Thoughts and Ideas on Human Geography

A blog dedicated to GEOG2260 at the University of Guelph by Kaya Moore

[amfgeog2260]

A Glimpse of the Semester...

Everyone always says how fast semesters go once they get going, and it’s true once again! It is crazy to think that we are already writing our final blog posts for this class, and it feels like last week that I was creating my first Tumblr account and following all of my classmates who I did not know anything about. I am not sure whether it is the format, the class, or the layout of our discussions but it feels as if this semester has had some of the most engaging and interesting discussions while I have been at university. I find it difficult to take a whole semester of readings, course content, assignments, and discussions with peers, and pack it into a relatively small blog post… but I am going to do my best! 

3 Things I Know About Human Geographic Research

1. The first thing I can say I know about human geography, is more broadly what it is, and how qualitative methods of human geography are used in human geography. The first chapter of the textbook does a really good job at outlining from the beginning what it is, and how its complexity and open-endedness can be used. What I mean by that is exactly what the textbook says, that qualitative methods in human geography are concerned with “elucidating human environments and human experiences” (Hay 2016, p. 5). Fundamentally, all of the analysis, research, interpretation, and methods employed by qualitative human geographic investigators circles back to the goal of answering questions related to social structures and or individual experiences (Hay 2016, p. 5). At the beginning of the course, this idea of tackling both structural macro questions/issues along with individual experience or micro issues was hard for me to conceptualize. At this point I have a better understanding of the goal of qualitative research, human geography, and the methods employed to find answers about social and human behaviour. 

2. I mentioned the breadth of human geography in my first point, which leads me to the second thing I know about human geography. I know now how much is captured in the term human geography, or human geographic research. Not only was the idea of human geography not clear to me, but the ideas and sub-topics of human geography were not either. From the textbook readings, weekly course content, and our newest Digital Storytelling Project, some of the most prominent subtopics of human geography have become more clear to me. We have all taken a different approach and topic in our group projects; from social, cultural, economic, political, health, environment, and the list goes on (Hooykaas 2021). These are only a few subtopics, and the important thing I realize now is that human geography is everywhere we look, and it matters in order to find answers and ask more questions about the world we live in! 

3. Since the topic of human geography is so broad and all-encompassing, I now know how important and diverse the use of research, knowledge, and analysis can be in the real-world with the help of human geography. The specific example from this course that allowed me to value knowledge, analysis, reflection and research most was the way we can use it to break down social barriers of knowledge. Using cross-cultural research methods, ethics, and relationships, we can impact more inclusive research methods and break down previously colonial ways of understanding knowledge (Hay 2016, p. 45). Specifically from chapter 4, we gained an appreciation and understanding of the way colonial values and power shaped our understanding of the validity of knowledge (Hay 2016, p. 76). Using different, and equally valuable knowledge like feminist and indigenous approaches to research in geography can not only further our research in human geography, but can keep strong subjectivity and equal value in different kinds of knowledge, from people, cultures and places around the world (Hay 2016, p. 85). 

3 Things I Am Confused By

1. I am still confused by concepts about Foucaldian Discourse Analysis in chapter 14. This might be too narrow of a topic to take for this blog, but the idea of discourse analysis still does not seem to make complete sense to me. I understand Gordon Waitt explains it as an “interpretive approach in geography… used to make sense of the world within particular social and temporal contexts” (Hay 2016, p. 288). This still teams like too large of a definition, or unspecific an explanation to make sense to me, or make me understand that it is in fact important and integral to the way we see the social structures we live in. 

2. The second thing I am confused by still is in that discussion about the broad topic of human geography. I know it relates to most, if not every thing in our social and physical lives, but when is it not human geography? That may seem unclear as a question, but it seems confusing to me to try and place human geography within a boundary. Every topic or research method has parameters in which it focuses, but this seems like such a broad idea that I am not sure I can wrap my head around what is and what isn’t human geography, if it actually relates to everything. 

3. The last thing that is considerably still confusing to me is the idea of universal objectivity and situated knowledges. We read about these topics in chapter 19, and I still am having a hard time understanding them individually and how they exist together. Situated knowledges is explained in the text as one of the most useful approaches to “contest universalist forms of knowledge” (Hay 2016, p. 400). This idea however, still gives me a hard time to fully understand it.

3 Things I Know About Myself as Human Geographic Researcher

1. I can’t assume that I am a human geographic researcher now, and that my road to learning, analyzing, research, reflecting, and creating is done just because this course is coming to an end. I can however, distinguish the very few things I know about myself so far, as a human geographic researcher. The first is that I know I won’t place inherent value on a specific type of research or knowledge. I mentioned it earlier briefly, but I feel that the impacts from assuming a type of knowledge or method of research is “correct” compared to another is problematic, and has the power to perpetuate age old colonial values. I know I will use the skills I have learned and will continue to learn, to provide reflection and knowledge of my own, while never discounting or taking for granted the knowledge of others. 

2. Secondly, I know I am a people person. I have known this for a while, but specific to human geographic research, I will always feel more confident and comfortable having discussion, reflection, or doing research in groups, or with others rather than alone. I found that although it was a lot of fun too, this blog post forum made this class a lot more enjoyable and gave me an environment to discuss and reflect with others! This comment goes along with now knowing the power of critical reflexivity in research and discussions, and to not discount the value of discussion with peer researchers, interviewees, or during the research process. 

3. The final thing I have learned about myself as a human geographic researcher is my interest in qualitative methods of human geography, over quantitative ones. Although I understand the importance of having both, I much prefer the use and methods in qualitative research rather than quantitative. This ties into my interest in group work and working with people, instead of numbers. Asking questions, making inquiries, participants in research, and listening to the stories of people (Hay 2016, p. 117-120) is what I find most interesting and appealing about this type of research method.                                                                                                                                                              

3 Things I Need To Spend Time On 

1. Having expressed my interest for qualitative methods of human geographic research, I need to start focusing and learning more about quantitative methods. I think its important to have a wholistic view and understanding of human geography, and I can’t do that if I isolate myself from an entire side of geographic research. I understand that this textbook is aimed directly at qualitative methods, however, there are lessons from quantitative research that can be used in qualitative research as well. Organizing, analyzing, coding, and surveys all can be used (as seen in chapter 18) as a means of communicating and interpreting qualitative research (Hay 2016, p. 373). Yet, these are different skills than interviewing, listening, or reflecting on the very typical qualitative methods of research. I need to spend time on the things that don’t come to me as easily, or interest me as much, to give myself a general confidence in human geographic research. 

2. The second area of human geography I need to more fully appreciate and understand is the value in historical perspectives and accounts and research. I find myself interested in human geographic research now, and interested in the future of social structures and individuals. Historical geography and reflecting on the past seemed boring or unproductive to me. I discredited the research that can be done contemporarily, based on the history of social identities, and not just solely focusing on the research that has yet to be done or discovered. This specific need relates to chapter 11, when Roche discusses historical research and “archival sources” (Hay 2016, p. 226). Michael Roche even discusses interest he has had in the past “30 years of being a historical geographer (Hay 2016, p. 225). There is something here I have yet to find interest in, but again, in order to further my skills and my full research potential, this is a crucial part of human geography I need to spend more time on.

