
Sam Whewall (Education, University of Bath) and his supervisor- Dr Michael Donnelly– have developed a new method of mapping individuals’ geographical imaginaries. They use this participatory research method to study the role that geography and geographical perception play in Higher-Education decision-making.
They asked participants to colour-code a blank map of the UK according to where they might like to live whilst at university. Then, the participants were interviewed and asked to explain how they constructed their map. The exercise highlighted participants’ beliefs, misconceptions, feelings and perceptions.
An article about the participatory research method was published in the NCRM‘s newsletter- Methods News.The article goes into more detail about the mapping tool. You can read it here.
Sam is also a new addition to our Student Blogs page as he has started his own blog – a journal of his research, his daily life and- hopefully- his travels too.