
Production
Consumption
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
GIS are systems that compile data which includes a geographical component.
Satellite imagery allowed us to look at different landscape formations over time. From these images, we could also determine different levels of vegetation in an area.
El Niño event in 2017: top 09/02/2017; bottom 23/03/2017.
Coring
Coring is a method for physical geographers to reconstruct landscapes over time.
Cores reveal different sediment layers that can be distinguished because of the particles found in each layer.
In our project, we were able to predict different El Niño events over thousands of years by analysing these.
Andrew Henderson, 2022
Instruments
Much of physical geography uses instruments for quantitative information.
For example, we used this antenna to accurately measure rainfall in northern Peru.
Research ethics
Data is always interacting with human populations. For this reason, it is important geographers consider the ethics of doing research. This ranges from logistics, such as consent, to being critical of information.
Since there is no “one correct way” to do geographical research, we approach ethics by being as critical as possible, through questions. For example:
Co-production of knowledge
Knowledge production that tackles the ethics of power in research.
It ensures that voices and experiences of those involved are at the forefront of the knowledge produced.
This project gathers voices from many different fields and actors in the experience of El Niño to increase accuracy in the data produced through representation.
Interpreting knowledge: your turn!