3. Lastly, I find myself rushing to get answers or skipping ahead to find the ultimate “research findings” when I am reading, or even trying to do research of my own. I need to work on my patience as a researcher, and not be so set on finding a single concluding answer in research. Instead, I need to assume that the process of research and analysis is the answer, and that the answers will appear sometimes in the wait or in the depths of research. Finding definitive answers is exciting, but especially in a field as broad and open as human geography, I need to build my ability to reflect on and analyze answers that come from the research process. 

I hope this small amount of information has given you all a glimpse into my perceptions of the course, and my own learning along with it. I truly did not know the importance of human geography, qualitative research, or its actual application in the real world. I have really enjoyed being a part of this class and sharing blogs with one another every week! I hope you all have had a similarly educational, interesting, and engaging semester in this blog forum. All the best to everyone this summer!

References 

Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Fourth ed., Oxford.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/668082/viewContent/2730478/View

[kmgeog2260]

Hi Aden, congrats on your final post! I have to agree that this semester really did fly by!

I agree that through lectures and the textbook readings that the main thing I am taking out of this course is exactly what qualitative research, data and analysis really is. Prior to this course I saw qualitative and quantitative as words or numbers but this course opened my eyes to a world of qualitative research that is much more complex then how I saw it before. Specifically human geographic research being, as you quoted, associated with “elucidating human environments and human experiences”. What is really love about human geography is how opened ended the field can be. I liked that you mentioned that just because you have taken this course does not automatically make you a human geographic researcher and your road to learning, developing your skills and knowledge on these topics is not over. I agree that although a lot of this course did make sense to me, and that I do feel like I have a better understanding of how to conduct research this doesn’t mean I ready quite yet for the real world. In terms of the three things you feel you need to spend time on I too feel like I need to get a better hold on when and how to use the different quantitative methods that we have learned in this class. As well as I too find myself skipping to answer my research questions before gathering a good basis for what I am doing, specifically I found myself doing this for our storytelling assignments.

I wish you the best of luck with your semester!

[akgeog2260]

A Review of My Progress in Human Geography Research Skills

Introduction:

Throughout this course, we have reviewed and learned many of the ins and outs of human geographical research. For this final blog post, I am going to be reflecting on the course, and human geography overall through 4 sections; Thing’s I know for certain, things I am confused by still, things I know about myself as a researcher, and areas of the research process that I need to spend more time on to feel confident.

These three things I know for certain about human geography research:

There are many, many aspects of this course that I have locked down and understand well, but these three examples are ones that resonated with me the greatest, and I believe can be utilized beyond my scholastic life.

One of the topics I understand thoroughly is critical reflectivity. This concept is crucial in creating ethical work and should be implemented into more aspects of society if you ask me! It is acknowledging one’s social position and determines how this could alter the results of your work (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2).

Another related concept to critical reflectivity was that of one’s invisible backpack. The concept was coined by activist Peggy McIntosh (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021). The term goes beyond critical reflectivity and applies the concept to a broader horizon. Your invisible backpack involves every aspect of your identity. One's ethnicity, culture, fitness, education level, affluence, sexuality, and more all combine to create the invisible backpack everyone carries. These aspects influence how one interacts with the world, and what privilege is based on.

Finally, the concept of free consent when conducting interviews stuck with me too. Free and informed consent is essential to mitigate risks when conversing with anyone on a scholastic level or personal. The free part means that there is to be no undue influence on the individual, which is essential for collecting truthful data. Furthermore, informed consent is important too as without it the participant cannot be fully aware of what they are doing, and thus they cannot honestly consent (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2). This concept is applied beyond research and is an important part of myself growing as an educated individual, as an example thinks of land dispute claims between the Dominion of Canada and Indigenous, one of the reasons these disputes are happening is because the consent the Indigenous gave was not free nor informed!

These three things I am still confused by:

I am still confused about a couple of things that were taught throughout this course, but I do believe I will be able to retain the concepts after a bit more experience in scholastics.

One of these things is coding. I believe I have a decent grasp on coding, I just wish I knew more. Coding is a system that is utilized to retrieve and store data (Hay, 2005, Chapter 8). The thing I am confused by in this still is which technical software would be used to do this in the most efficient way. I am just curious about the use of databases, programs for auto-coding, and the workflow of this in a professional environment.

I am furthermore still confused about how to evaluate the strength of my source’s information, beyond the basic is it peer-reviewed, or not.

Lastly, I would like to understand more about strategies for overcoming potentially exploitative power relations between researchers and those of lower socioeconomic status (Hooykaas, Week 2, 2021). As stated earlier I understand the power dynamics of invisible backpacks and critical reflectivity, but I fail to see how simply understanding these things can help remove them from skewing our research.

These three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher:

I know for certain that as a human geographic researcher that I enjoy working with quantitative data more than qualitative data. The reason for this is more personal preference than anything else. I enjoyed my statistics course (GEOG 2460) last semester that dove into both types of physical and human geographic research, but specifically quantitative data for both. As a human geographer, I would rather work with datasets and statistical analysis than coding and interviewing. This is just because I enjoy numbers and their (barely) relative simplicity.

Furthermore. I know that coding is a skill that is incredibly useful and has rounded out my human geography research skills. More experience with this is necessary for sure, but I know that this method is the most logical and efficient way of combing through data, so I am excited to utilize it.

Lastly, I know for sure that historical qualitative research is my favourite type. Using past occurrences to predict future trends is very fascinating, and I believe an essential tool in impacting change in society today (Hay, 2005, Chapter 11).

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

I strive to become more informed about the ethics review process for research at the University of Guelph. In the future, if I choose to go into research, I should definitely be literate in my own school’s ethics review board. The notes we have on it are good, but I would like to see an example of the entire process going through in real-time.

Furthermore, I would like to understand grounded theory analysis more. It is an inductive, comparative, and interactive approach to inquiry that offers several open-ended strategies for conducting emergent inquiry (Hay, 2005, Chapter 7). I just would like to practice performing a research assignment using this method of data analysis, because it seems very effective and I am interested in how results would differ if compared to other types of data analysis.

Lastly, I am confused about when to choose which type of question for interviews. I know the type of data that is derived from each type of question (opinion, contrasting, storytelling, etc.) but I believe practice creating an actual interview scheme would advance my comfort level assigning questions leaps and bounds (Hay, 2005, Chapter 7).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this course has taught me loads about conducting research, but beyond that it has also taught me about being ethical throughout my entire life. There are still many aspects of research that I do not quite fully grasp, but I honestly believe I am making great progress towards being a competent human geography scholar.

Bibliography:

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/cfi/0!/4/[email protected]:0.242

Hooykaas. (2021) Course Notes for GEOG 2260- Applied Human Geography

[kmgeog2260]

Congrats on your final post! It has been a pleasure reading your perspective on human geographic research this semester. In this post I would definitely have to say I agree with a lot of the areas you found easy to catch onto and what areas of this style of research tend to be trickier. I found it interesting when you said you prefer to work with numerical research and statistics because I am the same, I am currently finishing up a minor in math and I find numbers sometimes easier to wrap my head around. I also mentioned critical reflectivity in my post because I believe that this was one of the most important takeaways of the course. It is something I had never really thought of but understanding your position, power and relationship is very important for producing ethical and sound research. In terms of the areas you mentioned that you are confused by I think that the more practice some of the skills we have learned throughout the semester the easier these things will get. In my experience after learning how to code literature online I actually used it for another class already. After learning what a grounded theory analysis was, I too would like to spend some time developing some skills on how to conduct research in that manner. Some questions I have for you are, while researching for your assignment do you feel like you were able to develop your skills that you had learned throughout the semester, and if so which skills in particular did you use?

