Journal of Geography in Higher Education

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Reflections on a recently completed PhD

Molly Warrington

To cite this article: Molly Warrington (1997) Reflections on a recently completed PhD, Journal
of Geography in Higher Education, 21:3, 401-410, DOI: 10.1080/03098269708725445
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Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1997

Reflections on a Recently Completed PhD

MOLLY WARRINGTON, University of Cambridge, UK

ABSTRACT This paper reflects upon the process of writing a thesis, from the initial
choice of topic through the selection of case studies and organisation of interviews and
supporting material, to the data analysis and writing up. It discusses some of the
problems which were encountered at each of these stages, emphasising particularly the
importance of being aware of the varying relationships between interviewer and subject,
of the need to draw upon a range of methods, and of the iterative nature of the research
process.

KEYWORDS Qualitative methodology, case studies, interviews, homelessness.

As Bryman and Burgess (1994) point out, the last decade has witnessed several shifts in
the teaching and practice of research, with greater attention given to methodology rather
than method, with more emphasis on qualitative methodology, and with stages of social
investigation being replaced by the idea of research as a social process requiring careful
scrutiny. Although Bryman and Burgess are referring to trends within sociology, their
comments apply equally well to much of human geography. No longer is research seen
as something which can be divided up into discrete stages, in which methodology
consists of determining the most appropriate method of data collection, collecting the
data and analysing the results. Instead, methodology is seen as an integral part of the
whole process of research, from the initial choice of topic to the final stages of writing
up.
My own doctorate research was concerned with provision for homelessness in Britain.
It was a topic which was receiving considerable media attention at the end of the 1980s,
as homelessness became more visible throughout Europe and North America. Yet, as
Wolch (1991) points out, geographers have been slow to explore the dimensions of
homelessness, despite the fact that such research has a place, she argues, in the
understanding both of post-Fordist urban geographies and the implications of welfare
state dismantling at the local level. The eclectic nature of geography means that its
practitioners should be well equipped to study the diverse aspects of problems such as
homelessness and their place-specific outcomes, and I was keen to contribute to such an

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M. Warrington

agenda. Access to housing was a subject about which I had amassed some knowledge
through my undergraduate dissertation, and I wanted to pursue the interest I had
developed in this area. Furthermore, although the number of housing research projects
was beginning to see a phenomenal increase (Housing Research Register, 1993), much
of this was policy led or driven by short-term funding which, as Murie and Williams
(1993) pointed out, was not only setting the agenda, but limiting the time which could
be spent in developing major conceptual work or in linking findings to wider debates
within particular disciplines or to previous research. As a full-time researcher I aimed to
produce a thesis which would be not only theoretically informed, but able to contribute
to an understanding of the empirical social world which, Gregson (1993) argues, has
been neglected by a recent tendency within social geography to become too inward
looking.
In addition, however, the choice of a research topic was constrained by practicalities.
Participant observation in a remote African village, for example, is not something which
a single student with dependent children can begin to contemplate. A study which might
involve extensive (and expensive) travel was out of the question, and so, from its initial
conception, my PhD research was influenced by what was practically feasible. The
particular aspect of homelessness to be addressed also involved questions of methodol-
ogy: although street homelessness was under-researched, and was a topic which could
prove interesting and challenging, this had to be balanced against considerations of
safety for a woman considering fieldwork on her own. Thus the particular focus I chose
to adopt was in some ways a compromise which evolved as I began to familiarise myself
with the particular area of study. I eventually decided, therefore, to study the various
agencies involved in different sectors of provision for the homeless, situating this within
a conceptual framework of welfare pluralism and the shadow state. One of the principal
objectives was to examine and explain geographical variations in that provision, and the
rest of this paper relates the development of that piece of research, the methods used and
the rationale for the choice of particular approaches. Although drawing upon my own
experiences as a graduate student and the specific research which I undertook, it is
intended that discussion of the various methods used will be of relevance to other human
geographers beginning their first major piece of research.

