The study of the meaning of place, or a place, in the lived experience of the inhabitants; as a blend of human geography with critical theory, the term has its origins in radical counter-culture thought (see for example the Wikipedia entry on the subject), but is open to further re-appropriation….
Keyword Groups: Research Issues
urban studies
A range of studies spanning architecture and human geography, and especially exploring the relationship between them.
management studies
The perspective of a business school, which – contrary to popular assumptions – can often include critical theory accounts of business models and economics.
history
Used in its broadest sense, history here is an account of past events, told not solely from personal reflection but from observation and carefully assessed sources. See also ‘personal reflection’, ‘idiographic account’, ‘narrative analysis’.
personal reflection
See participant observation; also narrative account, life journey.
action learning sets
An ‘ALS’ is a peer support learning group, usually for individuals involved in developing new practice or facing other life challenges
action research
Work contributing to wider understanding of any phenomenon through exploratory development of practice, whether kept within one organisation, or shared ( see ‘ evidence generating practice’)
participatory research
Participatory research uses members of the community or client group as equal colleagues in devising and then running the research exercise, and formulating any conclusions. (See also Experts by Experience)
participant observation
In sociology, participant observation describes a method of study in which a researcher joins in living, working or otherwise hanging out with the people whose lifestyle and thinking he or she is studying, in order to get an in-depth, insider’s view of what the world means to those s/he is studying. For non-academics, we can […]
folksonomy
Folksonomy is an approach to categorisation, for research or other systematic purposes, in which a community of interest contributes to the development of the categories to be used, simply by using whatever keywords they see fit. (See discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of fully open categorisation in ‘New Developments’)
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