Qualitative Geographic Information Systems (GIS): An untapped research approach for social work

Abstract

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a digital technology that integrates hardware and software to analyze, store, and map spatial data. GIS allows users to visualize (i.e., map) geographic aspects of data including locations or spatial concentrations of phenomena of interest. Though public health and other social work related fields have embraced the use of GIS technology in research, social work lags behind. Recent technological advancements in the field of GIS have transformed what was once prohibitively expensive, “experts only” desktop software into a viable method for researchers with little prior GIS knowledge. Further, humanist and participatory geographers have developed critical, non-quantitative GIS approaches that bring to light new opportunities relevant to social workers. These tools could have particular utility for qualitative social workers because they can help us better understand the environmental context in which our clients reside and give credence to their assessments of strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for intervention. This article provides an introductory overview of the history of GIS in social work research and describes opportunities to use spatially informed approaches in qualitative social work research using a case study of a participatory photo mapping research study.

Spatially Integrated Social Sciences with Qualitative GIS to Support Impact Assessment in Mining Communities

“…Qualitative GIS has been used across the social scientific sub-disciplines from social work [31] to sociology [32]. Spatial data allows researchers to account for spatial dimensions in assessing when, how, why, and where "location" is relevant [31].…”

“…We used the keywords "geo-ethnography", "geo-narrative", "grounded visualization", and "qualitative GIS" in Scopus, which returned 74 hits (8 February 2019). Due to the broad nature of the topic area and some authors employing GIS with qualitative methods but not using this terminology [32], it is likely that the keyword search contains omission errors. We then selected 14 papers to represent the diversity of research in this area.…”

The effectiveness of Geographic Information System training for surveillance officers in Sukabumi district

“…Although there is no relationship between training and trainee competencies, the ability to use mapping is a well-received source of knowledge in the sense that many participants find it useful to look at the spatial perspective of governance issues, and therefore they welcome the repetition of knowledge resource mapping. However, due to lack of capacity and technical expertise, as well as the tendency of leadership to use administrative efficiencies to measure performance instead of effectiveness, there is little hope that GIS mapping will be included in strategic analyses (Pfeffer et al, 2011;Teixeira, 2018).…”

The Use of Geonarratives to Add Context to Fine Scale Geospatial Research

“…While new geospatial technologies can provide data layers to inform investigations at this scale, an important consideration is the addition of context; not just, where a hotspot occurs but why ? One approach to a more nuanced consideration of spatial data is a qualitative geographic information systems (GIS) approach [17,18,19], which can include mixed methods [20], geovisualizations [21,22] and narratives [6,23,24]. One of the most exciting methods in terms of enriching context are “ Geonarratives ” [6], which use the functionality of the GIS to analyze and interpret narrative materials, such as interviews, oral histories, life histories and biographies.…”