Investigating London’s creative economy: A word on research methods

Abstract

This paper is about the research methods used by Creativeworks London’s Place Work Knowledge (PWK) research strand in developing a number of case studies investigating the creative economy in parts of London. The PWK research strand focuses on some of the processes that drive and sustain London’s creative and cultural economy with a focus on the places, spaces and practice of this activity. It adopted an ethnographic approach in order to develop a deeper understanding of what is seen as a number of creative ‘Communities of Practice’ in various parts of primarily east London. This paper is a reflection of the strengths and weaknesses of the research methods used.