Annie Ross @aroutd2511 - Tumblr Blog

My final takeaways from this course

Three Things I know for certain about outdoor recreation research:

The Importance of Ethics and Protecting the Confidentiality of Participants

From this course, I learned about the importance of ethics and being an ethical researcher. Ethical researchers might not get many rewards and little praise, but that is better than the long list of consequences an unethical researcher can face when caught (Neuman, 2018). The best preparation for ethical behaviour is to internalize a sensitivity to ethical concerns, to adopt a serious professional role, and to interact regularly with other researchers. Moveover, the scientific community demands ethical behaviour without exceptions” (Neuman, 2018). The ethics tutorial by TCPS-2 also taught me a lot about ethics, such as the level of confidentiality needed with participants of many age-ranges, mostly children. The textbook explains what scientific misconduct is, and two forms of it, research fraud and plagiarism. I had heard of plagiarism before, from my other University classes and that blurb in all the syllabuses, but also from an Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) course I did last year.

Invisible Backpacks in Research

Every person has an invisible backpack that affects their life. A person’s invisible backpack can affect, not only other people’s opinions and views of them, but also their own ideals, ideas, and opinions about the world around them, including any research they partake in (Hooykaas, 2022).

My invisible backpack affects and impacts my views and opinions on the things around me.

My Invisible Backpack Photo Credit: Drew Miller, made on Canva

Bad Science: How to spot it

Another thing I learned from this class was Bad Science and how to spot it.

Photo Credits: Hooykaas, 2022

The 12 tips to spotting bad science are:

Sensationalized Headlines

Misinterpreted Results

Conflict of Interests

Correlation & Causation

Speculative Language

Sample Size Too Small

Unrepresentative Samples

No Control Group Used

No Blind Testing Used

‘Cherry-picked’ Results

Unreplicable Results

Journals & Citations

I used these tips for spotting bad articles when writing my final paper for a different class this semester. I searched for keywords and read the abstracts for each one that came up, along with also avoiding the ones with “sensationalized headlines [and titles].”

Three Things I’m still confused about are:

How I will use this knowledge I have gained from this class in my future, as right now I am not planning on going into a career in the research field; I’m leaning more towards the outdoor education field.

Some of the research-related terms and phrases. I have learned many terms from this course, through the textbook and the slides. An example of a phrase I’m confused with is ‘Axial Coding’, which from the textbook is defined as “a second coding of qualitative data after open coding. The researcher organizes the codes, develops linkages among them, and discovers key analytic categories” (Neuman, 2018). Another phrase is ‘Alternative Hypothesis’, and when I looked up the definition in the textbook, I didn’t know one of the words, ‘null hypothesis’, that was part of the definition, so I had to learn what that term meant to figure out what my original confusing term meant. This occurred many times throughout the assigned textbook readings for me.

How to use Tumblr. Before this class, I had never used Tumblr or any blogging platform. I have learned how to post, and repost and reply to other’s posts. One thing that still confuses me about Tumblr is how sometimes when I click on someone’s post or repost to read it, it pops up on the side in a smaller area; I’m not sure why, but it only happens randomly, so it is not too bad.

Three things I know for certain about me as an outdoor recreation researcher:

I prefer to analyze and use qualitative research over quantitative when researching. I don’t mind analyzing numbers and more concrete data, but qualitative data, with its information in words, pictures, sounds, visual images or objects (Neuman, 2018) is more my style.

I currently plan to not go into a career in the research field, more aiming for the outdoor education field. But I have learned that if I am interested in and like the topic I’m researching, whether outdoor-related or not, I will be more excited and passionate about it. For example, when I was writing the script for my podcast group, I was much more excited about writing the sections about ghost towns and shipwrecks over the rest of it.

Three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:

Taking time and having more practice with writing research/survey questions, whether the questions are quantitative or qualitative. I don’t have much practice writing either type of questions, or really any survey research questions before this class.

Organizing my research notes better. I need to spend some time improving my note collecting method, which right now is to put everything in one doc, under general headings and with a certain note to remember which one of my references it came from. This works for some assignments and projects, but for others, that have a lot of research and notes, it is a little confusing.

More confident in myself, in my researching skills and in general. I’m not the most confident person, with my skills and knowledge, or sharing them with others. I have gained some confidence over the last year and a half, as I am still often very quiet, but now I will sometimes offer my opinions and thoughts, more than just when I have to, like after being called on in class.

References:

Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2018). Chapter 2 Theory and Social Research. In Basics of Social Research Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (4th Canadian Edition, pp. 21 - 40). essay, Pearson.

Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2018). Chapter 4 Reviewing the Scholarly Literature and Planning a Study. In Basics of Social Research Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (4th Canadian Edition, pp. 62 - 79). essay, Pearson.

Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2018). Chapter 5 Designing a Study. In Basics of Social Research Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (4th Canadian Edition, pp. 79 – 102). essay, Pearson.

Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2018). Chapter 14 Nonreactive Qualitative Research. In Basics of Social Research Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (4th Canadian Edition, pp. 305 - 327). essay, Pearson.

ryantanoutd2511

Hey Drew,

Definitely felt the same way in common with your confusing points. In the first hand, using Tumblr is a whole new thing, despite having former experience with social platforms like Facebook or Instagram, but those were significanlty different than Tumblr which is primarily for blogging. I have little experience and practice for posting blogs. It took me some time to discover its features and barely got to manage the basics. It will bug me if any thing occurs and I had to look up for a post or a comment to either reply to or share for example. Also for Coding of data, this one sub-topic within the lesson contains a lot of complex, abstract concepts and terminology. Not to mention those strange terms you just listed above, none seem to be straight-forward in term of understanding!

I strongly feel the same for preference of research method to be qualitative rather than quantititative. It is more of a common sense way to do researches, your questions asked often can be easily understood by participants or at least easier by interpretation. An up side is that data can be collected via interview, questionnaire, and surveys, many times these do not neccessarily contain heavy numbers, statistics or diagrams, where cumbersomeness is huge.

After all, great reflection over the course content, keep it going!

Ryan

aroutd2511

Hey Drew,

I also learned a lot about ethics and the protection of participants from this course, which I think is super useful in any field of work and not just research! I agree with you that knowing how to spot bad science is something that is important and it’s something that I’m still working on.

You know what, this is the first time I realized how to “reblog” a post. This entire course i’ve been commenting and thinking that was the correct thing to do, so I am with you! Tumblr is so confusing...

I’m so glad to hear that you’re gaining confidence in your ability to share your skills and knowledge. Personally, you’re someone I would go to for help in this program. You seem to know everything and help in a very nice and understanding way!

I also like to use qualitative over quantitative, numbers just don’t work for me.

You have a good understanding of who you are as a person, as well as an OUTD rec researcher! Way to be.

Annie

My Learnings From OUTD Research

Over the past few months, this course has provided me with an in-depth look at the work and process of research and research in this field of study. I have always thought of research as a scientific process done through experiments by scientists. However, I was wrong. I learned that research can come in many forms and through many methods. One of the best things that I learned was that research can be presented in various ways. This was a significant discovery for me during the week we attended the innovation week talks. I realized that research doesn’t have to be presented through numbers or papers; it can be addressed through poetry, pictures and stories.

Three things that I now know about outdoor recreation research:

1. Ethics: From this course, I developed a deeper understanding of the many different aspects that help create an ethical research project. Before, I had a basic understanding ( kids under 18 need parental permission, and participants need to be aware of what is happening to them). I understood why ethics were important in studies so that they ensure that the research being done puts people first and upholds respect for human dignity.

2. Open vs. Closed questions: This is something that I feel comfortable with and comfortable using. I understand that both types of questions have a time and place where they can be useful, and I have understood the situations they best fit into during a survey. I know that open questions allow the individual taking the survey to elaborate on their answer, whereas closed questions generally answer yes or no.

3. Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data: I learned about these two types in a high school science class, and I was already familiar with the terms. However, this provided a good refresher and allowed me to better understand how these two types of data may be used in research and what goes into obtaining each set of data.

Three things that I am still confused by:

1. Levels of theory: I understand that each level deals with a social theory, but I don’t fully understand the difference between Macrosocial, Mesocial, and Microsocial. I also don’t understand why there is a distinction between the three categories and if there are different ethical concerns with each, and that's why they are divided.

2. Coding: I find using a computer to process all your information and create a code that matches all your data seems like a lot of unnecessary work. I could understand it if you had numbers and needed to find a link between the numbers, but I find that organizing your findings into categories makes it easier to understand. I also don’t know why you would want to code your work.

3. Grounded Theory: The way that our notes and textbook describe this confuses me. You’re finding categories within your data, finding relationships between the categories, and then finding a core category. I think what is getting me is the core category. Is it a similarity between all other categories, or is it the category you will focus your research on?

Three things I know about me as an OUTD Rec researcher:

1. I prefer to work with Qualitative data. It makes more sense to me than quantitative data. It is easier for me to make meaning from data that are just numbers. Data expressed as words rather than numbers makes it easier for me to understand, and if I’m honest, data with numbers and equations makes no sense to me. I don’t care enough to spend the time decoding what the numbers mean or represent (this is because me and math have never been friends).

