ERIC Number: EJ1406152
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1364-5579
EISSN: EISSN-1464-5300
Gatekeeper Politics and Urban Planning Research in the Contested Space of an Emerging Settlement: Reflection on Experiences in Hopley Farm Settlement, Harare
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, v26 n6 p733-743 2023
Urban planning research usually requires researchers to undertake fieldwork. This fieldwork is frustrated or enabled by gatekeepers who can influence effective data collection. Traditionally, gatekeepers are perceived as monolithic, neutral, and static individuals, yet they are complex individuals with varying needs and expectations from the researchers. For novice researchers, especially postgraduate students, dealing with and handling gatekeepers may be a mammoth task. This study focuses on gatekeepers inherent in contested spaces and uses a reflective approach to analyze the gatekeeper politics characteristic of informal settlements as contested spaces. Informed by literature and the author's personal experiences, this study argues that gatekeepers are complex figures shaped by the socio-political context and ultimately influence the research process. This calls for researchers to effectively strategize before, during, and after data collection to avoid compromising ethical issues and digressing from the scope of the study.
Descriptors: Politics, Urban Planning, Land Settlement, Social Science Research, Field Studies, Research Problems, Data Collection, Research Methodology, Guidelines, Researchers, Power Structure
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A