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Secondary data analysis for research during a pandemic

Due to the pandemic and the difficulties of doing ‘fieldwork’, you might find yourself working predominantly with secondary rather than primary data for your dissertation – visual materials, texts, adverts, films, etc. The below readings provide some guidance on or examples of this kind of analysis. 

Aitken, S. C. (2013). Textual analysis: reading culture and context. Methods in Human Geography: A guide for students doing a research project, pp. 233.

Bartram, R. (2010) Geography and the Interpretation of Visual Imagery, In Clifford et al., Key Methods in Geography, London: Sage.

Bhattacharyya, D. P. (1997). Mediating India: An analysis of a guidebook. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(2), pp. 371-389. DOI: 10.1016/S0160-7383(97)80007-2

Bishop, L. (2007). A reflexive account of reusing qualitative data: Beyond primary/secondary dualism. Sociological Research Online, 12(3), pp. 43-56. DOI: 10.5153/sro.1553

Cosgrove, D., & Daniels, S. (Eds.). 1988. The iconography of landscape: essays on the symbolic representation, design and use of past environments (Vol. 9). Cambridge University Press.

Daniels, S. (1993). Fields of vision: landscape imagery and national identity in England and the United States (pp. 112-45). Cambridge: Polity Press.

Dittmer, J. (2005). Captain America’s empire: Reflections on identity, popular culture, and post-9/11 geopolitics. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(3), pp. 626-643. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8306.2005.00478.x

Dittmer, J. (2011). Captain Britain and the narration of nation. Geographical Review, 101(1), pp. 71-87. DOI: 10.1111/j.1931-0846.2011.00073.x

Dodd, K. & Dodd, P. (2004) From the East End to EastEnders: representations of the working class 1890-1990, In D. Strinati & S. Wagg (Eds.) Come on down? Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain, Routledge, pp. 125-141.

Dodds, K. (1996). The 1982 Falklands War and a critical geopolitical eye: Steve Bell and the if… cartoons. Political Geography, 15(6-7), pp. 571-592. DOI: 10.1016/0962-6298(96)00002-9

Domosh, M. (2003). Selling America: advertising, national identity and economic empire in the late nineteenth century, In Blunt et al. (Eds.) Cultural Geography in Practice, Oxford: Hodder Arnold, pp. 141-153

Dwyer, C., & Davies, G. (2010). Qualitative methods III: animating archives, artful interventions and online environments. Progress in Human Geography, 34(1), pp. 88-97. DOI: 10.1177/0309132508105005

Gallwey, A. (2013). The rewards of using archived oral histories in research: The case of the Millennium Memory Bank. Oral History, 41(1), pp. 37-50. www.jstor.org/stable/41806380

Goldman, R. (1992; 2005). Reading ads socially. Routledge.

Hones, S. (2008). Text as it happens: Literary geography. Geography Compass, 2(5), pp. 1301-1317. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00143.x

Hones, S. (2010). Teaching and learning guide for: Text as it happens–literary geography. Geography Compass, 4(1), pp. 61-66. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00291.x

Lyon, D., & Crow, G. (2012). The challenges and opportunities of re-studying community on Sheppey: young people’s imagined futures. The Sociological Review, 60(3), pp. 498-517. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2012.02096.x

Lyon, D., Morgan Brett, B., & Crow, G. (2012). Working with material from the Sheppey archive. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 15(4), pp. 301-309. DOI: 10.1080/13645579.2012.688314

Lutz, C. A., & Collins, J. L. (1993). Reading National Geographic (Vol. 59). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Kinsman, P. (1995). Landscape, race and national identity: the photography of Ingrid Pollard. Area, pp. 300-310. www.jstor.org/stable/20003600

May, J. (2003).The view from the streets: Geographies of homelessness in the British newspaper press, In Blunt el al (Eds.) Cultural Geography in Practice, Oxford: Hodder Arnold, pp. 23-38.

Mills, S. (2012) Young ghosts: ethical and methodological issues of historical research in children’s geographies, Children’s Geographies, 10(3), pp. 357-363, DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2012.693838

Mills, S. (2013). Cultural–historical geographies of the archive: fragments, objects and ghosts. Geography Compass, 7(10), pp. 701-713. DOI: 10.1111/gec3.12071

Monaco, J. (2009). How to read a film: The art, technology, language, history, and theory of film and media. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pinder, D. (2003). Mapping Worlds: cartography and the politics of representation, in Blunt et al. (Eds) Cultural Geography in Practice, Oxford: Hodder Arnold, pp. 172-190.