2. When I like what I’m researching, I find that when I don’t care about the topic, I won’t put in the same amount of effort or care what the outcome is, even if it’s being graded. I know that when I like my topic, I can spend hours reading and writing about it without becoming bored or angry that I have to spend time on a project.

3. I am very organized: All my data is colour-coded and sorted into categories and sub-categories depending on which question it answers in our research. I like to have it all in one place and create a set timeline of what will happen and when that work will be done.

Three things I need to work on to become more confident in my skills:

1. Analyzing surveys: making meaning of answers is something that I struggle with. Especially when I didn't create the survey. When I don’t know what the goal of the survey is, I struggle to derive meaning from the results.

2. Developing survey questions: coming up with practical questions that will help me to answer what I am researching is something that I struggle with. When I create surveys, I find that the questions are either the same question or it is close-ended questions. I find it challenging to think of multiple questions that will give me an in-depth view of the topic being studied.

3. Creating a hypothesis: I have been creating hypotheses since grade 8 in science class. However, those were easy and were generally either I think this will happen or the opposite will happen. Developing a hypothesis on something that is not a yes or no/ this or that is something that I struggle with. Coming up with what I think will happen is not a strength of mine, and I usually make it up having no clue what I think will happen. So developing that skill is something I want to work on.

I have seen the value of this course and have learned to respect the work that researchers do. It is demanding and meticulous work, and I have a lot of respect for anyone who does this work.

Blonde, Brunette, or Ginger

For this week, I went to BuzzFeed to find a quiz. I scrolled through many, some asking if it was the same person or a doppelganger, others saying they would be able to tell my relationship status by my answers. I picked one that guessed my hair colour based on the foods I eat daily.

There were 7 questions, and each question was a multiple-choice answer. I found that the questions didn’t lend themselves to various responses; they were closed questions. There was only one question you could not pick to have food, and the rest of the questions forced you to choose something. I didn’t like this because, if you're like me, you don’t eat eggs, toast, or cereal for breakfast, and because you’re forced to pick the one, you have to choose the most appealing one (toast obviously). If there had been an option for other or none of the above in each question, it would have made the quiz better, but then again, it’s a Buzzfeed quiz.

I will say that the questions were easy to understand, nicely worded and straightforward. That was the only strength in this quiz that I could find.

I was surprised when it got my hair colour right, and it makes me wonder if this quiz was based on a survey about diet and hair colour or if it randomly generated an answer.

This quiz was easy to find when I went to the BuzzFeed website, and it took me maybe two minutes. So it is quick and easy to access for the larger public. For anyone who does want to know what your hair colour is based on your diet, here is the link: https://www.buzzfeed.com/njiraknott/eat-food-guess-hair-color-quiz

Please let me know if it gets your hair colour right!

Follow the Water, Stand with the Land

For this week I watched “Follow the Water, stand with the Land” by Rita Wong. I thought that this session was very well done. While she is a poet she has a lot of first-hand experiences watching how the destruction of the environment for the expansion of urbanization. She spent many years as a climate change activist and has conducted interviews and discussions with many indigenous individuals and leaders in indigenous communities. In her session, the main topic was the pipeline on Wet’suwet’en land and how the clearcutting of trees to build the pipeline affects the land.

She has spent much time protesting climate change and has seen how clearcutting creates erosion of soil, changes in soil composition, and changes to the water systems involved in urbanization.

Her methodology of repeatedly going into the land being urbanized and documenting the differences in the environment and wildlife and interviewing the inhabitants of the area allowed her to mark the changes to the environment which she later translated into her poetry and books. She also uses her personal experiences in her writing and photographs to help demonstrate the changes taking place, which I think helps the reader to understand what is taking place in Wet’suwet’en territory. However, since she is a poet, and chose to express what she was found in that way, there is a lack of scientific evidence in her writings. which, if included, could help her to make a stronger case against the pipeline.

Interviewing Lindsey Vonn

My group is focusing on how skiing builds community for its participants. As someone who has been within the ski community (and is a very big fan of Lindsey Vonn), I would interview her, as she is considered one of the best women alpine skiers.

Interviewing someone like Lindsey Vonn would help my group gain a deeper understanding of the different types of community that can be formed, as there is a difference between racing and freestyle, or mountains vs small hills. Lindsey Vonn would be able to provide this insight as she has been skiing her whole life and would have skied in various places with various people.

My Questions:

1. What got you into racing and motivated you to stay in it?

- This question is an open question, which could lead to an in-depth answer about the racing community, the support she was given, or the friends she made.

2. Do you think there is a difference between racing teams in small communities (hills) versus in large communities (mountains)? If so, what do you think is the difference?