Selecting the Case Studies

I decided that a case-study approach was an appropriate way in which to begin to
examine the fundamental aspects of my chosen research topic, and yet, although case
studies are frequently used within geography, there is no clear-cut case-study methodol-
ogy. Cases can comprise a single person or household, an institution or organisation, a
community or even a country. Their focus can be on description or on explanation, and
they can involve a single case or multiple case studies, with holistic or embedded
designs. Holistic case studies, according to Yin (1984), deal with a single unit of
analysis, whilst embedded studies are concerned with multiple units of analysis, such as
individual projects within a programme. Case studies can be selected as 'strategic' cases
designed to illustrate specific hypotheses, as 'deviant' cases which set out to disprove a
theory (Hakim, 1987), or because of their explanatory power rather than their typicality
(Mitchell, 1983). Case studies also allow for the mixing of methodological approaches
from, for example, participant observation or intensive interviewing, to extensive
quantitative surveys.
The most appropriate unit for analysis in my research was the local housing authority

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because it has both a statutory duty to provide housing for those accepted as homeless
and an overall responsibility for producing a housing strategy, and for acting as enabler
to ensure that housing needs are met within a spatially bounded area. The main issue,
however, was one which confronts many researchers within human geography: how
many case studies should be used? A large number of cases would allow more
comparisons to be made, and would presumably render the findings more generalisable,
and yet, to study a large number of places, particularly if they were geographically
dispersed, would be to sacrifice depth and reduce the scope for intensive research which,
as Sayer (1992) argues, is more appropriate for the study of the social world. Further-
more, as I clarified the theoretical constructs underpinning my work, it became clear that
detailed studies of a few places would yield more valuable insights than extensive
coverage at a more superficial level.
I decided to focus on medium-sized urban authorities, mainly because they had
hitherto been ignored by homelessness research in the UK. In addition, to choose
medium-sized places rather than larger ones would allow a reasonably comprehensive
picture to be obtained in more locations. It was felt that urban places would be more
likely to have a range of sectors of provision, which would probably not be the case with
smaller localities. Practical considerations suggested that four case study areas would be
an appropriate number although in retrospect three would probably have been sufficient.
The collection and analysis of data would, of course, have been easier with only three
case-study areas, and I do not believe, having completed the thesis, that a fourth case
study added significantly to the final conclusions. Generalisations cannot be made from
four case studies any more than from three. On the other hand, it would be very difficult
to decide which place should have been left out!
The main objective in selecting the actual towns was to choose places of broadly
similar size with different characteristics, which would enable comparisons to be made.
Initially I used census data on population size and density to reduce the number of
district-level local authorities; four places were then selected on the basis of political
control, affordability, economic criteria and differences in levels of statutory homeless-
ness. The final choice was also influenced by a desire to have some measure of
geographical dispersion, and yet at the same time a need to select places which were
reasonably accessible. This actually turned out to be more important than I had
imagined, since arranging two interviews in one town on the same day invariably proved
to be impossible!

Qualitative Interviewing: why and how

Although, as Sayer and Morgan (1985) argue, the distinction between intensive and
extensive research may seem to be only a question of scale, different questions,
techniques and objectives are actually involved. Thus, embodied in the decision to carry
out intensive research in four local authority areas was a commitment to a mainly
qualitative approach. Its objective was not to establish common patterns, but to discover
causal explanations in a limited number of cases. Qualitative methods mainly involve
participant observation and unstructured or semi-structured interviews (Fielding, 1993),
with the latter spanning a boundary with structured interviews which lend themselves to
quantitative analysis. Since the aim of the research in question was to establish different
practices in the provision of housing, I felt that interviews with all those currently
providing accommodation for the homeless would be the key method of obtaining this
information.