[kmgeog2260]

During this course we have looked at various aspects of human geographic research. In this write up I will address three things I know for certain about human geographical research, three things I am still confused by, three things I know about myself as a geographic researcher, and lastly three things I still need to work on as a geographical researcher.

The first thing I know for certain now about human geographical research is that although it does consist of mostly qualitative methods, there is still very many different styles and methods of collecting data and conducting research. Prior to this class I had seen qualitative and quantitative as very black and white, quantitative being solely numerical and qualitative being solely thoughts and ideas. Qualitative research is complex, and not only does it look at tangible aspects of humans and human interaction but also discourses, identities and most importantly place when it comes to human geographic research (Hay, 2005, Chapter 1). It also has a well-developed range of techniques such as ones we have looked at and ones I have used in my blogs. These include observational studies, interviews, case studies, oral histories, focus groups, literature reviews and many more.

Another thing I now know for certain is that human geographic research requires the consideration of ethics and self-reflection. There is a moral imperative to this research where the concern of welfare, respect for persons and justice needs to be incorporated (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021). These ethical issues arise because of the social nature of human geographic research, in any of the methods listed above you are collecting and interpreting social information (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2), therefore ethical issues can arise before, during or after the research process. I know and understand now the importance of this.

Lastly, human geographic research requires a deep and well documented analysis to ensure rigour and the best possible answer/outcome to your research question. While conducting qualitative research it is not always the case like in quantitative research where the numbers speak for themselves, therefore we must ensure rigour, meaning we need to establish a high level of trustworthiness to our work. To ensure rigour, it requires careful research design and thoughtful planning which will ultimately create trustworthy and dependable research (Hay, 2005, Chapter 6). As the researcher I learned the importance of careful and well thought out design through the digital storytelling project.

The first thing I am still confused by in human geographical research is making informed choices about research design and development. I understand that there are many different styles and methods to geographic research, but I am still unsure of which is the best to use and when. Another thing I am still confused by is after the data has been collected how to filter which responses to use and which information is the best information. In other words, I am still confused on what happens next in research. Lastly, I am still unsure of how to critically assess the strengths of the sources to evaluate how much information is enough. I think that with time and more practice these aspects of human geographical research will make more sense to me.

As a human geographic researcher, I know for certain that I understand the importance of ethics in a research project. I was able to develop this skill throughout the blog posts and the storytelling assignment. Going forward if I were to conduct a research project, I would like to use collaborative research methods, which involves getting input from both insiders and outsiders of the problem being studied (Hay, 2005, Chapter 3). I think that coming from an outsider position in research has some major downfalls and effects to the research being done and raises ethical issues between the researcher and the participants.

This brings me to my next point, that I know for certain that I have and will bring with me an invisible backpack that comes from a place of privilege. To be critically reflexive is a process of self-conscious scrutiny as a research throughout the entirety of the project (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2). Being a white woman raised in Canada, I need to remind myself of the privilege that I come from before, during and after the research process. I will need to ask myself how and why I am doing whatever research I am involved in as well as constantly be looking at the social relations being enacted and influenced by the research I will conduct.

Lastly, I know that using the technique of coding while organizing my research is a good tool for me to use. Prior to this course while trying to find information from literature online I found it very hard to organize information and my thoughts. The knowledge of hierarchical vs. flat, and inductive vs. deductive coding, (Hay, 2005, Chapter 18), going forward will help me organize information and come to a better answer to my research questions.

Areas that I have learned about myself as a geographical researcher that I need more time developing are creating a grounded theory, removing myself from the research and writing/ presenting my qualitative research. Creating a grounded theory is an inductive method where the purpose is to generate information on the most important themes up front to gain a solid understanding of the topic, then looking at the specifics to help answer the research question (Hay , 2005, Chapter 18). I as a research tend to jump into my question too quickly and then end up with a lot of information and time spend in topics that don’t relate to my question. As a researcher I also find it difficult to remove myself from the research write up. Third person and nominalization create more formal research but often I try to add my own thoughts and ideas when they are not needed (Hooykaas, Week 9, 2021). Lastly, while putting my research together to present it I need time to develop better ways of presenting my work. I need to balance the use of objective and subjective knowledge, learn to write in a third-person narrative and reflect my positionality (Hay, 2005, Chapter 19).

Sources:

Hooykaas. (2021) Course Notes for GEOG2260- Applied Human Geography

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/cfi/0!/4/[email protected]:0.242

[krgeog2260-deactivated20241207]

Critically Evaluating An Article

My Article & It’s Key Message

I find a lot of news and interesting stories on National Geographic, and after being in a geography program for 2 years, it is one of my favourite websites so I decided to find an article on there that I would be critically evaluating. I have chosen “What The World Can Learn From West Virginia’s Successful Vaccine Roll-out” (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/what-world-can-learn-from-west-virginia-successful-vaccine-roll-out). This article came out on March 18th, 2021 after research and interviewee’s were gathered for all of February 2021 and was written by Oliver Whang.

The key message of this article is working to showcase a success story that other regions can learn and potentially benefit from. During this pandemic, gaining as much knowledge as possible is crucial for stopping the spread and making progress on herd immunity through vaccinations.

Sources & Evaluation

Whang’s story doesn’t have any included sources, but according to the information provided I can infer that multiple sources were used, as well as face to face oral interviews as a point of data collection (Hooykaas, 2021). Data collection could include specific guidance from contacts that were featured in the article (the article includes quotes from 7 different West Virginia’s medical professionals or residents). Another source that was potentially used transcripts and official paperwork that shows the rates of the vaccine rollouts in many counties in the state. The story also incorporates visuals such as maps and real life images from vaccination sites and residents home vaccination visits. Npr.org has also published some resources about West Virginia’s success in February 2021, so Whang could have used online resources and existing articles when writing his own (Whang, 2021). The sources used throughout this story were most likely evaluated by their relativity to COVID-19 and its location because of the specificity of the articles region and topic of vaccines rollout.

Validity

As we know from week 9’s content, validity or authenticity can be “reflected throughout the proposal and final product” (Hooykaas, 2021). Since we don’t have access to any proposal for this published article I took the liberty of just evaluating the final product with the provided strategies we have learnt during 2260, examples being triangulation by using multiple sources, researchers or datasets to ensure rigour and the use of expert consultants which in this case would be medical professionals that are experiencing the pandemic in West Virginia (Hooykaas, 2021).

Something else I noticed about the formatting of the text was the use of removing the writer (Hay, 2005). This creates a sense of neutrality in the writing, which is critical when presenting information related to science or current events.

Expectations & Responsibility

COVID-19 is a major medicine related historical event that has drastically changed many aspects of daily life for almost the whole world since March 2020. After reading and educating oneself on COVID, consumers of these stories should feel inclined or almost obligated to get vaccinated when they’re able to. According to Whang, “there is a lot of hesitancy—and fear—around getting the vaccine” (Whang, 2021). People who read this article hopefully feel a sense of hope and inspiration to continue holding strong while vaccines rollout all around the world. I know for myself after reading it I felt relieved for West Virginia’s residents and elders that they have a community working so hard to help keep them safe.

