Affective maps: validating a dialogue between qualitative and quantitative methods

Abstract

Affective Maps is an environmental and social category related to the concept of place identity, cognitive maps, affectivity, and it is a representation of space related to any environment as an emotional territory. It intends to be a tool that shows affectivity and indicates the inhabitant’s Esteem for the place. Affective Maps is yielded by a questionnaire, named Affective Maps Generator Questionnaire, which is constituted by a quantitative (including a response scale and a socio-economic profile questionnaire) and qualitative (including a drawing of the environment researched and a inquiry) method of data collection and analysis. This study aims to present and discuss the results of a study, bringing the methodological process and explaining the dialogue between different methods (quantitative and qualitative) of data collection and analysis to inquiries about the affective-symbolic relationships between people and their environments. Therefore, the questionnaire was applied with reference to the neighborhood of residence of 293 participants from high schools in Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. First, analysis of the validity and accuracy for the response scale of the questionnaire were made. Then the qualitative and quantitative parts of the questionnaire were analyzed. It was observed that the majority of the sample presented contrasting affects in relation to neighborhood of residence in which coexisted positive and negative representations about this environment. The dialogue between qualitative and quantitative analysis yielded these findings, when a way of reference and counter-reference between them was created.