This paper focuses on the methods used in a project which set out to capture the movements and to consider the wellbeing of 30 teenagers on their journeys to and from school. A mobile phone linked to a GPS receiver was used to automatically log travel patterns whilst the respondents added 'blog' images and text about how they felt on the journey. Follow up interviews further explored the data. The paper shows that by using a range of methods the young people became involved in the project in different ways providing a rich picture of contingent and complex school journeys.
Introduction and contextIn the developed world most children between the ages of 5 and 16 travel to and from school each weekday and, during term time, such trips comprise a significant amount of the total movement of people and vehicles that occurs in urban areas. For instance, travel for education accounted for some 6% of all journeys made in Britain in 2006; and for those under 17 this category represented 27% of all journeys (Department for Transport, 2006). Such movement has a wide range of social, economic, and environmental implications both for the individuals and families involved and for wider society. This paper uses an innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques to integrate four sets of data: precise spatial information about journeys to and from school; modelled information on levels of air pollution during the school journey; qualitative data on interaction with the environment; and the factors affecting the choice both of routes and of modes of travel. Whereas other studies usually focus on only one or two of the above dimensions, the novelty of this project is the integration of spatial, social, and environmental data for over 600 journeys to and from school undertaken by a sample of thirty lower secondary school pupils over four time periods. In so doing, this paper contributes to contemporary debates about children's everyday travel and the health implications of exposure to traffic pollution.Research on the journey to and from school has expanded significantly in recent years, with contributions from a range of disciplines and relating to a variety of countries [for recent international reviews, see Davison et al (2008) and Sirard and Slater (2008)]. Such research has focused principally on five related areas, which
Location-based games not only offer new experiences for the players, but also present new challenges for researchers in terms of analyzing player behaviour. Whilst many ethnographical studies have presented useful qualitative insights into this area, there is the potential to both improve support for these studies and to provide more effective representations of the quantitative data that can often be extracted from the game itself in a manner that enables greater understanding. In this paper, we illustrate how combined spatial and temporal information can be represented using the human geographers' technique of space-time paths to provide 3D visualizations of a player's or players' movement. Our analysis of a particular location-based game shows how a richer understanding of overall game play is obtained and highlights the possibilities for using the technique for a whole range of locationbased services to provide a more complete view of complexities of journeys. Further, we discuss how these techniques can be utilized more generally by ethnographers who study the behaviour of mobile actors.
In this paper, we present findings of a research project in which mobile phones were used as part of a multi-methods approach to analyze the effects of air pollution on children's journeys to and from school. In particular, we will present the results from the space-time blogs generated by 30 Year 8 pupils (aged 12-13) on their school journeys during four periods of study across the seasons of a year. The blogs were generated by the teenagers using a specially created application running on a mobile phone linked to a Bluetooth GPS unit and consist of spatially and temporally-referenced texts and images together with a record of their route using GPS coordinates stored at one second intervals. Whilst the blogs generated considerable amounts of quantitative information, particularly when coupled with the pollution profiles of the routes the teenagers travelled, it is the depth of qualitative information revealed in the interviews with the teenagers after each study period, using the routes and blogs as a trigger, that demonstrates the benefits of the multi-methods approach. In particular, we highlight some of the depth of contextual information revealed not only in regard to the use of the phone application and GPS unit but also the complex social factors which contribute to formation of the school journey. ACM ClassificationC.3 Special-purpose and Application-based Systems. General TermsHuman Factors.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.