- This will get her opinion on how the size of the hill affects the sense of community, which helps my group determine which creates a larger sense of belonging.

3. in your experience, is there a general attitude that you find among fellow skiers?

- this question opens the idea that community can be created by a general positivity or excitement shared by a large group. It can be seen most in lift lines or when you share a lift with a stranger and start a conversation.

4. Do you think the shared enjoyment of skiing and the connections made keep people coming back each winter?

- while this is a closed question, only requiring a yes or no answer, there is room for elaboration. This would allow my group to get a professional's opinion on whether she has found that connections were easy to make in her long career due to a shared love of the sport.

5. How did you find the atmosphere at the Olympics?

This question will help my group understand the sense of community at a significant and international skiing competition, which will help us determine the sense of camaraderie shared between athletes.

Summary:

This interview aims to gain the insight of someone who has been involved in racing and has skied in many different places and atmospheres. This will help my group develop a better understanding of how a community is built in skiing and what can foster a better environment for a community to grow.

Renewable Natural Gas and Climate Change

This article, written by Emily Chung from CBC news, discusses renewable natural gas and how it is now being considered a good alternative to fossil fuels.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/renewable-natural-gas-1.6346783

Chung provides both the pros and cons of using RNG as an alternative to fossil fuels. The main message is that while RNG may be slightly more environmentally friendly, it is not better than other forms of green energy, nor is it economically friendly.

RNG is a biomethane, so it can be processed, stored, and transported the same way as a fossil fuel. It is considered carbon-neutral, as it captures methane from organic waste, which is converted into water and carbon dioxide when burned. The thinking here is that releasing methane directly into the atmosphere is worse than burning it and releasing carbon dioxide, which has a lower impact on climate change. Chung goes on to point out how it may not be carbon neutral. Using a graph from the World Resources Institute/ California Air Resources Board, she suggests that some ways of producing biomethane use large amounts of energy and land. She also found that in a report done in 2020 by Emily Gruber, methane, while being processed into biogas, leaks 15% of its methane into the atmosphere. She points out, citing Chris Batallie, a researcher from the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, that the gas infrastructure is “generally leaky” and could leak the methane into the atmosphere before it can be burned and considered carbon-neutral. Making it a contributor to the same extent as the fossil fuels we use now.

For this article, Chung uses sources from both sides of the argument, citing politicians who are for the use of this biogas and scientists who don’t believe it is the best option available to aid the crisis. She uses graphs, tables, photos, and direct quotes to help provide a complete picture to the reader and allows them to make up their own mind on the matter.

When looking into CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices, I found that they use sources where more than two other sources suggest the same idea. They use “First-hand, identifiable sources” (people at the event or authenticated documents) to ensure their information is reliable. All journalists reporting for the CBC have to follow this standard of practice. In our lecture, we discussed how to measure validity, “according to Brown (2006), there are five criteria for the evaluation for the validity of a literature review: purpose, scope, authority, audience, and format”. In this article, I believe that Chung has done this. 1) purpose: She found a controversial idea within the climate change community and brought it to the public's attention while giving them all the information. 2) scope: She is leaning more towards liberal, which can be noticed by the amount of information against this and the slight promotion of green energy. However, she does provide information on both the pros and cons. 3) Authority: She writes with a tone that suggests she is familiar and knowledgeable of the topic. 4) Audience: The CBC is generally a left-leaning news source; she wrote this article with a more liberal or NDP audience in mind. 5) Format: This was written in the typical article format, with no personal opinion and informative.

In reading this article, the consumer is responsible for looking outside their bubble ( what is shown to them based on the sites they visit). This will allow them to critically analyze the information and whether biomethane gas is a viable alternative to fossil fuels. They should find other reports on the use of this gas to make their own opinion and look at other sources of green fuels to help provide them with a. deeper understanding of the best option for both the environment and economy.

Week 4: What’s on my mind

This week has mainly been school and things I have to get done. Nothing exciting. I had a river travel day to prepare for, so food, gear, and staying warm occupied a lot of my thoughts and how to coordinate those things with the other members of my group. The other was for a project in OSAT 2, we have to make homemade gear, so I had to figure out what I wanted to make, how to make it, and buy the supplies. In summation, like most weeks, I’m just thinking about school.

Blog Prompt 3: Canadian Attitudes Toward Climate Change

For this study I would create a focus group full of people ranging from various backgrounds (i.e. Class, ethnicity, education, politics) and have them watch or read an informative and un-opinionated piece on climate change and its effects. After having them read the facts about climate change and its effects I would have them fill out a survey to help identify their feelings and attitude towards the matter. The survey would be anonymous. Some of the questions I would ask are as follows:

1) after reading the article, do you feel that climate change is a problem that needs to be dealt with?

