Concluding the Semester!
As the semester comes to an end, we are all reflecting on what we learned and how it went through the past couple of months. Since I am majoring in Geography, this class was mandatory for me to take, but I am so grateful that I did! I usually enjoy the more physical environmental type classes more and dread taking the human geography classes, but I found this to be very valuable to my education and any future career paths I may take.
Three things I know for certain about human geography research:
Throughout this course, I have come to understand the importance of ethics. Before this semester, I have done research for many projects, although I have never involved other people personally for collecting information. For my group’s video storytelling we created a survey. We had to think about other people’s privacy while making sure to also get enough adequate information and keeping it unbiased. This is why we must try to keep surveys anonymous and held up to high standards in order for work to be approved.
Secondly, I now always think about unpacking the invisible backpack. This is when we come to understand our privilege when talking to people or about a certain topic. For example, we should not be asking someone why they are lazy if they are poor. They could have a mental illness that we do not see that do not allow they to work or any other situation that could prevent them from working full time. Aside from research, we should all be doing this regardless of the situation in order to keep people comfortable and respected.
In addition, developing a research question is something I have found to be very important. This not only starts a research project, but it is also the backbone of how the research is to be carried out. I find that the question should be as detailed and in depth as possible. The research question should be concentrated to exactly what the project is about, in order for the information to not be all over the place in the final stages.
Three things I am still confused by:
The first thing I am still very confused by is coding. I found this unit to be quite hard to understand and would need to possibly go through the topic with people in real life rather than online to get a grasp on this.
Secondly, I found triangulation to be harder to understand. I hope while I go through more geography courses and add to my education, I can process the topic better.
Thirdly, creating interviews is not a strong suit of mine. I would have liked to create one for out digital storytelling project, although it was hard to tell if it would be approved by ethics or not. In addition, I would need to be fully prepared to conduct an interview and I do not think I would have the confidence to add any extra questions into it on the spot if need be. I hope in the future I am able to practice with this skill.
Three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher:
Firstly, I know for certain that I enjoy conducting quantitative data over qualitative data. I keep thinking back to one of my blog posts talking about a future research project. I am genially excited to go out and do field research for a possible job. During another class this semester I got to participate in taking snow samples to see how the melting process throughout the winter season affects the conditions of snow and I loved it.
Like I mentioned above, I have also learned that I would love to do research as a future career. Before this course, I had no idea what kind of job I would’ve liked to get into and am so glad this course was required to take.
Thirdly, I have found that I enjoy working with a group more than I thought I would. The last time I had worked in a group was probably in grade 9. I am usually shy and do not take too much leadership on projects, but I think the digital storytelling project helped me get out of my comfort zone a lot more. It was also nice to have an excuse to get to know some people in this class.
Three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:
Firstly, I would actually like to work in groups for future projects more often. I have been working on collaborating with others and getting out of my comfort zone by talking to more people for the past couple years, although the pandemic has dramatically depleted my social skills throughout this year of isolation. I would like more practice with this, both online and in person when we can once again.
Secondly, I would like to practice conducting interviews. I think the more people I interview, the better I could get at bringing up interesting question on the spot if need be. This could be a valuable skill for both qualitative research and possible job opportunities.
In addition, I would also like to spend more time on developing all my research techniques for other future classes, especially by finding reliable sources. This includes using peer review journals, using articles the library provides, as well as using recent information published within the past few years.
I wish everyone good luck in the future and maybe I will see you in person on campus next year! Have a great summer break!
~Amalia
References:
Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography, Toronto. Oxford University Press.
Hooykaas, A. (2021). Lecture Notes from GEOG2260 - Applied Human Geography



















