Structured timeline mapping as a data collection methodology: a new perspective for research on environmental adaptation

ABSTRACT

The process of adaptation is dynamic and involves a temporal component. However, conventional methods of data collection have mostly been used in research on environmental adaptations and provide a rather static view. The structured timeline mapping method presented here is grounded in social sciences, designed for the West African environment, and constructed to capture time. The different steps for its construction and implementation are outlined along with the underlying reasoning that led to the choices made. It appears both respondents and interviewers benefit from this method since the recall process is facilitated for the first and the visual support gives a global view of the interview at all stages for the latter. Additionally, this methodology offers four major benefits. First, temporality is the central information collected, with both the timing and the duration of the elements. Second, this approach enables the observation of linkages and interrelations between adaptations or between adaptations and perceived changes in the environment. Third, the participants can self-reflect on their situation and bring elements to the analysis. Lastly, structured timeline mapping results in a more holistic view of the respondent’s adaptation journey. Therefore, this data collection methodology provides a complementary view of the adaptation journey.

KEYWORDS:

• Temporality
• data collection methodology
• adaptation
• environmental change
• northern Senegal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Panel data are an exception in that it involves multiple observations over time. Multiple examples of research using this approach to study migration exist (see for example, Massey et al., 2010). Nevertheless, this approach is very costly, especially in terms of time. In addition, as will be developed in this article, the structured timeline mapping methodology is inscribed in retrospective data collection and based on a visual. This offers many advantages and results in different data, hence its interest.

2 The University of Namur’s ethics committee has been consulted about the steps to be taken to ensure the protection of interviewees. No personal data allowing identification of the individual was collected, and if this was given spontaneously, the recordings and transcriptions were anonymized. In this context, by guaranteeing the anonymity of the participants, no further steps were necessary. Nevertheless, oral consent was asked and all necessary information about the research and the rights of the participants was communicated before starting the interviews.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS.

Notes on contributors

Jelena Luyts

Jelena Luyts is a PhD student at the department of geography at the University of Namur, Belgium. Her research is mainly interested in how households navigate environmental change in their daily lives, with a special focus on western Africa. Her work is based on qualitative field methods conducted in northern Senegal.

Nathalie Burnay

Nathalie Burnay is a full professor in sociology at the University of Namur and the University of Louvain. Her main research focuses on social change, normative transformations and temporalities, from a life-course perspective. She has recently expanded her research interests to include the sociology of emotions.

Etienne Piguet

Etienne Piguet (PhD /University of Lausanne/1998) is a professor at the Institute of Geography of the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). He is the vice president of the Swiss Federal Commission for Migration (CFM/EKM). E. Piguet specializes in migration studies with a focus on the migration/climate change nexus. He has written extensively on issues of migration flows, refugees, labour market integration of migrants, discrimination, statelessness, etc. He was the review editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5th assessment report (IPCC 2014) and has published numerous books and papers on the topic in scientific journals including the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Population Space and Place, Nature (Climate change), Population and Development Review, Journal of Refugee Studies, etc. In Dec. 2019, he published a new book in French on asylum issues (Asile et réfugiés - Repenser la protection - Presses polytechniques romandes).

Arona Fall

Arona Fall is an eco-guard at the Langue de Barbarie National Park in northern Senegal. He also acts as a research assistant, accompanying researchers from different expertise out into the field to meet local populations or to explore the local fauna et flora.

Issa Mballo

Issa Mballo is a PhD student at the Institute of Geography of the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). His research focuses on perceptions of environmental dynamics and population mobility (migration intentions) in sub-Saharan Africa. His work is based on field surveys conducted in the regions of aint-Louis and Louga in northern Senegal.

Florence De Longueville

Florence De Longueville is a research logistician at the department of geography at the University of Namur, Belgium. She is interested in the human dimensions of environmental change and risk. In particular, her research focuses on the impacts of climate and climate change on health and migration, mainly in West Africa. Her work has included fieldwork in Burkina Faso and Benin. During her post-doctoral research (University of Liège), she has consulted on environmental migration issues for the Nansen Initiative and the World Bank.

Sabine Henry

Sabine Henry is a full professor in geography (University of Namur, Belgium). Her significant experience in international and national research projects has allowed her team to explore several regions of the world (West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America), to use different methods to address the same question (quantitative, qualitative, social game, etc.) and to examine from all angles the link between migration and environment (interactions between drivers, perceptions, emotions, vulnerability, resilience, slow and sudden events, disasters, etc.).