Case Study 5 Dissertation Case Study

Devising research questions from a real geographical and social

situation

Research questions may be of many different kinds, depending on your approach,

your interests, and the topic chosen. Let us take a real situation and look at research
topics and questions that may arise.

The Peak District is an area of the South Pennines, England. It is known for its
beauty and recreational use. The Peak District National Park was created in the mid
20th century to maintain the area as a 'green belt' between the cities of Manchester,
Sheffield, Derby, and Stoke. Recreational use and traditional industries like sheep
farming, quarrying, and mining may conflict.

If you are interested in these conflicts and in the uses and importance of the area
then you will want to focus a question towards your own interests in social change,
social theory, lives of individual people, social policy and planning, environmental
causes and 'rights' issues, or other issues. You will read about the area and its
people. You will think about the kinds of data that may be available. Here are some
potential draft research questions and some issues arising from them - there are
many others.

Possible approaches &

Question Challenges
issues
Q1: What was the  use of official statistics  access to data
effect of the 2001  questionnaire  narrowing focus
Foot and Mouth  adopting a 'realist'  persuading
outbreak in the UK approach to data people to
on lifestyle and analysis respond to
income?  a narrative analysis of questionnaire
people's stories of this
time – basically a small
scale 'life history'
approach

Q2: What are the  lots of library work -  sampling

implications of the policy, planning and  analytic tools eg
British patterns of industries discourse
Environmental  comparative analysis, critical
Protection Act investigation hermeneutics
1990 for traditional  interviewing key people.  size
industries?  documentary analysis of
one industry as
'constructed' through
the mass media

Q3: How have  secondary analysis of  access to data

social class and existing data  thorough
economic issues  ground in social class understanding of
influenced patterns and mobility theories theory
of geographic  hypotheses
mobility? which can be
tested

Q4: What is it like  what kind of village -  flexibility

to live in a Peak select a 'case' to  keep aware of
District village, in examine factors such as
the UK ?  what would you mean gender and
by 'like to live in' e.g. social class
what is it like to be  access
young and unemployed  be very careful of
in the village? How do the claims you
residents experience make for your
health care issues? research
 ethnographic research  keeping it 'do-
design with in-depth able'
interviewing with some
of your own
observations
 use of documents such
as newspaper articles,
or biographical writings
in print

© Dr Jenny Blain, Sheffield Hallam University

© This resource has been developed in partnership by the Higher Education

Academy and Sheffield Hallam University