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A Geographic and Mixed Methods Approach to Capture Unequal Quality-of-Life Conditions

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Book cover Handbook of Community Well-Being Research

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present a methodological approach to map unequal quality-of-life and citizen’s self-perceived living conditions. The objective is to critically explore new approaches where the combination of multiple sources of information collected via mixed methods offers new insights at the same time as raises new challenges. This chapter draws from various case studies carried out in the global South and North. All the cases made use of adjustments of our framework that combines measures of objective and subjective quality-of-life in a mixed method approach. Although the cases are located in cities of different countries, the results show the emergence of similar questions and concerns related to the construction, use and validity of the collected information and poses new questions about what knowledge can be derived from it. The results also show the policy relevance of mapping and explaining self-perceived quality-of-life conditions for targeting and implementing remedy policies.

The identification of context sensitive life domains and relevant data sources requires the combination of different forms of knowledge from local governments, but also from citizens and other actors, especially from civil societies. Compared to quantitative approaches, mixed methods and Qualitative Geographic Information Systems in particular offer new insights in quality-of-life inquiries by capturing unmonitored conditions and explaining reasons behind citizen’s self-perceived conditions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    If the information is georeferenced, created, assembled and disseminated by a harnessing of ICT tool, it is usually conceptualized as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) (see McCall et al. 2015).

  2. 2.

    For a discussion on spatial justice and geography, see Smith (1994) and Soja (2010).

  3. 3.

    For more details about emic/etic significance, see Harris (1976).

  4. 4.

    Rojas (2015, p. 320) describes presumption and imputation as follows “The presumption tradition postulates that wellbeing is something that people experiences, but it keeps the authority to assess a person’s wellbeing situation in the hands of third-persons. The imputation tradition is based on the idea of a third party – usually assumed as a thoughtful person or institution providing criteria to judge a person’s life”.

  5. 5.

    This relates to some epistemological questions we mentioned earlier in the chapter. How do we know what is “good” and “bad”? In our research, we used a relative perspective (e.g. city average) as threshold (there is no predefined absolute threshold).

  6. 6.

    Adapted from Ndungu (2012) Applicability of volunteered geographic information in assessing quality-of-life: case from Zanzibar. Enschede, University of Twente Faculty of Geo-Information and Earth Observation ITC, 2012.

  7. 7.

    In another study (Shumi et al. 2014), we used this mixed-method approach and elicited emic views to understand how the quality of life of women garment workers in Dhaka (Bangladesh) was affected by the walking conditions of the routes the take from home to work.

  8. 8.

    Adapted from Kumar Dashora (2009) Visualisation of urban quality-of-life at neighbourhood level in Enschede. Enschede, ITC, 2009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Javier Martinez & Jeroen Verplanke

  2. School of Business and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Gianluca Miscione

Authors
  1. Javier Martinez
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  2. Jeroen Verplanke
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  3. Gianluca Miscione
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Correspondence to Javier Martinez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Honors College and Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

    Rhonda Phillips

  2. School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Cecilia Wong

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Martinez, J., Verplanke, J., Miscione, G. (2017). A Geographic and Mixed Methods Approach to Capture Unequal Quality-of-Life Conditions. In: Phillips, R., Wong, C. (eds) Handbook of Community Well-Being Research. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0878-2_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0878-2_20

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