Thursday, 14 June 2018

Identification of academic ideas/ topics from academic articles for the preparation of a theoretical framework


Identification of academic ideas/ topics from academic articles for the preparation of a theoretical framework in a housing research project: an illustration


The note provides some illustration of identifying potential academic ideas, including academic topics, that could be considered by a researcher in housing studies to construct a theoretical framework. Such a theoretical framework can be employed in the agile literature review approach (ALRA). There are five academic articles examined in this note.

Article 1
Hodgetts, D., O. Stolte, A. Radley, C. Leggatt-Cook, S. Groot and K. Chamberlain. 2011. "'Near and Fair': Social Distancing in Domiciled Characterisations of Homeless People" Urban Studies 48(8) June, 1739-1753.
Abstract: For domiciled individuals, homeless people provide a disturbing reminder that all is not right with the world. Reactions to seeing homeless people frequently encompass repulsion, discomfort, sympathy and sometimes futility. This paper considers domiciled constructions of homeless people drawn from interviews with 16 participants recruited in the central business district of a New Zealand city. It documents how, when trying to make sense of this complex social problem, domiciled people draw on shared characterisations of homeless people. The concept of ‘social distance’ is used to interrogate the shifting and sometimes incongruous reactions evident in participant accounts. ‘Social distancing’ is conceptualised as a dynamic communal practice existing in interactions between human beings and reflected in the ways that domiciled people talk about their experiences with homeless individuals.
Academic idea used: social distance

Article 2
Peter K. Mackie (2015) Homelessness Prevention and the Welsh Legal Duty: Lessons for International Policies, Housing Studies, 30:1, 40-59, DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2014.927055.

Abstract: The paradigm shift in international homelessness policies towards a prevention focus has resulted in proven benefits to society and most importantly to individuals at risk of homelessness. Across the developed world, homelessness prevention is being pursued with vigour alongside existing homelessness interventions and yet there has been no pause for a systematic evaluation of how prevention fits alongside existing systems. Wales provides the first case where homelessness services have been systematically reviewed since the prevention turn. This paper critically examines the implementation of homelessness prevention in Wales, identifying how deficiencies echo emerging global concerns about the prevention turn. Drawing upon evidence gathered during a review of homelessness legislation in Wales, the paper examines the extent to which emerging proposals for legislative change will overcome problems with prevention. The emerging Welsh homelessness prevention and alleviation duty is seen as a desirable and replicable model of prevention, albeit it offers no panacea to the social tragedy of homelessness.
 Academic ideas used: homelessness prevention, prevention turn, social tragedy of homelessness

Article 3
Anthony Warnes & Maureen Crane (2006): The Causes of Homelessness Among Older People in England, Housing Studies, 21:3, 401-421.
Abstract: A comparative study of the causes of new episodes of homelessness among people aged 50 years and over has been undertaken in Boston, Massachusetts, Melbourne, Australia and four English cities. This paper presents the findings from England, where information was collected from 131 respondents and their key-workers about the circumstances and problems that contributed to homelessness. Two-thirds of the respondents had never been homeless before. The many reasons why they became homeless involved interactions between personal disadvantages and weaknesses, negative events and inadequate welfare support services. For some, their behaviour rather than external factors triggered homelessness. Other cases involved deficiencies with the administration of services and social security payments, the failure or limitations of agencies to detect and respond effectively to vulnerability, and poor collaboration or information co-ordination among housing providers and welfare agencies.
 Academic ideas used: older homelessness, causes of homelessness.

Article 4
Martha R. Burt (2001) Homeless families, singles, and others: Findings from the 1996 national survey of homeless assistance providers and clients, Housing Policy Debate, 12:4, 737-780, DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2001.9521428.
Abstract: The first question people typically ask about homelessness is, “How many people are homeless?” After that, questions usually turn to characteristics: “What are they like?” Basic demographic characteristics such as sex, age, family status, and race have always been of interest, in part because the homeless population appears to be very different from the general public and even from most poor people who are housed with respect to these characteristics. Often, because these differences are so dramatic, demographic characteristics are overinterpreted as representing the reasons for homelessness. But as various studies have documented, most demographic factors quickly disappear as proximate causes when other factors representing personal vulnerabilities are available for examination. The underlying causes of homelessness, the structural conditions of housing and labor markets that turn vulnerabilities into loss of housing, do not lie within individuals at all and are thus difficult to include in analyses based on individual data.
 Academic ideas used: characteristics of the homeless population, conditions of homelessness.

Article 5
Lee, B.A. 2004. "The Geography of Homelessness in American Communities: Concentration or Dispersion?" City & Community 3(1) March: 3-27.
Abstract: Few recent studies of homelessness have focused on the distribution of the phenomenon across different types of community contexts. Nevertheless, claims are often made about the decline of urban skid rows and the increasing spatial ubiquity of the homeless population. Motivated by these claims, our research analyzes 1990 Census S-night data at multiple geographic levels to determine whether homeless people remain locationally concentrated or have become more dispersed in the contemporary United States. Data from the 2000 Census, though limited in scope, are briefly examined as well. We find that the “visible” homeless are overrepresented in metropolitan and urban portions of the nation, in central cities of metropolitan areas, and in a minority of neighborhoods within these areas. Such an uneven distribution, which favors the concentration over the dispersion perspective, often takes a polynucleated form in large cities. Forces shaping the geography of homelessness are discussed, as are the policy implications and methodological caveats associated with our results.
 Academic ideas used: geography of homelessness, "visible" homeless

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