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M. Warrington

Although I considered carrying out a pilot study, I decided that this was inappropriate
for the type of methodology I was using; it seemed unethical to spend time interviewing
someone in a key position, only to discard the information at a later date. Nevertheless,
I decided to start in Cambridge, and, since the City Council Housing Department was
virtually next door to the Department of Geography, I spent a great deal of time talking
to officers there in the planning stages, before the real interviews took place. I was
therefore knowledgeable about actual practices (as opposed to theories about practices)
before I started the main fieldwork.
Setting up the interviews caused many small, though time-consuming difficulties:
letters went unanswered and telephone calls were not returned. The best strategy proved
to be to write a letter briefly explaining my research, asking for an interview and saying
that I would ring in three or four days to make arrangements. It was sometimes necessary
to be persistent, but I very rarely met with a refusal. In fact, initial contacts often led to
meetings with other people, and in some instances I was invited to attend seminars or
liaison meetings which proved valuable both in meeting officials of the Housing
Corporation and the Department of the Environment, and in getting a broader feel for the
research area.
Each interview lasted between one and two hours and followed a general interview
guide approach (Lofland & Lofland, 1984; Robson & Foster, 1989). This guide, planned
with the objectives of the research in mind, consisted of a basic checklist to ensure that
all the relevant topics were covered in each interview. It allowed considerable flexibility
within the interviews, so that the topics might be covered in any order, and in greater
or lesser depth, depending upon the openness of the participant and, their knowledge of
the organisation. The expansion of housing associations in the 1980s meant, in fact, that
some interviewees were relatively new to their positions and so were unable to discuss
some issues in any depth. One great advantage of qualitative research is its flexibility:
"the researcher can develop themes with respondents as they emerge and follow through
activity that seems pertinent to the inquiry without being constrained by the need to
adhere rigidly to a previously set formula" (Allen, 1991, p.182). Thus, as new insights
were gained, the interview guide was refined, a process which underlines the iterative
nature of qualitative research.
In more standardised large-scale quantitative surveys, methodological texts (see, for
example, Moser & Kalton, 1971) stress the importance of asking exactly the same
questions of each interviewee, being careful not to 'lead' the respondent. Indeed,
conventional approaches to interviewing, as Oakley (1981) points out, see the intervie-
wee as passive, helping to provide the information required. The interviewer is there
only to obtain that information, and should not give his/her own views or answer
questions. Oakley illustrates from her own work amongst pregnant women just how
ludicrous such a stance can be. She found it difficult, in practice, to follow such a
mechanical and one-sided method of interviewing, describing it as a masculine fiction.
Other feminists, as McDowell (1992) explains, have also challenged the view that
participation in the lives of those being investigated biases the results, and so relation-
ships between interviewers and subjects are seen as a valid part of the research process:
"Intersubjectivity rather than objectivity characterizes the ideal relationship between a
feminist researcher and her 'subjects' " (McDowell, 1992, p.406). This, however, is not
unproblematic since, as McDowell suggests, differences in social status, power and
resources between interviewer and subjects vary according to context: interviewing
powerless women is a different situation from one in which women interview powerful
men, and yet both are open to forms of exploitation.