2) Do you think we should be doing more to slow climate change? Or do you feel that we are doing enough?

3) What are some changes you have noticed in your environment, that has been caused by climate change, that you have noticed? How did it make you feel?

4) Were you aware that it is primarily third world countries that are experiencing the biggest effects from climate change? Now that you know, how does that make you feel about our government's action to slow climate change?

5) What do you do to help the environment? Do you think you could do more?

6) Do you feel there is still time for us to change our direction and slow global warming?

7) What would you like to see the governments doing to help stop climate change?

These questions will help me to determine whether Canadians feel that more needs to be done, the changes they hope to see, if they think that it is reversible, if they have given up on solving the climate crisis, or if they are indifferent to the problem.

Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness - Case Study Response

This video was filmed in 2013 by Americans with Russian vice and sponsored by North Face. It documents how Agafia Lykova lives and how she and her family came to be living in Siberia.

Agafia is the only living member of the Lykova family, her mother and father decided to move to Siberia in 1936, to avoid political turmoil that they were facing due to their religion (old believers). Agafia is 70 years old and has lived there her entire life, only going into the city a handful of times in her life.

This Case study is focused on qualitative research. It is interested in the meaning of the project, involves fieldwork, and is concerned primarily with the process rather than the outcome. When looking through my notes I found that the description for a qualitative case study fit this video perfectly: “Attempts to shed light on a phenomena by studying in-depth a single case example of the phenomena.”

The invisible backpack isn’t addressed in the film. While the people creating the film are certainly curious about how Agafia lives, they have lived in populated areas and have a much different perspective on living in society. The people doing the documentary have grown up around cars, technology, and support systems, something that Agafia rejects, not because she doesn’t want it but because she doesn’t believe in them and sees them as a negative (not necessarily the support system, but she also doesn’t seem to have much faith in those living within the folds of society). They have had polar upbringings and that would definitely contribute to the way that the film was made and the narrative that goes along with it.

One of the ethics considerations made was to have a translator to help with the language barrier between Agafia and the filmers, as they aren’t Russian and probably don’t have an understanding of the language or customs. I would also assume that they asked her what was ok to film (e.g. her prayers), but because they din’t grow up like Agafia, they didn’t seem to understand that she didn’t want to go to the city. This was shown by their repeated asking of why she wouldn’t move and join civilization.

If I was to do this study, as a student researcher, I would spend more time out there living with Agafia. This would allow me to gain a better understanding of her as an individual, the dynamic she has with Yerofei, her relationship to the land, and her daily survival tasks. Of course, I would have to bring a translator as I don’t speak Russian, and I would ask more insightful questions instead of trying to understand why she’s out there. I would ask questions like why do you do this? How do you do this? What is the purpose of doing this? And I would be conscious of the fact that there are some things that should remain private, as they are special to her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68

ORPT and Finding Credible Sources!

I was drawn to ORPT at Lakehead University for my post secondary education because I have always loved being in the outdoors, all my past experiences in the workforce have been based in outdoor recreation. I knew I didn't want to sit behind a desk and that I wanted to interact with people, this seemed like a natural fit for me...

To the specific course of Research design 2511, I was drawn to it because after taking a programming course last year my friend and I developed a program, which we are working toward running this summer. I thought that this course may help me in the implementation and facilitation of the program. Mainly help me understand how to perform research about what the potential participants are looking to gain from the experience, if they did get it, and what we could do to make the program more enjoyable for them.

Imagine spending a week on an island located on Lake Superior, making new friends and learning new skills!

When I'm looking for reputable sources I like to use;

Lakehead Library: They have a wide variety of sources that have been peer reviewed.

Government websites: If I need to find a statistic I use the ones from the Government, as they are usually done by census.

Wikipedia: I don't rely on the information found on wikipedia, rather, I use the sources cited in the wikipedia references (of course I check to make sure that they are good sources first before using them).

I like to cross reference all my sources, and make sure that they are factual or peer reviewed before using them in a paper. This helps me to weed out any misinformation or inaccurate information. I also make sure that other authors are coming to either the same conclusion or have a similar thesis to ensure that the information isn't wrong.

[Photo: Kawartha Nordic Ski Club, Taken January 10, 2018 By Annie Ross]

[Website: Created November 26, 2021 By Annie Ross]

Disclaimer

This blog was created for OUTD 2511, Lakehead University.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and not those of Lakehead University.

Lakehead University is not responsible for the accuracy of any information supplied by this blog.

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