Part 1: Qualitative methods
Read the following scenario and then answer the questions associated with it.
Women’s health and cycling in the UK
In 2015 the UK government made funds available for new cycle infrastructure and promoted cycling as part of a healthier lifestyle and to combat rising obesity rates. Despite a gradual increase in cycling rates in the UK since then, 2019 government survey data showed that 61% of people surveyed indicated that cycling on the road was too dangerous for them.
This increases to 71% for women (DoT, 2019), an overall increase in the perception of cycling as dangerous since 2015 (DoT, gov.uk walking and cycling statistics, 2020). Statistics also showed that in 2019 11% of adults cycled at least once a week, but that men made 2.5 times more cycle trips than women and cycled four times further on average (DoT, 2019).
Imagine you are a researcher who has been asked to explore women’s experience of cycling in the UK today, and what cycling means for them in a vehicular-dominated transport infrastructure. You have decided to approach this topic using a phenomenological methodology, and a discursive psychology methodology.
Briefly describe the approach a phenomenological researcher might take when researching this topic and state a suitable research question for a phenomenological inquiry into the topic.
To answer this, describe some key aspects of the methodology they would need to research this topic.
500 words
A discursive researcher has designed a project to research this topic using ten focus groups of five participants in each group. The researcher will be looking at the Interpretative Repertoires, Subject Positions and Ideological Dilemmas interpreted from the focus group data.
State a suitable research question for this researcher to base their focus group questions on, and briefly discuss the strengths and limitations of using the discursive approach to research this topic.
500 words
Word limit: 1000 words in total (excluding the title and any references). After Part 1, write the total word count for both parts.
References
Department for Transport (2019) Walking and Cycling Statistics, England: 2019. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/walking-and-cycling-statistics-england-2019 (Accessed: 11 November 2020).
Department for Transport (2020) ‘Table CW0409 – Proportion of respondents agreeing that it is too dangerous to cycle on the road: England, 2011 to 2021’, Walking and cycling statistics.
Available from:
www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/walking-and-cycling-statistics-cw (Accessed: 11 November 2020).
Last Completed Projects
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