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I found these feminist texts particularly helpful as a new researcher: rather than
believing that I had to pretend that I had distanced myself from those I interviewed, it
was acceptable to admit that I had not! Indeed, I am certain that the interviewing process
could not have gone so well if I had set out to maintain an objective and neutral position
throughout. Because the interviews frequently dealt with politically sensitive issues, it
was sometimes necessary to 'lead' the interviewees in order to draw them out and
develop a conversation, leading to a more relaxed situation rather than one in which
questions yielded only monosyllabic replies. It is therefore deceptive to assert, as do Kirk
and Miller (1986), that objectivity is the essential basis of all good research. Rather, as
Harding (1987) writes, it is necessary to avoid the 'objectivist stance' that makes the
researcher's cultural beliefs and practices invisible: "The beliefs and behaviours of the
researcher are part of the empirical evidence for (or against) the claims advanced in the
results of the research" (Harding, 1987, p. 9), and "We must recognise and take account
of our own position, as well as that of our research participants, and write this into our
research practice" (McDowell, 1992, p. 409, original emphasis). Awareness of one's self
and awareness of others is therefore important in developing a participative approach to
research (see also Shakespeare et al., 1993). It is important for the researcher to reflect
on the nature of her or his research, interpretation and role (Eyles, 1988), however
difficult this might be.
I was very aware that I adopted 'plural identities' (Okely & Callaway, 1992) during
these interviews. Gathering 'facts' about the actual provision being made, sometimes by
verifying information already obtained from documentary sources, was a relatively
straightforward part of each interview, and did not entail particularly close rapport.
Ascertaining views on the extent to which the current mode of provision was working
was, however, much more affected by the perceived power relationship between
interviewer and interviewee (from both points of view), as well as factors of age,
personality and sex. Robson and Foster (1989) highlight the importance of being aware
of the sensitivity of respondents to the role and personality of the qualitative interviewer,
and the way in which they adopt a particular 'face' in response to what they feel is
expected of them. The same is, of course, true of the interviewer, who almost
unconsciously adopts a different 'face' with the 'powerful' (in this case, Directors of
Housing, for example), than with those in lower status positions (for example, voluntary
sector workers). All of these factors combined to ensure that every interview was
different, in each case the material collected being "the joint product of the questions as
perceived by informants and the social situational circumstances with which the
questions were put to them" (Brenner, 1985, p.154). Such a conclusion might lead one
to question the validity of qualitative research, as, indeed, many have done. Nevertheless,
as Potter and Malkay (1985) point out, 'truth' emerges as a composite picture, so that
the discussion of similar topics with a number of different people in similar organisations
resulted in a number of consistent observations being made, indicating common
experiences and responses.
It is often suggested that one way of increasing the reliability of the data is to use data
triangulation. As Patton (1990) states, "triangulation is a powerful solution to the
problem of relying too much on any single data source or method, therefore undermining
the validity and credibility of findings because of the weaknesses of any single method"
(p. 193). Thus the interviews were supplemented by a wide range of documentation,
including council minutes, internal policy documents, Department of the Environment
circulars, annual reports and accounts from housing associations and voluntary sector
organisations and newspaper reports, which, together with interview transcripts, formed
what Yin (1984) terms a 'case study data base'. (I did learn, however, not to rely on

405
M. Warrington

promises to send documents: it was always worth trying to collect them personally.) In
addition to the mainly qualitative data sources, some official statistics, such as local
authority returns to the Department of the Environment, and census data were used to
complement the findings.
The actual data collection took place over the course of one year, and so could only
yield static pictures of the situation as it pertained at the time of the interview. However,
both the nature of homelessness, and the political response to it (especially indirectly)
were undergoing rapid change throughout the research period. This problem of keeping
up with a constantly changing field can be a particularly difficult one for someone
researching issues of social policy, especially when political responses tend to be
reactive and short term. It makes it very difficult to know when to stop the research,
since the temptation is to go on extending the work as policy evolves. In the case of local
authorities, early interviews suggested that the numbers of people presenting as homeless
were escalating all the time, and the authorities themselves were in a process of flux as
they sought to evolve new strategies to develop their so-called enabling role. Because of
this, all those initially interviewed concerning statutory homelessness procedures were
contacted again a year later, to discover how the nature of the problem had changed in
the intervening period since the main interview. This was not only a useful exercise for
gathering further information, but provided the opportunity for communicating some of
my research findings for comment by the officers concerned.