Rose, G. (1996). Teaching visualised geographies: towards a methodology for the interpretation of visual materials. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 20(3), pp. 281-294. DOI: 10.1080/03098269608709373

Rose, G. (2000). Practising photography: an archive, a study, some photographs and a researcher. Journal of historical geography, 26(4), pp. 555-571. DOI: 10.1006/jhge.2000.0247

Rose, G. (2001; 2016). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials. London: Sage.

Sharp, J. P. (2000). Towards a critical analysis of fictive geographies. Area, 32(3), pp. 327-334. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2000.tb00145.x

Watters, E. C., Cumming, S., & Caragata, L. (2018). The Lone Mother Resilience Project: A Qualitative Secondary Analysis. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 19(2). DOI: 10.17169/fqs-19.2.2863

Secondary data sources for research during a pandemic

There are a wide variety of secondary data sources freely available online that could be used as the basis for a social/cultural geographical dissertation study. Check out the sources listed below for ideas.

National archives are searchable in a variety of ways. For example the UK Data Service is the UK’s largest collection of social, economic and population research data:
https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/ can be reviewed by theme: https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/themes.aspx. You can also browse by type of data such as: quantitative and qualitative data collections.

IPUMs provides census and survey data from around the world. It’s possible to study change, conduct comparative research, and analyse individuals within family and community contexts.

A wide range of data sources and documents are available from government departments, for example, care, disability, citizenship and living in the UK, housing and local services, parenting, education, environment and the countryside. 

Other sources to explore: 

Webinars, conferences and podcasts on doing research during a pandemic

The below webinars from the UK Data Service offer guidance on the different kinds of data available for investigating particular geographical issues in the UK (political behaviour, mental health, religion, etc), and how to access and approach these data sets. There are also many live events online discussing how research methods and approaches might adapt to the new situation we find ourselves in – such as the NVivo conference below – that might be of interest. It’s also worth checking out the National Centre for Research Methods mini-podcasts series, in which they share methodological developments, research findings and ideas, and discuss their potential and actual impact.

NVivo virtual conference, 23rd September 2020

Hear from experts and doctoral students on how they are adapting their research (or not) due to the changed research landscape during Covid-19. Registration opens July 2020.  https://www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo-qualitative-data-analysis-software/nvivo-virtual-conference

UK Data Service

Dissertation projects: Introduction to secondary analysis for qualitative and quantitative data

Slides available here

Key issues in Reusing Data

https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/media/622714/web_reusingdata21may2020.pdf

Finding Data in the UK Data Service

Slides available here

Using UK Data Service in dissertations

Webinars

The following webinars discuss a variety of geographic issues that have used different data sets:

Investigating political behaviour in the UK – what data can I use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjeEK8LrZNg&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=12&t=0s

Investigating Religion in the UK – what data can I use? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBZkRm6yFwU&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=15&t=72s

Investigating mental health in the UK – what data can I use? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhSu0-IqwuE&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=24&t=0s

Investigating obesity in the UK – what data can I use? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znr5r153R54&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=44&t=0s

Research using Youth and Young Adult Data in Understanding Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r66TKL5sbzg&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=52&t=0s

Geography and Longitudinal Data https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw_6QA_KfCs&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=54&t=0s

Introduction to the British Social Attitudes Survey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLd1uBON8I&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=72&t=0s

Introduction to data on ethnicity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-TA0AIJh1U&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=88

Introduction to data on ageing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5N12075QNM&list=PLG87Imnep1Sln3F69_kBROUrIbT5iderf&index=94

Podcasts

The following National Centre for Research Methods podcasts provide useful resources on online methods: 

Making space for Big Qual: New ideas in research methods and teaching. https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/?id_specific=59&title=Making

Teaching Big Qual: Benefits and challenges for students and teachers. https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/?id_specific=60&title=Teaching

Mind the gap: Why skills are key to data reuse. https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/?id_specific=54&title=Mind

Mind the gap: Why skills are key to data reuse. https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/?id_specific=54&title=Mind

Using Social Media in Research. https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/?id_specific=24&title=Using

Online research methods in a pandemic

There are some great resources available for thinking about taking your methods online, whether that’s about doing interviews and questionnaires or analysing online media. Below are some websites and academic readings that might help you get started. 

