Geog 351 - Week 3 - Lecture Notes - Students

GEOG 351: RESEARCH
METHODS IN
GEOGRAPHY I
Week 3:
Thursday, 04th February 2021
George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

General Outline
Geographic Research Ideas
Research Problem
 Problem identification
 Problem formulation
Literature Review
 Why review literature?
 Steps in reviewing literature
 Research Gap identification and Contribution to knowledge
 Gap identification and formulation
 Contribution to knowledge (Research Objectives)
Geographic Research Ideas
Introduction

Geographic Research Ideas Cont’
Summary of introduction
 Identification of the research idea is the first step in every research
 This can however be problematic for beginners
 Which aspect (s) of your programme study (i.e. Geography) are you passionate
about?
• Population Geography
• Climatology
• Urban Geography
• Rural Geography
 The research idea should be something that the researcher (here the student) is highly
interested in and willing to devote weeks and months to do some research on that.

Sources of geographic research ideas

Sources of geographic research Ideas cont’
Everyday life experiences
 The researcher may as part of his daily experiences encounter a problem
which he/she can turn into a potential research idea.
 For example, a researcher who lives in a deprived rural area – might have
observed changes/ variability in rainfall pattern. Hence the researcher can
decide to research into the impacts of changing rainfall pattern on farming
activities.

Previous Studies
 As researchers read other people’s works, they may come across recommendations for further
studies from such studies (e.g. journal articles, published thesis/dissertations, books).
 Similarly, having read previous studies published elsewhere, a researcher may be interested in
replicating that in a different geographical area.
 Furthermore, researchers as they read previous works may also know the methodology that
was used in such studies.

Conversation
 This could come from lecturers or other resourced people at seminars or
conferences.
 Someone could possible ask “what are you looking at for your research
dissertation”?.
• When you answer “ I am still looking for a topic”.
• Then the interviewer could suggest “Climate Change is a big problem in Sub-Saharan
Africa”. You can do something on that.

Research Problem Identification and
Formulation
Outline
 What is a research problem?
 Forms of research problems
 Formulation of a research problem

Research problem – introduction
The identification and formulation of a research problem is the first

and most important step of the research process (Kumar, 2011).
Similarly, literature notes that, research problem can be likened to the

identification of a destination before undertaking a journey (see e.g.,
Kumar, 2011).

What is a research Problem?
Cresswell (2014:105) opines that, “Research Problem” has to do with the

identification of the issue (s) or problem (s) that leads to a need for a particular
study.
Cresswell (2014: 105) similarly suggests that the problem in a study becomes
clearer when the research asks “what is the need for this study?” (ii) “What
problem influenced the need to undertake this study?”

Nature of Research Problem
Problem can be single or multiple
 Single – teenage pregnancy
 Multiple – climate variability and change, high poverty levels, and food security
issues.
Scenario 1: Babalba’s case
 The 5 Northern regions (i.e. Upper West, Upper East, Northern, Savannah, and North-
east) experience a single rainfall (i.e. uni-modal rainfall regime)- (GSS, 2014).
 Poverty levels in the 5 Northern regions are high (GSS, 2014; WFP, 2013).
 The bulk of the population are into natural resource-based livelihoods (i.e. agriculture)
which is largely rainfed in nature- hence they are more at risk of the impacts of climate
variability and change (CVC)- (see e.g. GSS, 2014).
Considerations in Formulating a Research
Problem
 Select a problem (i.e. subject area) that not much has been done on that
Select a problem that is within your subject area and feasible to undertake
Specify whether a single problem or multiple problems

Consider numeric information for impact (e.g. only 0.35% of Ghana’s agricultural
land is under irrigation – MoFA, 2011).
Cite relevant literature (i.e. previous studies on the geographic area you are
considering for the study)

Sample Research problem Statement:
Babalba
North-west Ghana is vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability
and change due to several reasons. First, climatic factors (as in the
area being semi-arid, and characterised by a unimodal rainfall zone
which is variable and unpredictable in nature with the situation
exacerbated by climate extremes such as drought and floods). Second,
a large proportion of the population is engaged in agriculture, as
there are limited income generating opportunities for inhabitants to
diversify their livelihoods (GSS, 2014). Third, poverty is very high in
the area, which translates into low economic power to secure
appropriate technologies for farm activities and access to food via
market sources (GSS, 2014).
Literature Review, Research Gap, and
contribution to knowledge
Outline
 Introduction
 Why literature review
 Steps in doing a literature review
 Knowledge gap identification and contribution to knowledge

Introduction
Having identified your research problem and clearly formulated the

statement of your research problem, there is the need for you to scope
relevant literature on your subject matter to:
 Identify the necessary gaps in literature
 And justify the contribution of your study to knowledge on a given subject

matter

The Need for Literature Review
The researcher may not the first person to venture into that subject
area
Hence, literature review is an opportunity for the researcher to have a
sense of the current state of knowledge on the given topic (i.e.,
findings of previous studies on the subject matter)

The Need for Literature Review Cont’

More importantly, literature review is the ONLY pathway for the researcher to
identify gaps in knowledge in a given topic.