Analysing the Interviews

As Allen (1991) suggests, there is a dearth of guidance concerning the analysis of
qualitative material, and this is certainly the case as far as human geography is
concerned. Most methodology textbooks draw on examples from the disciplines of
sociology, anthropology or psychology (for example, Burgess, 1982; Brenner et al.
1985) which, though useful, are not always relevant to the needs of the human
geographer. For example, detailed analysis of meanings, relationships and settings (Miles
& Huberman, 1984) may not always be appropriate in geographical research. Although
human agents are an essential focus of inquiry, human geographers are also concerned
to address questions of location and spatial relationships, often ignored by other social
scientists. Thus, although I studied texts on qualitative analysis and considered various
methods, the actual process I used did not follow any one approach, but used ideas from
different sources to produce a form of analysis which seemed to work well and to yield
consistent results.
The starting point for analysis of qualitative data depends first of all on the
epistemological position which the researcher adopts, since analysis can either follow a
hypothetical-deductive approach normally associated with a positivist philosophy, or
methods orientated towards inductive logic. Thus Mostyn (1985), for example, stresses
the importance of approaching analysis with testable hypotheses, while Glaser and
Strauss (1967), in a classic text, advocate grounded theory, in which the researcher has
no pre-existing expectations of the observed phenomena. In the latter, after some data
have been collected, categories are identified from the data and theories developed which
are refined and tested as fieldwork progresses. In practice, as Patton (1990) suggests,
both approaches are often combined, with some questions determined deductively, while
others are left sufficiently open to permit inductive analyses based on direct observations.
In view of the arguments put forward by a number of writers concerning the importance
of theory when using case studies, I decided that it was not sufficient simply to allow

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patterns, themes and categories to emerge from the data. Silverman (1989), for example,
suggests that a case is chosen because it is believed to exhibit or test some identified
general theoretical principle, and so the validity of case-study analysis depends on the
adequacy of the underlying theory, which can be further developed through empirical
research. Walton (1992) argues that case studies come "wrapped up in theories", and
Mitchell (1983) also stresses this, believing that "the validity of extrapolation depends
not on the typicality or representativeness of the case, but upon the cogency of the
theoretical reasoning" (p. 207). On the other hand, it must be acknowledged that, given
the nature of extended qualitative interviewing, new insights might well emerge and
unforeseen regularities be observed within the data, as analysis proceeded. Given this,
various writers (for example, Wiseman, 1974) point out that it is important to treat
analysis as an integral part of the whole research process, and not as a separate stage.
The constant refinement, reformulation and clarification of the research problems thus
take place from the initial conceptualisation of the research focus through to the writing
up of the findings (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983).
The first step in qualitative analysis is defined by Miles and Huberman (1984) as data
reduction, involving selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting and transforming tran-
scriptions of field notes. Frequently this involves Content Analysis, which Patton (1990)
explains as "the process of identifying, coding and categorising the primary patterns in
the data" (p. 381). It involves giving each topic or sub-topic a label with the aim of
establishing a data index on which subsequent analysis can be based. I experimented
with this method in the first instance, printing out copies of some of the interview
transcripts and numbering categories. However, it seemed extremely difficult to isolate
some sections of interviews into discrete categories and, in order to avoid overlapping
categories, I found I was generating a very complicated system of codes and breaking
the material down into smaller and smaller sections. Furthermore, this process destroyed
the continuity of the transcripts, with many sections being isolated out of context. Rather
than reducing the data to manageable proportions, this method seemed to lead, instead,
to greater confusion. I therefore decided to abandon the textbook approach and to
develop my own method of analysis.
The research framework was of the embedded case-study type (Yin, 1984): the local
authority areas were the main cases, but within each local authority three main sectors
of provision for the homeless were studied. It was these sectors which formed the basis
for analysis, rather than the actual places, although variations between places were noted
throughout. The interview guides had already identified a number of basic themes arising
from the research objectives, and so I decided to reorganise the interview transcripts into
sections around these themes. This, facilitated by 'cut and paste' computer facilities,
avoided the tedious coding, cutting, sticking and index card, or 'concept book' systems
described, for example, by Wiseman (1974) and Mostyn (1985). Once I had an account
of a particular subject (for example, the constraints experienced by housing associations
in providing housing for the homeless) relevant material from documentary sources was
incorporated to provide a more detailed picture. After the data had been grouped into
sections, a more inductive process began in order to isolate patterns and themes
emerging from the data and articulated by the people interviewed. 'Sensitizing concepts'
(concepts that the analyst brings to the data in order to examine how they are manifest
in a particular setting or among a particular group of people (Patton, 1990)) were also
incorporated as ideas were evaluated and related to existing literature and theory. This
process also involved frequent re-immersion in the original transcripts, checking for
consistency and missed ideas.