Lupton, D. (editor) (2020) Doing Fieldwork in a Pandemic: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1clGjGABB2h2qbduTgfqribHmog9B6P0NvMgVuiHZCl8/edit?ts=5e88ae0a#

This highly recommended crowd-sourced document provides a list of resources for and about online research covering a wide range of methods.  

Website resources

National Centre of Research Methods: www.ncrm.ac.uk

TRI-ORM:Exploring Online Research Methods: http://www.restore.ac.uk/orm/site/home.htm. Includes modules for self-study on topics such as online questionnaires, online interviews, and online research ethics

Methods for the Analysis of Media Contents: http://www.restore.ac.uk/lboro/. Includes resources for understanding methodologies (e.g. content analysis, discourse analysis, frame analysis), data collection, data preparation and data analysis

Books and journal articles

DeLyser, D., Sheehan, R., & Curtis, A. (2004). eBay and research in historical geography. Journal of Historical Geography, 30(4), pp. 764-782. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhg.2005.01.001

Dodds, K. (2006). Popular geopolitics and audience dispositions: James Bond and the internet movie database (IMDb). Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 31(2), pp. 116-130. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2006.00199.x

Dwyer, C., & Davies, G. (2010). Qualitative methods III: animating archives, artful interventions and online environments. Progress in Human Geography, 34(1), pp. 88-97. DOI: 10.1177/0309132508105005

Hine, C. (2000). Virtual ethnography. Sage.

James, N. (2016). Using email interviews in qualitative educational research: Creating space to think and time to talk. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(2), pp. 150-163. DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2015.1017848

Madge, C. (2007). Developing a geographers’ agenda for online research ethics. Progress in Human Geography, 31(5), pp. 654-674. DOI: 10.1177/0309132507081496

Madge, C., & O’Connor, H. (2002). On‐line with e‐mums: Exploring the internet as a medium for research. Area, 34(1), pp. 92-102. DOI:  10.1111/1475-4762.00060

Madge, C., & O’connor, H. (2004). Online methods in geography educational research. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28(1), pp. 143-152. DOI: 10.1080/0309826042000198710

O’Connor, H., & Madge, C. (2003). “Focus groups in cyberspace”: Using the Internet for qualitative research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. DOI: 10.1108/13522750310470190/ 

O’Connor, H., Madge, C., Shaw, R., & Wellens, J. (2008). Internet-based interviewing. The Sage handbook of online research methods, pp. 271-289.

Ridanpää, J. (2014). ‘Humour is Serious’ as a Geopolitical Speech Act: IMDb Film Reviews of Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator. Geopolitics, 19(1), pp. 140-160. DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2013.829819

Social media forums

It is also worth looking out for groups on social media (from reputable sources) that can be great resources for information and discussion. 

Innovative social research methods: https://www.facebook.com/groups/333716010504710

National Centre for Research Methods: https://www.facebook.com/ncrmuk

Kim Peters – receives prestigious RGS-IBG Gill Memorial Award

We’re delighted to hear that Kim Peters is the 2020 recipient of the RGS-IBG Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Early Career Research in Human Geography. Kim’s work has been at the forefront of contemporary geographical research, exploring the social, cultural and political dimensions of everyday maritime geographies and mobilities, making her one of the leading specialists in her field.  Beyond research, Kim demonstrates a high level of collegiality, developing collaborative strategies that are designed to promote geography at all stages, from A-Level curriculum development and undergraduate support, to postgraduate and early career researcher support and mentorship. The SCGRG were lucky to have Kim as Education Officer from 2014 to 2019, and we are proud to have her as a strong ambassador for social and cultural geography. Congratulations Kim, and we wish you all the best in your new role at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity!