This is a good COVID related feel good story that I highly recommend giving a read!

References

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Hooykaas, A. “Writing Qualitative Geographies, Constructing Geographical Knowledge Data Analysis, Writing, and Re-Evaluating Research Aims and Presenting Findings” University of Guelph, 2021.

Whang, O. (2021, March 19). What the world can learn from West Virginia’s successful vaccine roll-out. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/what-world-can-learn-from-west-virginia-successful-vaccine-roll-out 

[kmgeog2260]

Hello! I think your critical analysis and choice of article were very strong and relevant to today. While critically analyzing my article I ran into some of the same problems with the author not clearly addressing where they got their information, which research techniques were used or how the information was valid. I think that it is a useful skill to have to be able to read news articles such as this one and be able to infer sources, techniques etc.. This is something that before this course I never really thought about, all I knew that news sources and some articles are not always the most reliable because they are not usually peer-edited. A question for you is, were you surprised that a source such as National Geographic did not explicitly list their sources? From your post I can infer that the information seemed reliable and compelling, as well as the sources. With a topic such a COVID it is inevitable that the research will be controversial in some way for this reason I think that it is smart in articles to remove the notion of "self" such as the author/researcher for this article did. Do you think that the third person technique added to the final product in anyway or made the topic more or less controversial for some readers?

Great post, stay safe!

[kmgeog2260]

News Article Research Analysis

Activist on hunger strike in Canada calls on government to halt logging

by Leyland Cecco with the Guardian Friday March 19, 2021

The article by Leyland Cecco with the Guardian starts off with a short story of Jacob Fillmore an environmental activist in Nova Scotia that has been on a 12-day hunger strike to raise awareness of harmful clear cutting in the maritime provinces. The article is about much more then Jacob Fillmore’s hunger strike journey, but rather about the larger picture of Nova Scotia’s war between environmental groups/activists and private forestry sector over controversial clear cutting. The author does not identify their stance on the matter but the key message to take away from this article is that there is that there is a compelling climate/environmental fight happening in Nova Scotia currently that perhaps the rest of the World and Canada should know about. The expected audience of the news article would probably be Canadians interested in forestry, natural resources extraction, environmental activism or those who are just interested in keeping up with the current issues arising in Canada. Perhaps even residents of Nova Scotia who want a better insight on the protests happening.

Sources

The author conducted at least three interviews that they reference throughout their article. One with environmental activist Jacob Fillmore, another protestor at the blockade site Nina Newington and lastly with Bob Bancroft a wildlife biologist and head of Nature Nova Scotia (Cecco, 2021). They also note that they asked to get a statement/interview with the Forestry company that involved (Westfor) but they did not respond to the request (Cecco, 2021). The article also references past reports about the issue since it has been progressing for a number of years no, and also provides linked words if the reader wants to follow up with this information. Lastly, a source I was able to recognize while reading is a public announcement from Nova Scotia Premier and previous reports on events regarding these protests in 2019 and 2020. How these sources might have been evaluated was not included in the article, however the people in which they chose were mentioned by name, and it is noted what their relationship is to the issue at hand. This allows the reader to follow up if they are unsure about the validity of the interview responses.

Interview Style and Research Techniques

In the interviews I believe to be conducted with the three people listed I would assume the interviewer used a semi-structured Interview style. A semi-structured interview style has a loose-framework and allows the interviewee to lead the direction of the interview and what information they would like to get across (Hooykaas, week 6, 2021). I assume this interview style was used because the context of the answers that were put into the article were focused enough to perhaps not be an unstructured style but also allowed the two activists get across their experiences and feelings toward the issue. In terms of questions used I think that the researcher/author used opinion-based questions when talking to the biologist to get a straightforward answer on which side science falls on the matter. While analyzing I think that the researcher used dialectical analysis. Dialectical analysis searches for powerful conflicts in the data to search for why there is two different narratives being told about the issue (Hooykaas, week 9, 2021). In this case the two narratives involved (or perhaps three) is the narrative and data that the forestry company is putting out to the public, and the narrative that the activists are putting out to the public. A possible third narrative could be coming from the government but based on the article I would say this one falls on the side of the forestry company. Another technique that I think could have been used is triangulation. Triangulation is the use of multiple sources and methods to come to one answer (Hay, 2005)- these sources are listed above.

As a the reader...

As a reader of this news article, it would be expected to have a general understanding of climate change and logging practices effect on ecosystem and habitat loss. I would also be helpful to have an interest or understanding of the forestry battle that has been ongoing in Nova Scotia prior to reading. The author does not prompt the reader to invest any time into the issue, the article is more so just information on the issue itself. As a reader it is your responsibility to come to the conclusion of what side you support.

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/cfi/0!/4/[email protected]:0.242

Hooykaas. (2021) Course Notes for GEOG2260- Applied Human Geography

Cecco, L. (2021, March 19). Activist on hunger strike in Canada calls on government to Halt logging. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/19/activist-on-hunger-strike-calls-on-canadian-government-to-halt-logging

[kmgeog2260]

Coding in Qualitative Research

This week we have been asked to use qualitative coding methods to code two different sources of data. Coding is a process by which researcher’s structure and interpret qualitative data, it serves two major purposes, which are organization and analysis of the source materials (Hay, 2005). For my upcoming storytelling research project my group is working on the prompt, “What is Urban Geography, and why is it so relevant today?”. The two literary works I have chosen to code are both about the central theme of sustainability in the city. One source is a academic journal article by Thomas L. Saaty and Pierfrancesco De Paola titles Rethinking Design and Urban Planing for Cities of the Future (2017). The second source is the annual 2013 reprot from Toronto City Planning.

Coding

For these specific sources I have already read through them and have an idea of what I want to take out of them, therefore I will use deductive coding. Deductive coding is when you start with a predefined set of codes and the use them to code your data (Hay,2005). Although these codes are pre-set for these two sources, when diving deeper into my research I plan to stay flexible and understand that the common themes in these sources may not be as important later on. I will be using a hierarchical framework to organize the following codes based on how they relate to one another (Hooykaas, 2021). Development will be part of the top level and it will get split into environmental sustainability and social equality. Because these are the only two sources I have started to code I assume these “levels” will be broken down further in the future

The codes I have chosen to use are:

- Urban Development– Yellow highlight

- Environmental Sustainably– Green highlight

- Social Equality – Pink highlight

I tried to create codes that are related to the goal of the assignment/research but at the same time cover as much of sources information as possible that I want to use. Below are screenshots of the coding I have done so far on each source. (this does not include coding for the entire source)

Use for our research project

For our research project we have the idea of using development and sustainability as a way of demonstrating what urban geography looks like in practice, and how urban geography studies can influence real change. Doing so would not only help to answer the question “What is urban geography” but also our secondary question of “, why is it relevant?”. These specific codes allow for us to create a case that the urban geography projects are necessary and their effect. This coding can be combined with my peer’s work for this project by adding it to a shared document so that everyone can see new information we have gained. As well as these codes can help them when looking at other resources for what information we have and what we need.