 That is the aspect (s) of the “research problem” that have been overlooked, or little has
been done on it.

Once the researcher identifies the gap (s) in knowledge, then the researcher can
comfortably state his/her contribution to knowledge on the subject matter.


It is a benchmark for researchers to compare their research findings with that of
previous studies.
How to Conduct a Literature Review
Here we are going to use the case of Babalba (a Geographer) who
conducted his study in North-west Ghana to illustrate how to properly
conduct a literature review.
To that end, we will briefly look at the research problem that has been
identified by Babalba and then see how Babalba went about his literature
review.
How to Conduct a Literature Review
Cont’
Example 1: Babalba’s identified research problem
North-west Ghana is vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability and change due to several reasons.
First, climatic factors (as in the area being semi-arid, and characterised by a unimodal rainfall zone which
is variable and unpredictable in nature with the situation exacerbated by climate extremes such as drought
and floods). Second, a large proportion of the population is engaged in agriculture, as there are limited
income generating opportunities for inhabitants to diversify their livelihoods (GSS, 2014). Third, poverty is
very high in the area, which translates into low economic power to secure appropriate technologies for farm
activities and access to food via market sources (GSS, 2014).

Steps in Conducting a Literature Review
Here again, we look at how Babalba went about his literature review
Phase I: Identify a ‘working title’ from your research problem.

 E.g. Babalba settled on: “My study seeks to understand Climate Variability and Change,
Smallholder Farmers’ Decision Making and Food Security in North-west Ghana”
Phase II: Divide research topic /title into themes

E.g. Babalba divided his topic into relevant themes: (i) climate variability and change, (ii)
Farmers decision making under climate variability and change, (ii) climate change and food
security.

Cont’
Phase III: Search for relevant literature on themes from trusted sources.
 Babalba consulted literature from: (i) past dissertations in libraries, (ii) documents from
relevant research organisations, NGOs, government agencies, and (iii) journals.
 For thesis/dissertations that are available online, one can just ‘google’ and have them. For
relevant online journal articles one can get them via these search engines: (i) googlescholar,
science direct, schi-hub.org, jstor.com etc.
 Note: There are some of the articles in some journals that are not open access- that is, the
journals will need you to pay for them. In circumstances like that please do search “sci-
hug.se” and a dialogue will open – please copy and paste the title of the journal into the
dialogue box or copy the “DOI” of the article and paste it in there for you to download

Cont’
Phase IV: Skim through all the identified literature to have a sense of
their usefulness.
 Babalba looked out for articles, books, and dissertations that will contribute to
the various themes of his topic.
 Phase V: Design a literature map (what literature goes under what
theme, and what theme should be first or last etc.)

Cont’

Cont’
Phase V: Draft summaries of the most relevant literature on all the
themes of the topic
 E.g., Babalba’s theme 1: climate variability and change
 Previous empirical studies on climate variability and change (particularly in
Ghana, and North-west Ghana- he reviewed literature beyond Ghana)
 Theories on perceptions of climate variability and change
 These summaries are combined into the final literature review and
conceptual framework section of your dissertation (usually chapter 2).
Similarly, the summaries also give you the chance to identify the gap
(s) – i.e., deficiencies in previous studies on the subject matter.

Literature Review: Summary
Identify a topic to study – more importantly, reflect on the practicality and
usefulness of the subject matter.
The topic should come from the research problem that the researcher has
identified earlier.
Describe the topic in few words or in a short phrase (Creswell, 2014). E.g., “My
study seeks to understand …….”.

Literature Review: Summary Cont’
Search for key themes in trusted potential sources of getting literature (e.g., past
dissertations in libraries, documents from relevant research organisations, NGOs,
government agencies, journals- print copies and online, books etc.).
As you read, do have a literature map (sequentially organise your themes- so you will
try to understand the current state of knowledge on the subject matter).
The end result of the literature review should guide you in formulating your research
gap and having a solid justification for your study
Similarly, you should be able to have a section in chapter two of your thesis on
“literature review”.
Furthermore, as you scope the literature, you need to look out for theories that have
been employed by previous studies – components of these theories may be relevant in
the conceptualising of your thesis.
Research Gap identification and
Formulation
Every researcher in formulating his research gap statement has to acknowledge
earlier contributions on the subject matter.
 This is best done by referring to the focus of recent literature on the subject matter.
Specifically, the researcher has to tease out aspects of the thesis that nothing at all
has either been done or little research has been done on it ( possibly in a different
continent or country).

