[As research director at Human Impact Partners, Holly Avey spends a lot of time not just looking at our findings but thinking about how we conduct and use research. This is one in a series of blogs about the role of research in HIA.] In my research blog published back in 2013, I asked: How far should we go with qualitative research in HIA? Is it just used when we don’t have enough quantitative data to answer our research question, or are there other reasons to consider incorporating qualitative research into your HIA work? A national evaluation of HIAs conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency states that “stakeholder and community input lend themselves to qualitative analysis”, and beyond that, qualitative analysis is warranted in HIAs in the following circumstances: “lack of available scientific research, unavailability of local data, time limitations, limited resources, etc.” (p. 39). The implication is that qualitative data is warranted as a means of stakeholder input, but from a data perspective, you might only pursue qualitative data if you don’t have and/or can’t get quantitative data. The authors further state, “most HIAs qualitatively characterized impacts; the use of quantitative analysis was lacking.” (p. 80). This statement implies... Read More >>
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