Hay, I.(2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Saaty, T., & De Paola, P. (2017). Rethinking Design and Urban Planning for the Cities of the Future. Buildings (Basel), 7(4), 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings7030076

Annual 2013 report for Toronto City Planning. (2013). Retrieved 2021, from http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-66966.pdf

[amgeog2260]

Hi Kaya, it is interesting how you mention that you would use deductive coding, a pre-defined set of codes as you read the article beforehand as well as being open to new ideas or concepts that may arise in the further analysis of your research. By doing this, you begin with a focus on key themes that may help address your topic or research question but additionally remain open as you would read information you would incorporate other areas you may have missed. I would conduct inductive coding in order to mitigate bias by analyzing the data beforehand to get a full scope and understanding of the relationships and meaning between key concepts and consistently relate this back to the focus, topic or research question. I appreciate by dividing key concepts into three codes, development, sustainability and social equality you can build a case connecting the importance of urban geography to the impact on social injustice and sustainability issues. For instance, from organizing the impact of development and analyzing the effects on urban geography you could answer What are the development factors that affect people’s relationship with their environment, in this case you have already identified two, social justice and sustainability. I approached it differently by identifying only key concepts such as migration, diffusion and music as factors a level below culture and geography. However by outlining phrases, you may be able to better define concepts. One question I have is in your longer sentences you have coded, do you see any potential areas to divide into smaller codes? You chose very effective codes to better organize and analyse your data to strongly support your research question. Hope your semester is going well!!

[kmgeog2260]

Hi, thanks for the very informative response! I agree that inductive or deductive styles would probably work for this research. Perhaps an inductive style would be more helpful I will try it out and see what works best for me.To answer your question in some of the longer passages there is some overlap and areas that the code can be/ has been broken down. Originally when I began coding I was using a flat model but quickly realized that the codes had a strong relation to one another and therefore I switched over to hierarchical framework. This way the overall theme of development is getting encapsulated by its social side and environmental side in the context of urban landscapes.

[awgeog2260]

Coding Qualitative Research

The Articles I Coded

I decided to code two resources that are related to Rural Geography and include many similar topics, though the sources are quite different. The first piece of data is a peer reviewed journal article published in The Journal of Rural Studies and the second is a discussion paper written for a NGO called Food Secure Canada. The central theme of these two papers include rural land use and projections for the future of food structures, agriculture and rural development in the Global North. 

Deductive Coding and Flat Coding Frames

Since I already had an idea of some common themes in rural research, I chose to use Deductive Coding. I chose to come up with a the set of codes to start with because I had already read through these articles for the project and knew they have some key similarities related to Rural geography, and specifically I knew what themes they discuss. Also, I know what key subject matter I want to retain and include in our project, so using Deductive Coding saves me time and ensures I will get what I need from these sources. I also chose to use a Flat Coding Frame mostly because of the limited number of codes I included. Since I only have 4 codes, and all seem to have similar levels of importance for what I want to know from these sources, I chose not to use a Hierarchical Coding frame.

The Codes I Used

My four codes I used are Agriculture, Development, Community, and Sustainability. As said previously, I chose these codes before starting to actually code the papers because I knew these were common themes in rural research on rural land use and food systems, and my group wants to include these themes in our project. I also chose these codes because I feel they are encompassing of the issues in these 2 papers as well as some of the other papers my group has sed to help us with our Digital Storytelling Project. These are some screen shots of my coding in action:

I used different colour to highlight the codes using the preview app on Mac.

Applying This to the Assignment

Coding this research helped me narrow my focus on key themes that my group is focusing on in our project. It also helped me analyze similarities and differences in each source on these topics in an efficient way. I am aware of my biases that may come from doing the coding in this way, and the possibility of overlooking some themes that I have not coded, but I believe since I have already spent a couple weeks researching the literature on rural geography and these sources specifically, so I could narrow down some codes more easily. Coding helped me organize the data and my own thoughts. I believe this process will make the research process for the Digital Storytelling Project more rigorous. 

Resources

Knickel, K., et al. (2018). Between aspirations and reality: Making farming, food systems and rural areas more resilient, sustainable and equitable. Journal of Rural Studies. 59. 197-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.04.012

Food Secure Canada. (2011). Discussion Paper 2: Food Sovereignty in Rural and Remote Communities. Human Rights Impact Assessment 

[kmgeog2260]

Hello!

I think the the way you went about your coding techniques (i.e. deductive and flat framing) to be a great way of starting your coding process for this project. I too used deductive coding for this specific assignment because I had previously read the information before and had an idea of what I wanted to take out of it. When applying these codes to your research assignment I think that it is smart to start with the focus in on key themes, that is something that I would also like to apply to my own research. I am currently working on research of Urban Geography so it is interesting to see the parallels between our topics, such as sustainability and development. Considering the increasing focus on environmental conservation and climate change it makes sense that these would have a lot of academic attention in the field of Geography. While coding did you have trouble narrowing down to these four codes? Another question I have for you is while coding thus far are you seeing that there is overlap in your codes or any interesting branches that would lead you to create new ones?

Great post, very informative!

[kmgeog2260]

Coding in Qualitative Research

This week we have been asked to use qualitative coding methods to code two different sources of data. Coding is a process by which researcher’s structure and interpret qualitative data, it serves two major purposes, which are organization and analysis of the source materials (Hay, 2005). For my upcoming storytelling research project my group is working on the prompt, “What is Urban Geography, and why is it so relevant today?”. The two literary works I have chosen to code are both about the central theme of sustainability in the city. One source is a academic journal article by Thomas L. Saaty and Pierfrancesco De Paola titles Rethinking Design and Urban Planing for Cities of the Future (2017). The second source is the annual 2013 reprot from Toronto City Planning.

Coding

For these specific sources I have already read through them and have an idea of what I want to take out of them, therefore I will use deductive coding. Deductive coding is when you start with a predefined set of codes and the use them to code your data (Hay,2005). Although these codes are pre-set for these two sources, when diving deeper into my research I plan to stay flexible and understand that the common themes in these sources may not be as important later on. I will be using a hierarchical framework to organize the following codes based on how they relate to one another (Hooykaas, 2021). Development will be part of the top level and it will get split into environmental sustainability and social equality. Because these are the only two sources I have started to code I assume these “levels” will be broken down further in the future

The codes I have chosen to use are:

- Urban Development– Yellow highlight

- Environmental Sustainably– Green highlight

- Social Equality – Pink highlight

I tried to create codes that are related to the goal of the assignment/research but at the same time cover as much of sources information as possible that I want to use. Below are screenshots of the coding I have done so far on each source. (this does not include coding for the entire source)

Use for our research project

For our research project we have the idea of using development and sustainability as a way of demonstrating what urban geography looks like in practice, and how urban geography studies can influence real change. Doing so would not only help to answer the question “What is urban geography” but also our secondary question of “, why is it relevant?”. These specific codes allow for us to create a case that the urban geography projects are necessary and their effect. This coding can be combined with my peer’s work for this project by adding it to a shared document so that everyone can see new information we have gained. As well as these codes can help them when looking at other resources for what information we have and what we need.

