Comprehensive research in geography

*Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, SingaporeEmail: geoadz@nus.edu.sg**Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, AustraliaRevised manuscript received 17 December 2012Addressing human–environment problems requires con-tributions from those who study both human and bio-physical systems (O’Brien and Leichenko 2003; Castree2012; Harden 2012). Historically, the scientic commu-nity has been content to try to explain the behaviour of thehuman–Earth system by separating the parts from thewhole, interrogating them, pausing on occasion to scru-tinise their analyses, and contrasting ndings against thebigger picture. Such partial explanations are useful butniche approaches cannot account for real-world behav-iours that arise from the interplay between the parts.Today, as human impacts on the planet become more andmore apparent, solutions require a sophisticated blend ofspecialist and integrative research – what we call ‘com-prehensive research’.In our view, comprehensive research differs from inter-disciplinary research in that it considers the interactions ofimportant biophysical and human processes across allrelevant spatial and temporal scales. Geography wouldtherefore seem an appropriate home for comprehensiveresearch to ourish (Douglas 1986; Skole 2004; Marston2006).The integration of geography with interdisciplinaryresearch has a long history (Bracken and Oughton 2006),which is perhaps best exemplied by Sauer (1925). Stu-dents are now arriving at geography after sampling otherdisciplines that are lacking in the ability to question andexplain human–Earth dynamics in a meaningful way.Many seek both specialist and generalist skills that willallow them to do comprehensive research. These twodemands are not, and should not be, mutually exclusive.Unfortunately, fragmentation threatens to make geogra-phy no more effective at addressing complicated human–Earth systems than any specialised discipline (Robbins2011). Worrisome is that students may now be less pre-pared than their predecessors to tackle these types ofproblems holistically (Demeritt 2009).Fragmentation is not surprising given the specia-lisation needed to make signicant advances in theunderlying science (Stoddart 1987; Demeritt 2009). Spe-cialisation is by no means unproductive. It has forcedmany physical geographers to integrate with other elds(e.g. biogeography and biology, process geomorphologyand geology and physics, applied hydrology and clima-tology and civil engineering). Many human geographersare also collaborating with political scientists, sociolo-gists and area studies scholars to develop broaderresearch objectives. However, when it comes to con-ducting comprehensive research effectively, geographyhas stayed at the middle of the pack despite the ‘close-ness’ of human and physical geographers (Demeritt2009). Perhaps this is telling of the growing distancebetween the sub-disciplines, regardless of close proxim-ity of individuals on the same oor of a building, andregardless of recognition of the compatibility betweenthe physical and human geography sub-disciplines (cf.Stallins 2012; Tadaki