Situational Analysis: A Visual Analytic Approach that Unpacks the Complexity of Occupation

Abstract

Concurrent with the development of a transactional perspective, the notion of “the situation” has increasingly been taken up in occupational science scholarship. Accordingly, research methodologies and approaches that capture the multifaceted elements of situations need to be explored. Situational analysis, pioneered by sociologist and grounded theorist Adele Clarke, shows promise for facilitating inquiries into situations of occupational engagement. In this article we review the situational analysis approach and provide an example of its application to research on the situation of long-term unemployment. In this application, situational mapping illuminated the contradiction of simultaneously being “activated” and “stuck”. Situational analysis helped unpack how this contradiction was shaped within North American contexts. Based on this example and others outside the occupational science literature, we discuss how situational analysis can be a useful tool for fostering critical, socially-responsive, and community-engaged occupational science research.

在商务发展的同时，“情境”的概念已经越来越多地用于休闲科学奖学金。因此，寻觅情境的多方面因素的研究方法和手段需要探讨。由社会学家和理论家阿黛尔·克拉克率先进行的情境分析，为探究休闲活动的情境提供了希望。在本文中，我们重审了情境分析的方法，并举出了将其应用到研究长期失业状况的一个例子。该研究中，情境制图显示同时被“激活”和“僵化”之间的矛盾。情境分析帮助搞清在北美社会中这个矛盾是如何形成的。基于这个例子和其它休闲科学文献之外的例子，我们讨论情境分析如何可以成为促进关键的、有社会响应的以及社区参与的休闲科学研究的有用工具。

Keywords:

• Situational analysis
• Qualitative research methods
• Critical occupational science
• Transactional perspective
• Unemployment