Hay, I.(2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Saaty, T., & De Paola, P. (2017). Rethinking Design and Urban Planning for the Cities of the Future. Buildings (Basel), 7(4), 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings7030076

Annual 2013 report for Toronto City Planning. (2013). Retrieved 2021, from http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-66966.pdf

[awgeog2260]

Oral Histories: Why they Should be More Acknowledged in Qualitative Research

Originally I enrolled in this course (it is not required for my program) because I wanted to gain research skills in case I decide to do a masters program or do research with a professor at some point after my undergrad. But after the first two weeks I realized how valuable the course content and textbook material is for any consumer of knowledge. Thinking about where we get our information from and how we know this is reliable, is crucial to reflect on in 2021, when there is an abundance of information at our fingertips. We must be able to decipher what is legitimate information and what is not - or just make conscious decisions about what we indulge in. I also found week two on critical reflexivity, power, and subjectivity particularly interesting and again, felt like this kind of learning should be taught to a broad array of people, as it is very relevant in our lives not just as potential researchers, but as knowledge consumers. Thirdly, the Week 6 lecture and the incorporation of oral histories and tradition as a part of qualitative research and data resonated with me.

Personally I think that oral histories tell a story in a way that modern interviews or traditional history books can not. The part of human geography that I find interesting is the individualized human perspective. I like hearing stories from people who were there when a particular event unfolded, or who was living in a geographical place before it shifted into an entirely different landscape, or someone who has personal lived experiences and knowledge in a field that maybe doesn’t make it into our history classes. Right now I’m reading a book called Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, I am sure some of you have heard of this as it was #1 on the bestseller list for some time.

The author is also a plant scientist and a member of the Potawatomi Nation. She uses oral histories that her mother told her to solve mysteries in the world of botany, and that is a lot of what she writes about in Braiding Sweetgrass. She explains that when she was an undergrad student research plants, she would ask her professors questions like “why do *flower A* and *flower B* always grow together in meadows?”, and the professor would tell her that is not a scientific question. She decides to research this topic more on her own, by asking her relatives that grew up collecting wildflowers and other plants for traditional medicines. Without spoiling this part of the book, I’ll just say that there was a scientific explanation to this question, just not one that was a part of traditional western research. It is important that we document the lives and histories of people before they are forgotten. These histories can also be told through maps and illustrations, later being used to maintain the integrity of these people’s experiences in museums, radia, television, or books. These oral histories seem to be often left out of research, especially in academia. I have tried citing information that people have verbally communicated to me throughout my life in an academic paper and was quickly shut down. To have richer, more inclusive research, we should include oral histories more often.

What are some ways you have seen oral histories used in qualitative research? I would be so interested to know!

References: Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.

[kmgeog2260]

Hello! I have to say I totally agree that oral histories are an extremely interesting component to this course as well as human geography overall. Oral histories have given marginalized people voices and a great way for them to write their own histories which I find very interesting. Human geography unlike other areas of study has unique research techniques that focus on hidden histories, place-based lives and disadvantaged people (Hooykaas, week 6, 2021). I am very interested in the book that you mentioned as well and its use of oral histories to explain scientific phenomena. I think that is also a very unique trait to geography that it blends social studies and scientific studies together to create very interesting research such as your book. To answer your question I read a book last year about Henrietta Lacks and hela cells where the author/researcher used oral histories from her family and doctors to solve the mystery of where and how the hela cells were created. I think this style of research was essential to the researcher because the creation of the hela cells was very unethical and done "under the table" so a lot of its creation was not documented. If you or anyone is interested in reading the book it is called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

[kmgeog2260]

Covid-19 in Northwest Toronto & Mixed Methods for Geographical Research

A recent interest of mine in human geography …

Many interesting geographical studies on the impacts of Covid-19 on Toronto in the last few months have brought light to structural inequalities the city faces, specifically in Northwest Toronto. Northwest Toronto in October was accounting for nearly a quarter of the cases in Toronto which can be explain by this section of the cities marginalized, economic, gender and social inequalities. To give a brief synopsis some factors that can explain the viruses spread in Northwest Toronto are the high rates of low-income/ shared housing, high rates of factory jobs (i.e. Amazon) that were considered essential, and crowded transportation. Worst of all Northwest Toronto has lower than average healthcare access, with the lowest number of physicians surrounded by high healthcare needs before the virus even hit the city.

How this relates to the course…

The research done on Northwest Toronto from CTVnews can be an example of both qualitative and quantitative research. The researchers provide numerical data such as number of cases, distribution of cases in respect to their population, and poverty percentages (Hay, 2005). The qualitative side of this research looks at what human behaviours and social aspects have played into why the cases have been so bad in this area of Toronto (Hay, 2005). This research is an example of how Geographers use mixed method approaches to their research by the inclusion of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Mixed method approaches to research is what I find very interesting about geography. I am currently doing minors in both mathematical sciences as well as geography so encountering studies that use mixed methods is something that I can really utilize the skills and knowledge of my areas of interest.

What I would like to know more about…

Something that I would like to learn more about in this course is how and when qualitative and quantitative research comes together and what that looks like in practice. I know that statistically analysis is usually considered quantitative research, but I rarely see research studies that do not include some statistic(s) that form the basis of their topic. This being said it would be interesting to learn how statistical measures and other quantitative data can be utilized in geographical studies and when and why we use them.

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/cfi/0!/4/[email protected]:0.242

Freeman, J. (2020, October 28). Data show northwest TORONTO accounts for nearly a quarter of Recent COVID-19 cases. Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/data-show-northwest-toronto-accounts-for-nearly-a-quarter-of-recent-covid-19-cases-1.5165060

[ahgeog2260-deactivated20211210]

A Five-minute Interview with Greta Thunberg

Who is Greta Thunberg?

If I had the chance to conduct a five-minute interview with a key thinker of environmental Geography, I would choose Great Thunberg. Greta Thunberg is a teenage environmental activist from Stockholm, Sweden (BBC News, 2020) best known for her speech at the UN Climate Change COP24 Conference where she states “you say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes” (Connect4Climate, 2018). Although Thunberg is younger than most, she has had many successes in her fight for our climate. She is passionate about the cause and is not afraid to speak out or challenge our world’s leaders on the matter, so passionate that she traveled by yacht for 2 weeks to attend the UN Climate Conference in 2019 because of the environmental impact that flying bears (BBC News, 2020). Greta’s work is inspiring to me, among many climate activists, scientists, world leaders, and even the Pope (BBC News, 2020).

The Interview

1. What is the name of the movement that began this journey for yourself?

This question is known as a descriptive question. It acts as an easy opener question (an icebreaker) in making the interviewee feel more comfortable while also setting the tone and theme for the rest of the interview (Hooykaas, 2021). This type of question allows for primary details, such as the people involved, the locations it took place, and possibly her own experiences to be revealed and set the basis for the rest of the interview (Hooykaas, 2021).

2. Can you tell me about your passion for the environment?

This question allows for me, as the interviewer, and those reading or listening-in to obtain a better understanding of how Greta came to be an environmental activist. It helps us to identify other key thinkers who may have played a role in her fascination, any particular events that could have taken place around the world to bring her to this point, and/or create links between these identities for further comprehension (Hooykaas, 2021).

3. How do you think climate change will affect the younger generations?

I believe this question to be a structural question and an opinionated question. It is a structural question because it reveals the interviewee’s ideologies and assumptions that are specific to themselves (Hooykaas, 2021). It is also an opinionated question as Greta is part of the younger generation that may be affected. Therefore, her answer may include personal feelings. Due to her knowledge of climate change as an environmental activist, her response may also include personal impressions and guesses regarding the future, making it an opinionated question (Hooykaas, 2021).