Research Gap identification and Formulation cont’

Having scrutinised the available relevant literature on his topic, Babalba
identified the following gaps:
 A gap in understanding how farmers’ interpretations of changes in their local climate are constructed by
cultural beliefs and values
 Findings from previous studies on crop selection under climate variability and change suggest that farmers will
choose crops that are appropriately suited to the prevailing climatic conditions. This study however challenges
this line of thinking with the argument being that farmers have multiple motives for selecting crops and
adaptation to CVC could potentially lead to trade-offs between other uses of crops.
 Studies on the food utilisation dimension of food security have largely concentrated on the nutritional and
biological dimensions, with little attention paid to the cultural aspects of the uses of food (Treffrey et al., 2014).
Synopsis of Babalba’s Research Gap Statement
This study argues that although the nexus between climate variability and change is not a new phenomenon, little is being understood about
certain aspects of the discourse. To that end, this research identified three gaps in an attempt to contribute to knowledge on farmers’ cropping
decisions under climate variability and change, and the implications on households’ culturally preferred foods.
To begin with, even though the discourse on farmers’ perceptions of CVC has gained wide attention (Codjoe and Owusu, 2011, Osbahr et al.,
2011, Thomas et al., 2007, Yaro, 2013) the focus has mainly been to only look at farmers’ perceptions without comparing with climatic data
(Asante et al., 2017, Derkyi et al., 2018, Elum et al., 2017, Kolleh and Jones, 2015).
Looking at only farmers’ perceptions makes it difficult for policy makers to reflect on the different factors that drive perceptions. Recognising
the value of identifying matches and mismatches, the methodology has shifted though limited in Ghana to comparing farmer perceptions with
climatic data (Amadou et al., 2015, Osbahr et al., 2011, Thomas et al., 2007, Yaro, 2013), and recently to understanding how farmers’
perception of CVC are socially differentiated (Horsefield, 2016, Singh et al., 2018). Despite the above attempts, there is still a gap in
understanding how farmers’ interpretations of changes in their local climate are constructed by cultural beliefs and values as the focus is
mainly centred on identifying what changes are perceived by farmers. The literature suggests a strong connection between farmers’
perceptions of, and adaptation to CVC (Arbuckle et al., 2013, Menapace et al., 2015). Therefore, it is vital to understand how farmers perceive
changes in their local climate as that will serve as a springboard to understanding adaptation decisions.
Research Objectives
The objectives cover what one aims at or hopes to achieve or accomplish by the
end of a given research project.
 These objectives must be clearly outlined.
They direct the researcher to find answers to the research problem.
 The objectives should be developed in line with the research topic and the gaps
identified in the literature on the subject matter.
Broad objective (aim): which is a statement of the desired outcome/goal of the
study?
Specific objectives: which state the specific aspects of the outcomes that build-up
towards the broad objective?

Research Objectives- Babalba’s case
To contribute to knowledge based on the gaps identified in the literature, Babalba developed the
following:
 Research Aim: To understand the implications of farmers’ cropping decisions under climate
variability and change on the availability and utilisation of culturally preferred foods of households.
Specific Objectives:
 Objective 1: To understand farmer perceptions of climate variability and change, and how perception is socially
differentiated.
 Objective 2: To understand farmers’ adaptation behaviour under climate variability and change via crop selection.
 Objective 3: To understand the social aspects of the uses of food, and the impacts of adaptation to CVC on culturally
preferred foods.

Research Objective 1



References
Creswell, J. N. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage
GSS (2014). 2010 Population and Housing Census. National Analytical Report, Accra, Ghana.
MoFA (2011). Agriculture in Ghana Facts and Figures 2010. Accra Statistics, Research and Information Directorate.
Kumar, R. (2011). Research Methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. SAGE.
Thomas, D. S. G., Twyman, C., Osbahr, H. & Hewitson, B. (2007). Adaptation to climate change and variability: farmer
responses to intra-seasonal precipitation trends in South Africa. Climatic Change, 83, 301-322.
Trefrey, A., Parkins, J. R. & Cundill, G. (2014). Culture and Food Security: A case study of homestead food production in
South Africa. Food Security 6, 555-565.
WFP (2013). Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis Ghana 2012 Focus on Northern Ghana. Rome. The
World Food Programme of the United Nations .

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GEOG 351: RESEARCH

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

replicating that in a different geographical area.

was used in such studies.

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

 Forms of research problems

 Formulation of a research problem

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

The identification and formulation of a research problem is the first

Similarly, literature notes that, research problem can be likened to the

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

Cresswell (2014:105) opines that, “Research Problem” has to do with the

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

Specify whether a single problem or multiple problems

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

 Why literature review

 Steps in doing a literature review

 Knowledge gap identification and contribution to knowledge

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

Having identified your research problem and clearly formulated the

 And justify the contribution of your study to knowledge on a given subject

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

Hence, literature review is an opportunity for the researcher to have a

sense of the current state of knowledge on the given topic (i.e.,

findings of previous studies on the subject matter)

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

identify gaps in knowledge in a given topic.

been done on it.

comfortably state his/her contribution to knowledge on the subject matter.

conducted his study in North-west Ghana to illustrate how to properly

conduct a literature review.

activities and access to food via market sources (GSS, 2014).

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

Phase I: Identify a ‘working title’ from your research problem.

Phase II: Divide research topic /title into themes

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

usefulness of the subject matter.

study seeks to understand …….”.

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

cultural beliefs and values

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

George Dakurah (PhD) - dakurahg@yahoo.com

Kumar, R. (2011). Research Methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. SAGE.

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