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M. Warrington

A final check on the validity of interpretation can be made through respondent

validation which involves the researcher submitting her or his findings to the subjects
themselves. Since about one third of the interviewees had expressed an interest in the
outcome of the research, early drafts were sent to them for comments, although it must
be said that no comments were forthcoming! However, following large numbers of
requests for information after a newspaper report on the IBG conference paper in which
I presented findings from the research, I did produce a report aimed at housing
associations in general (Warrington, 1994) and workshops given at two National
Federation of Housing Association seminars at this time were helpful in provoking
comment, which allowed tentative conclusions to be refined.

Writing the Thesis

The main aim of any piece of research is the presentation of the findings within the
context of the research objectives and the theoretical framework underpinning the
empirical work. The 'writing up' is not, however, something which necessarily comes
towards the end of the research process. My method was to start writing almost from the
beginning, starting with a research outline of about five pages, which I reformulated
about every three months as my understanding of the research area grew through
reading, fieldwork and discussion with others working in the same sub-discipline. In
addition, I wrote short pieces on various theoretical issues and, although I later discarded
many of these, they were useful in clarifying and focusing ideas. My research was not,
therefore, a linear process, but more of a circular one, in which I was constantly reading,
writing, analysing and refining throughout the whole period.
The actual presentation of findings gained through qualitative interviewing can raise
problems of style and of ethics. As French (1993) points out, the fact of a word limit
means that we must make choices over what to include and to leave out: "Which version
of the truth should I tell? What indeed is the truth, and is there ever just one version of
it?" (p. 120). French outlines 'constraints on telling' which arise as part of the research
itself or are externally imposed. Protecting the anonymity of research participants can,
she believes, become problematic at the stage of publication and dissemination, causing
considerable dilemmas for the researcher. In my case, some interviewees were very wary
as to the use I might make of the information they gave me and some were obviously
reticent over certain issues. Some information was given 'off the record' and this was
invariably information which I should have liked to use. However, where it is difficult
to disguise the source, it may not always be possible to present the whole 'truth' as one
sees it, in order to protect the identities of individuals and institutions. Second, there are
the external constraints which dictate how one writes and what one chooses to present.
French describes how professional gatekeepers (mostly men) select and shape knowledge
as editors and reviewers, so that what is told is moulded by social and political forces.
Writing a PhD thesis also demands adherence to a set of academic conventions of style
if it is to be accepted, and yet, although acknowledged, these are issues which are rarely
discussed.

Conclusions
Although I have described the methods used in the production of my thesis in a series
of stages, I have, at the same time, tried to emphasise the circularity and iterative nature
of the research process. Throughout the period of my PhD research, I became increas-

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ingly aware of the importance which should be attached to the process of methodology,
perhaps particularly in a mainly qualitative study where the ground rules are less precise.
This concern with methodology was itself a developmental process: as I read more of
the literature on qualitative methods and as I experienced first-hand research in 'the
field', so I was able to extend my understanding and to adapt and develop a type of
methodology which I believed was appropriate to the nature of my particular research
project. My practical experiences demonstrated the unavoidable subjectivity of the whole
research process, a subject which has, until recently, been denied or ignored in the
literature. And yet it is important, if the results of our research are to be justified, that
researchers address these issues. To be honest about the compromises which are an
inevitable part of social research is not to devalue the outcome; rather it is to present a
more complete picture of the world as we find it.

Correspondence: Molly Warrington, Homerton College, Cambridge, CB2 2PH, UK.

Email: mjw29@cam.ac.uk

NOTE
This paper is one of four written about practical experiences of geographical research to help undergrad-
uates working on dissertations and postgraduates working on theses to plan and implement their research.
See also Baker (JGHE 21:2), Adams & Megaw (JGHE 21:2) and McDowell (this issue).

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