4. Would climate change be a growing environmental issue if the world leaders were made up of our current younger generations?

This question is known as a contrast question. The interviewer is giving the interviewee a hypothetical scenario and asking for their professional insight and opinion on the matter. This is a comparison question. The interviewee must compare their experiences with the younger and older generations to the topic at hand, global climate change while factoring in the age, location, and experience of these two parties to respond.

5. Is there anything else you would like to add about your experiences as an environmental activist?

This question allows for the opportunity to have some open dialogue between the interviewee and interviewer instead of a structured dialogue where we have a pre-determined list of questions (Hooykaas, 2021). If there is anything that the interviewee would like to share, such as an important message or further information surrounding a sub-question that was not addressed earlier on, then this gives them that opportunity. It also allows for the interviewee to pose any questions to the interviewer.

Choosing the Proper Types of Questions

In deciding on my five interview questions for Greta Thunberg, I consulted my class notes from week 6 of Applied Human Geography. In particular, the table of ‘types of questions’ in slide 6. In choosing questions one and five, I wanted to have an opening and closing question for the interview. Question one allowed me to commence the interview with an ice breaker while introducing the interview topic and establishing a basis for the rest of the interview. Question five allowed me to conclude the interview while also having the opportunity to continue if convenient for the interviewee. Question two was decided on to provide readers and listeners with more background knowledge on the interviewee. Questions three and four were established to challenge the interviewee while obtaining a deeper understanding of her label as an environmental activist and opening up the discussion to personal opinions that are based on both feelings and knowledge.

References

BBC News. (2020, February 28). Greta Thunberg: Who is she and what does she want? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49918719

Connect4Climate. (2018, December 15). Greta Thunberg full speech at UN Climate Change COP24 Conference [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFkQSGyeCWg

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 6: Data Collection - Interviews, Oral Histories, Focus Groups

[kmgeog2260]

Hi! I think your choice of candidate for your hypothetical interview is very interesting. Greta being a young environmental activist and someone with such current experience in the field would defiantly be someone that not only could provide great information for the research project but also a very compelling interview in general. I think that your questions you have outlined are great because they are opened ended and allow for discussion to generate. I think the order in which you plan to ask them would also be efficient because you the flow allows for an easy opener and then slowly builds up from there. I particularly liked that you last question is very open-ended which allows for your interviewee to have some control over the interview! One question I have for you is; what information or answers from Greta would be most beneficial for answering your central research question?

Great Post!

[kmgeog2260]

Interviewing Doreen Massey on Urban Geography

If I had five minutes to interview a key thinker in the subfield of urban geography, I would choose Doreen Massey. Doreen Massey although not currently alive specialized in Marxist, feminist, cultural and economic geography which allowed her great insights to write her book World City (2007) were Massey uses the case study of London to reimagine the way in which world cities should be viewed but also challenged and changed. By pointing out geographical inequalities to understand the concept of place through urban cities Massey illustrates a style of urban geography that is less concern about the city itself but rather how the city interacts with the rest of the world (DeVries, 2012). I think Doreen Masseys perspective of looking at the city in terms of we ways in which different groups interact with it, and how it interacts with different groups to shine light on inequalities is what makes her very interesting. I believe it is crucial when looking at urban spaces to get perspectives from different demographics so Massey being female gives her an edge because females inherently interact with cities differently than men.

Some interview questions that I would like to ask Doreen Massey for our digital storytelling project that would help us to solve the research question: “What is Urban Geography?” would be.

1. What is urban geography to you?

2. Why were you drawn into the field of urban geography?

3. How has your experience in the field progressed and changed since your started?

4. Why do you think urban geography is an important field of study?

5. Is there anything else you would like to add about urban geography that has not already been asked or answered?

In this interview I am looking to conduct qualitative intensive research which is constructed with open ended questions looking to gain insight on her thoughts, opinions and feelings on urban geography (Hay, 2005), that is why I phrased my questions starting with mostly “how”, and “why”. I also wanted this interview to be a discussion, so I phrased my questions so that there is not yes or no answers. While determining which direction I wanted to take this interview I thought about what kind of answers would be able to help me with my own research question, and what type of information would be transferable. I think that Massey’s experience in the field and critical analysis is what would ultimately be the most useful for this project. The majority of my questions are primary, opinion-based questions (Hooykaas, Week 6, 2021). I structured them this way because the purpose of my own research is to obtain a detailed yet general overview of what urban geography is and therefore there is no one case or issue I would like her to expand on. I have also chosen a semi-structed interview (Hooykaas, Week 6, 2021) style because this loose framework allows Massey (who is the expert) to have some control over what information she might deem the most important on the subject. This semi-structured styled presents itself in my last question where I leave room of Massey to add whatever thoughts or opinions she might have been holding back during the interview.

If you were to interview someone on Urban Geography to gain insight on the field as a whole, are there any other questions that you would find necessary?

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/cfi/0!/4/[email protected]:0.242

DeVries. (2012). Place re-imagined: A review of doreen massey. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.humansandnature.org/place-re-imagined-a-review-of-doreen-massey

[chgeog2260]

Tourism Industry: One of COVID-19's many victims

Growing up on an island where tourism is one of the biggest contributors to the economy, I have seen with my own eyes the impact of the decline in tourism due to COVID-19. My research would be focused on the repercussions that COVID-19 has on those unemployed by the tourism sector. It is estimated that tourism employs more than 220 million people globally (Saarinen et al. 2011). With limitless resources, I aim to focus on the major impact’s COVID-19 has on tourism and the unemployment it has caused to so many of these people.

Quantitative research

I would begin my research by investigating how many people worldwide have been unemployed in the tourism industry. I would then look into specific countries with the most amount of unemployment and see if there is a link between the amount of unemployed people and the regulations out in place by that country. It could be that there are more unemployed in certain countries because they have completely blocked their borders to any tourists.

Qualitative research

I would approach my qualitative research though ethnographic research. I would interview those who have lost their job in the tourism sector due to COVID-19. When approaching this subject there are some things I would need to consider. Firstly, as unemployment is a sensitive subject it will be difficult for me to display dispassionate interpretation but when doing my research, I will keep this in mind to make sure the research is not influenced by my outside perspective. I would also have to acknowledge and unpack my invisible backpack. I would mention that I as a university student am privileged to be the one researching this and I am not the one being impacted by this unemployment. In terms of the types of questions I would ask the people I am interviewing; I would ask questions to get insight of the outcome of the unemployment. For example:

- How are you coping during these times?

- Do you have any fears for the future of the tourism industry?

- Is there support available for you?

- If so, is this support sufficient?

- Are you guaranteed a job once things begin to “normalize”?

- What do you think of the governments?

With this qualitative research I want to see if the unemployed are getting support through these hard times and how they view the policies in place that may have led to their unemployment. I also wish to know how they generally feel about the unemployment and their thoughts on the future of their job.

Ethics

I am aware my research can impact many people. In my interviews I need to make sure that names are kept confidential and the questions I am asking are not leading questions and that they feel comfortable and do not think I am being judgmental towards their answers. I would also make sure that I have consent prior to interviewing them and that they are aware they do not have to answer anything they are uncomfortable answering. I would also make sure to get consent to publish the results whilst still keeping their information confidential.

