The third video in our qualitative methods series features Professor Gerda Reith from the University of Glasgow. Gerda talks about using qualitative research to gain an in-depth understanding of people who gamble. She also talks about working on a five-year longitudinal qualitative study exploring how the social contexts of gambling behaviours can evolve and how they interact with wider social networks.
The study recruited people from participants’ social networks and used maps of those networks to produce visual representations of the impact that gambling can have on a wide range of people.
The interview covers how qualitative methods were used to explore the influence of geographical spaces on gambling behaviour. About whether people pass betting shops on the way to work, and how commercial environments can influence people towards, and away from, addictive behaviours.
Gerda also talks about a new study on gambling in Malawi, where researchers will speak to people who gamble, as well as talking to people who work in gambling franchises.
Lastly, Gerda discusses the importance of remembering that people are not data, and that your interviews represent ideas and experiences that relate to human stories.
Next week, Dr Caitlin Notley talks about her experiences of qualitative research, including interviewing parents with babies admitted to neonatal intensive care units. Until then, you can review photos and reactions from the conference on Twitter using #SSAqualconf
