Situational Analysis:An Emerging Tool for

Uncovering Theoretical Complexity

American Psychological AssociationChristopher Beasley, PhD, MA

2016

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT RESEARCH TEAM

• Grounded Theory– Understand the action

• Situational Analysis– Understand the situation of the action

Goals

Clarke, 2005; Clarke, 2015

• Grounded theory analysis• Situational maps• Social worlds/arenas maps• Positional maps

SA Process Overview

Clarke, 2005; Clarke et al., 2015

Situational Maps

Clarke, 2005

• Most important human & nonhuman elements of the situation– People & things in the situation– Which seem to make a difference in the

situation– Which of these matter most in the situation– What facilitates action– What hinders action

• Used for relational analysis

Situational Maps

Clarke, 2005

Messy Situational Map

Clarke, 2005

Ordered Situational Map

Clarke, 2005

• Describing relationships between elements– Range of elements related to– Specific elements related to– Strength of relationship between elements– Prominent relationships

• Absence of expected relationships

Relational Analysis

Clarke, 2005

Relational Map

Shostak, S, 2003

• Examines collective entities– Naming– Describing– Relationships between– Discourse w/i & b/t

Social Worlds/Arena

Clarke, 2005; Clark et al., 2015

• Collective entities in worlds• Commitments of each world• How commitments are fulfilled• Work done by each world• Past actions & expected future actions• Specific sites of action and what they’re like• How work furthers world’s agenda• How world describes itself in discourse• How world describes other worlds• Technologies used, implicated, or produced• How technology moves w/i & between worlds

Social Worlds

Clarke, 2005

• Focus of the arena• Social worlds present & active• Expected but absent worlds• Boundaries between worlds • Discourse produced by worlds within an

arena• Controversies in discourse• Arena-wide discourses• Surprising silences in discourse

Social Arenas

Clarke, 2005

Social Worlds/Arenas Map

Clarke, 2005

Social Worlds/Arena Map

Shostak, 2003

• Positions in the situation• Missing positions• Site-specific positions

Positional Map

Clarke, 2005; Clarke et al., 2015

Positional Map

Clarke, 2005

Positional Map

Shostak, S, 2003

• Situational Maps– Elements in the situation– Relationship between elements

• Social Worlds/Arenas Maps– Collective entities– Nature of collective entities– Relationships between collective entities– Discourse in worlds/arenas

• Positional Maps– Various positions taken in discourse– Missing positions

Summary

• Developing complex situation-specific theories

• Combining situation-specific theories into complex universal theories

• Developing complex adaptive systems models for communities

Future Directions

Clarke, A. (2005). Situational analysis: Grounded theory after the postmodern turn. Sage.

Clarke, A. E., Friese, C., & Washburn, R. (2015). Situational analysis in practice: Mapping research with grounded theory. Left Coast Press.

Bone, D. (2002). Dilemmas of emotion work in nursing under market-driven health care. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 15(2), 140-150.

Shostak, S. (2003). Locating gene–environment interaction: at the intersections of genetics and public health. Social Science & Medicine,56(11), 2327-2342.

References