Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Trial By Fire: Natural Hazards, Mixed-Methods And Cultural Research, Christine Eriksen, Nicholas J. Gill, Ross A. Bradstock

Nicholas J Gill

This paper considers the issues of research 'relevance' and 'use' to reflect upon a cultural geography research project on bushfire that did not begin with any specific aim of being useful to policy makers but which has garnered considerable and ongoing interest from a broad audience. It provides an example of how the integration of quantitative and qualitative research methods and data can enhance research into cultural aspects of natural hazards whilst simultaneously playing a key role in ensuring that the research results are of interest to a wide range of groups. Using a mixed-methods research approach was found to …