Responding to her accolade Kim said:

“Being involved with the RGS since studying as a PhD student, it became a disciplinary home to me, and so too the SCGRG specifically. As part of the group I have met – and continue to meet – amazing colleagues and friends from beyond my institution, sharing ideas, interests – and wine – with great people doing great work in social and cultural geography around the country. I was fortunate to take the helm of the ‘Education’ officer role for the first time in the group – a daunting but exciting challenge. Some things developed well, like mentoring, others (such as the inaugural Teaching Research event) took longer, and things, such as outputs from our events, are continuing at a slower pace of scholarship – but they have been possible not because of me but a passion from the whole group and the specific support of colleagues in each of these developments. I look forward to continuing with the group and seeing where plans go next!”

Webinar: Dissertation projects – Introduction to secondary analysis for qualitative and quantitative

The UK Data Service are offering a free webinar for undergraduates and postgraduates who are using secondary data analysis in their research projects.

The free webinar takes place on 26th May 2020, but if you can’t attend then, it will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube afterwards.

Organised by the UK Data Service, the webinar will take you through the research process of a secondary analysis project, which includes an overview of the methodological, ethical, and procedural issues.

If you are a postgraduate looking for a project to do this summer that doesn’t involve face-to-face contact, or an undergraduate student trying to evaluate options for next year’s dissertation, this webinar will give you options to ensure you get valuable research experience during your degree.

This is an introductory webinar which assumes no prior experience of using archived data.

Presenter: Maureen Haaker

For more info and to sign up, click here.

Call for RGS-IBG 2020 sponsored sessions

The RGS-IBG Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG) would like to invite expressions of interest for sponsored sessions for the RGS-IBG 2020 Annual Conference, which will take place in London from Tuesday 1 to Friday 4 September 2020.

The theme for the 2020 Annual Conference, chaired by Professor Uma Kothari, is borders, borderlands and bordering.

SCGRG is keen to sponsor sessions that directly relate to the conference theme but also those sessions that engage with broader issues of contemporary concern to social and cultural geographers.

You can find out more about the theme at: https://www.rgs.org/research/annual-international-conference/chair-s-theme/  

 When designing your session proposals please take note of the following:

  1. A session cannot occupy more than two timeslots on the conference programme unless this has been pre-arranged with the RGS team. Those seeking more than one timeslot should consider co-sponsorship (i.e. splitting sponsorship so as to have a sponsor for each time slot).
  2. Each attendee can only make two substantive contributions to the conference programme (e.g. as paper presenter, panel member, discussant). A substantive contribution is defined as one where the individual concerned needs to be present in the session room, and so can include session organiser if attendance is necessary. For individuals proposing multiple co-authored papers, an alternative presenter must be clearly nominated at the time of submitting the session/paper.

You can find the RGS guidelines for session proposals at: 

https://www.rgs.org/research/annual-international-conference/programme-(1)/guidance-for-session-organisers/  

You are welcome to propose joint sessions to be co-sponsored by another research group.

Please send expressions of interest including the below information by Friday 3rd January at 6pm. We will inform applicants of the outcome by 10th January.

 (i) Title of session;

(ii) Name of Co-sponsoring groups, if applicable

(iii) Name and Contact Details for Session Convenors

(iv) Abstract, outlining scope of session – 200 words max.

(v) Number of session timeslots that are sought – please note:  this year a session may not occupy more than 2 time slots unless this has been pre-agreed with the RGS.

(vi) Indication of session format

 Proposals for, or questions about, SCGRG sponsored sessions should be sent to Will Andrews w.andrews@bangor.ac.uk

The winners of our dissertation prize are…

Studies exploring more-than-human relations in the city and understandings of the spatial in visual art win SCGRG dissertation prize

Charles Couve of the University of Manchester is our 2019 Winner for his dissertation entitled More-than-human Manchester: Recombinance, Auras, and Dialectics in the Edges of Modernity. The committee found this a fascinating and original study. Written in rich and engaging prose, they were impressed with its deft handling of complex ideas from a wide-ranging literature, and its deep, nuanced analysis of the city. They very much enjoyed the risks it took in style, method, and form, including its innovative use of creative methods to vividly explore the ‘excess’ of more-than-human relations. All felt that this was an outstanding example of cultural geographical work that demonstrates some exciting possibilities within an undergraduate research project.

William Silver of Durham University is our 2019 Runner-Up for his dissertation entitled Gordon Matta-Clark’s slices through space: artwork towards a critical understanding of the spatial. The committee were impressed with this engaging and original piece, which showed nuanced engagement with complex theoretical ideas and interesting experiments with form in its writing. They praised its incisive use of literature from across art history and geography and its fluid prose that made the piece a joy to read. An impressive piece of work that gives valuable insight into applications of cultural geographical thinking to art worlds in an undergraduate project.

