The Professional Geographer (2008) 60(4).
Geo-Narrative: Extending Geographic Information Systems
for Narrative Analysis in Qualitative and Mixed-Method Research
Mei-Po Kwan and Guoxiang Ding
Abstract:
This research seeks to contribute to advancing qualitative methodologies
at the intersection of qualitative GIS, narrative analysis, 3D GIS-based
time-geographic methods, and computer-aided qualitative data analysis.
The approach to GIS-based narrative analysis developed in the study,
called Geo-Narrative, is based on extending current GIS’s capabilities
for the analysis and interpretation of narrative materials such as oral
histories, life histories, and biographies. The three central elements
in this approach are: (a) narrative analysis as the qualitative approach;
(b) 3D GIS-based time-geographic methods as the representational framework;
and (c) 3D-VQGIS as the GIS-based computer-aided qualitative data analysis
component. A case example based on a study on the lives of the Muslim women
in Columbus, Ohio after 11 September 2001 is used to illustrate the approach.
Key Words: CAQDAS, Geo-Narrative, narrative analysis,
qualitative data analysis, qualitative GIS.
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