We did it!
We did it! We are at the end of the semester! I’m sure none of us expected our university careers to end up like this, but I’m happy that I had the opportunity to interact with you all virtually. As an International Development Student with an area of emphasis on Environment and Development, I’ve taken my fair share of geography classes. However, these classes do not spend much time truly speaking to the human component of geography. I’ve found it very interesting to learn about the different ways that humans interact with their environment, and the ways in which the environment can impact human cultures, and vice versa.
These three things I know for certain about human geography research…
1. The importance of ethical research. Throughout the course of this semester, I have gained a better understanding of research ethics. I had no idea the extent to which researchers have to go through in order to ensure their work is ethical. However, I am happy to know that things such as the CORE tutorial exist so that ethical research can take place. Any time that researchers are dealing with human subjects or material, whether in the context of geography or not, it is necessary to make sure that the correct ethical procedures are being taken, in order to reduce and minimize the potential for risk (Hooykas, 2021).
2. The role of subjectivity, intersubjectivity and objectivity. While I have come across the concept of ‘invisible backpacks’ before, I appreciated its presence in the course material of this class. I feel as though it is so essential for researchers to understand and acknowledge their own biases and judgements before going ahead with research (Hooykas, 2021).
3. The importance of valid, peer - reviewed sources. The Internet is so full of information that it can often be difficult and complex to find accurate, peer - reviewed sources. It is so easy to Google search something and find a website that tells you everything you need to know about a topic. However, most of these sites are not peer - reviewed, academic sources, and I’ve come to realize the importance of using research that comes from valid, academically sourced sites.
These three things I am still confused by…
1. Coding: I found this unit quite challenging and would say that I still do not fully understand the concept yet. I think that I personally could have spent more time digging into the subject material and developing my understanding of the concept. I feel as though coding is a very important part of human geography and so I hope to continue to develop my understanding of it to avoid confusion in the future.
2. Interviews: I also feel as though I am still a little confused about the differences between structured, semistructured and unstructured interviews (Hooykas, 2021). However, I think that a lot of clarity could come from this should I actively participate in an interview process. I think that the interview process is something that is always a little bit confusing until you actually participate in it.
3. Triangulation: I found this concept a bit difficult to grasp and I think that I still have a lot to learn about it. Moving ahead with my geographic research, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of what exactly triangulation is and how it is used.
These three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher…
1. I much prefer qualitative research to quantitative. I have known since about Grade 10 that I am not a fan of hard sciences. While I appreciate and acknowledge its merit, I personally do not feel as though I am very good at 1) developing quantitative data or 2) understanding it. I much prefer learning about the qualitative stories of a person or situation, rather than analyzing hard data.
2. I’ve also learned about my own biases. Whether these be from my academic or personal background, throughout the course of this semester, I feel as though I have a better understanding of what might be in my ‘invisible backpack.’ This will help me in the future as I continue with any geographic research, as I will have a better understanding of my biases and how they might affect my studies.
3. I’ve also learned more about myself in the context of how well I work with a group, especially a research driven group. I definitely had difficulties navigating this aspect this semester, given the online formatting. Despite this, I feel as though I have a deeper understanding of how I work within a group, in terms of not only how I contribute, but my downfalls as well.
These three areas I need to spend time developing/ learning in order to feel more confident in my skills…
1. Interviews: In a few of my other classes I have had the opportunity to directly participate in research interviews. Through this process as well as through the information I gained about interview processes through Hays’ readings, I feel as though I have a pretty good theoretical understanding of how to properly conduct an interview. However, I feel as though I could stand to benefit from participating in more interviews first hand. A theoretical understanding of the interview process is important and helps in terms of formatting and structuring a conversation, but I think socially, as a researcher, I could stand to gain from more experience (Hays, 2016).
2. Coding: As mentioned earlier, I still have some confusion when it comes to coding. I feel as though I still have not fully grasped the concept and I think that more experience in the field would help me to develop my skills as a researcher. With something technical like coding, I think that it requires practice rather than simply studying a textbook, so I hope that I have an opportunity in the future to work on my coding abilities.
3. One last thing that I hope to work on more in the future is my ability to find valid sources of information. I think that this is a constant challenge for university students, but with the Internet, valid, peer - reviewed sources are more available and accessible than ever! I think that this course helped me to better understand how to properly search for these articles, and my work on the annotated bibliography for my digital storytelling project helped me gain a better understanding of the field.
While I wish I could have spent this semester in person, I appreciated communicating with you all via the blogs, and wish you all the best in your future projects!
Thanks!
April
References:
Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography, Toronto. Oxford University Press.
Hooykaas, A. (2021). Lecture Notes from GEOG2260 - Applied Human Geography, Weeks 2, 5, 6 8.
Hey April! It’s April ;)
Awesome final blog post!
I had not even thought about something I know for certain is the importance of the validity of peer-reviewed sources because as students we are always looking at those, but you make a really good point! I had honestly forgotten that we learned about this, how to critically evaluate a source, and that we learned about the five criteria: purpose, scope, authority, audience, and format (Hooykaas 2021 Week 5). It is definitely a good idea to have these skills so that you can identify invalid information and things such as fake news!
You are correct that once you participate in an interview process things become clear - about what’s right and what’s wrong! My group and I interviewed a professor at the university for our DSP and we went into it thinking it would be relaxed and easy, but when we got there, we didn’t realize how much we would have to work to create that environment! We did a semi-structured interview which is more of a discussion between the researcher and the participant and sort of guiding the conversation. I think a structured interview is more just question and answer repeated, while unstructured would be a conversation directed by the participant so that the researcher has a smaller role and doesn’t interfere as much.
I am with you about the confusion around the concept of triangulation! It’s unclear to me what exactly it is and how it is used. I also hope to understand it because it seems that it is important to make your research really robust which of course is beneficial.
I also prefer qualitative research over quantitative! That’s because I prefer working with people and stories rather than numbers. Glad you were able to learn these things about yourself!
Hope the rest of your semester and exams go well!
-April
Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 5: Literature Review.






