The winner has received a prize of £100. Both have also been given a one-year free subscription to the journal Social & Cultural Geography courtesy of Taylor & Francis.

In total we received 19 submissions for the prize this year. These spanned the breadth of social and cultural geography interests and we look forward to continuing with the prize in 2020.

Supporting people in academia with caring responsibilities – Views needed!

We are writing as chairs of the Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group (GFGRG) and the Developing Areas Research Group (DARG) of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (RGS-IBG). Currently, we are working together to improve support for those in academia with caring responsibilities. 

The first strand of this work involves developing best practice guidelines for better supporting the research projects and fieldwork of those with care responsibilities. A second strand involves understanding and addressing the challenges of early career researchers taking parental or adoption leave. As part of this work, we are asking for your help in two ways. First, please could you let us know your own experiences of managing the parental/adoption leave of early career researchers and researchers funded by external/project grants, for example in terms of the impacts this has on research projects or on the intellectual work of the department? We are particularly interested to hear if the practices and policies of different funders have affected your ability to manage parental/adoption leave for staff. Second, please could you share the attached survey with your research staff (post doctoral researchers or any other contract researchers), so we can let them know about our work and ensure their input?

The survey link is here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/H9LDG2S

More information about this work is on our websites and will be presented at the 2019 RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London (for example, at our respective AGMs). However, if you have any questions please contact Professor Rosie Cox (r.cox@bbk.ac.uk) or Dr Jessica Hope (jessica.hope@bristol.ac.uk) directly.

SCGRG AGM 2019 and Committee vacancies

The 2019 AGM of the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG) will take place at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference in London on Friday 30th August at 13:10 (Venue forthcoming).  All are welcome to attend.

We have six vacancies for Committee positions as current post-holders complete their terms of office:

Chair

This post is a three-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves coordination of the group’s activities.  Each year the chair prepares the annual report with the Secretary and the Treasurer, and provides an interim report at the AGM in August/September.  The Chair normally attends the RGS-IBG Research Groups Committee at the RGS, normally in October and March.  The chair will usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.   

Education Officer

This post is a three-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves leading the research group’s education-related activities.  The education officer will liaise with the RHED officer of the RGS-IBG, and other research groups where appropriate, to coordinate the development of education and outreach events and resources.  The education officer will also liaise with the Early career and mentoring Officer to assist with the development of events, resources, and networks to support members.  The education officer would usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

Conference Officer

This post is a key and important role for the group. The conference officer leads the coordination the group’s sponsorship and organisation of sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference each year and other events and activities. The role involves compiling call for sessions proposals, liaising with session proposers, and organising the vote on the proposals by the committee.  The conference officer would usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

Ordinary Committee Member (x 1)

This post is a three-year term (in the first instance).  While without specific responsibilities, ordinary committee members would usually be involved in the SCGRG’s wider committee activities i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.  Ordinary committee members may also be asked to provide support for named roles.

Postgraduate Representatives (x 2)

This post is a one-year term (in the first instance) and the role involves liaising with the RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum, engaging with postgraduate issues through our SCGRG postgraduate blog and working with our other postgraduate representative(s) on related events and activities. The PG representative would usually be involved in SCGRG’s wider committee activities, i.e. part of the judging panel for our undergraduate dissertation prize.

Nominations for successors (who must be a Fellow or Postgraduate Fellow of the RGS-IBG) are now open. Nominations must be in writing to the Chair (Prof. Harriet Hawkins – Harriet.Hawkins@rhul.ac.uk) and Secretary (Richard Scriven – r.scriven@umail.ucc.ie) with the name of two nominators (these need not be Fellows of the RGS-IBG or existing committee members).  The deadline for nominations is Friday 23rd August 2019.  The elections will be conducted at the AGM itself.

Further opportunities to be elected to a named role or as an ordinary committee member may become available during the AGM itself. We’ll also be discussing different ways that our wider membership can get involved with SCGRG.

If you have any questions about any of the above posts or about SCGRG more broadly, please e-mail Harriet and Richard.