Who will benefit?

With limitless resources I am hoping that this research would help get the attention of the governments who aren’t helping the unemployed enough. I would also hope that it would encourage those living in tourist destinations to help out the local’s businesses and if they can go on “staycations” and take part in the touristy activities. As this is a pandemic, I recognize there isn’t very much that can be done until the virus is better contained but if my research can help others realize how lucky they are to still be employed during these times then I think it can still be beneficial.

References

Saarinen, J., Rogerson, C., & Manwa, H. (2011). Tourism and Millennium Development Goals: tourism for global development?

[kmgeog2260]

Hello, I find your research topic of choice very interesting! I think that it is especially interesting that you choose a more personal topic considering you know first hand what it is like for tourism to be driving the economy and what that looks like. COVID-19 as well as other major devistating worldwide events have major impacts on tourism and it is important to point out that this effects more than families looking to go on vacations but they millions of people who work in that industry. Considering by the time you would presumedly be doing this research if you started a proposal today would be (hopefully) after COVID it would interesting to reflect on what implications and changes COVID does to tourism; will there be a huge spark directly afterwards or will people be weary of travelling for years to come? I really like that you drafted a number of interview questions as well. One that stuck out to me was if or if not they recieved any support. I think an interesting thing to look at from a geography perspective would be which countries were providing support to their tourism industries and maybe why they were able to do so. Overall I think this is a very intriguing topic that could most definetly play a major role in the way society copes with the the damages COVID-19 leaves behind. To add to your points on who could benefit from a study like this; I think that a study of this magnitude could really shine light on instability and inequality in the tourism industry and perhaps provoke new frameworks for redesigning the way it is run. Do you think that there is possiblitly that the COVID-19 fallout could help change the way the tourism industry is run?

[kmgeog2260]

My (Hypothetical) Research Proposal

Growing up in Ontario I have developed a great appreciation for municipal and provincial parks, from going to play basketball at them all summer as a kid to camping, hiking, swimming and more. It wasn’t until recently that I got interested in the human geography, urban planning and landscape architecture but I think that if I were to conduct a research project in my upcoming graduate years that I would like to focus on Canadian parks, considering I have been looking into a career in this field.

My focus for this research project would be to study Canadian, specifically Canadian Youth, connection to parks. The purpose of this research would be to hopefully implement more public parks Canada wide. I think that an effective way to go about collecting data would be a mix of questionaries/ surveys, as well as interviews. I would like to conduct a range of interviews with individuals, groups as well as town hall meetings. Questions I would consider asking could be:

1. How much do you or your family use the public parks in your city/town? (if not at all why?)

2. What connection do you have to parks?

3. What is a park to you?

4. What do you think your city/town needs in a park?

5. Are there place specific details about your location that public parks should reflect?

6. Do you feel as though you (or your family) have benefitted from public parks?

After collecting this information, I would like to research if there is relationship between different socio-economic groups in Canada and their use of public parks. Finding the answers to who benefits from public parks, is there certain locations in Canada that are in need of more public parks, is there a relationship with youth at risk and public parks, and lastly could public parks be a catalyst for change in Canada?

I think that this research project has the potential to impact and benefit a large scale of people around Canada. Ultimately who would benefit most would depend on if the research could implement more public parks and which locations would receive them. Benefits of parks range from community use and fun to environmental protection of green spaces so I do believe that there is importance to this study.

I think my position as a researcher on this issue would play heavily into the research being done. As much as I am a young Canadian (right now) who has used public parks my whole life I might not have the same connections to parks as the communities I am researching. I will not be from the cities and towns I enter to study and that could create an insider- outsider relationship. I am a cis white woman; this could have negative or positive implications on the research, and I would need to keep in mind my own privileges and invisible backpack when conducting interviews and creating research questions. One ethical problem that would definitely arise would be trying to get perspectives from the youth, considering consent would need to come from their guardians. Receiving an ethics approval could become tricky regarding this aspect of the study, but I think that hearing from the youth would be too important to skip out on.

[kmgeog2260]

Case Study on Surviving the Wilderness with Agafia Lykovs

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

The short documentary produced by Vice tagged above is about Agafia, 70-year-old women who has been living in the Siberian wilderness for the majority of her life. In the 1930s due to her family’s religious beliefs and the political climate in Russia, her father moved his entire family into the woods (160 miles from the nearest town) with very extreme weather conditions. Over the years due to outsider visits causing illness, and starvation the rest of Agafia’s family has passed away. The documentary was published in 2013 and the researchers sought out to understand and experience Agafia’s life/ living situation firsthand in what they described as “one of the most inhospitable places on earth “, (Vice, 2013). The researchers flew by helicopter to where Agafia’s home is and set up camp to live with her for a few days. Research Techniques The research techniques and findings of the documentary where not explicitly laid out but in my opinion the research method they used was qualitative with a mix of observation and interviews. The researchers conducted interviews with mostly Agafia recalling her history with the land as well as asking questions about her everyday life. They also conducted some shorter interviews with the park rangers that had helped them get there, and her neighbour about the same. A keynote about their research method is that it was naturalistic observation, meaning that Agafia was not taken out of her “natural setting”, but rather the researchers came to her. Invisible Backpack and Ethics The researchers unknowingly, or perhaps knowingly, brought with them their invisible backpacks filled with privileges that might not seem as obvious at first. Within this invisible backpack was the privileges of clothes, money, access to technology, geographical location, and education (McIntosh,1989). These privileges which seem subtle in the film do play roles in the research being done and that is why it is important to take note of them. Afterall, one’s invisible backpack also holds and shapes their worldview that has developed in very different ways from those they might be researching. In the film the researchers wore highly advanced winter gear and arrived in a helicopter. It was abundantly clear upon entrance the difference in lives they had to Agafias. Although, in some ways these differences and the way the Agafia lives her life contrarily from the researchers was the point of the study. It seems to me that there were ethical decisions being made in the process of the film. The researchers came off well mannered, helpful, wanting to listen and learn as well as not overbearing on Agafia’s lifestyle. They seemed genuinely interested and concerned for Agafias mental and physical welfare. Although, there were some questions I felt unanswered and uneasy about while watching. Number one, was there communication with Agafia before arriving (any heads up), if so, how? Secondly, they spoke in the film about how her family members had died after being in contact with geologist from the “outside world”, were there any precautions taken to make sure none of the Vice team brought any illnesses? Also, other than sharing Agafia’s story who was to benefit from this research? (Feel free to respond to any of these questions) If I were to research.. If I was given this same opportunity to go and visit Agafia I would conduct my research is a similar way in terms of method (oral histories, observational, interviews). I too come with most, if not all the same invisible backpack as the researcher before me so this is something that I would keep in mind but also ask Agafia about, see her opinion on outsiders coming in. Beforehand, I would try to make contact with Agafia to ensure that me coming would be something she wants. While there, I would try to integrate myself into her ways of life as much as possible, perhaps by staying longer (if I could). In the film they ended off with a great note about Agafia being a case that humans can survive in the gravest of conditions in

isolation (Vice, 2013). I would really like to expand on that idea and see if this is a generalizable note or if Agafia is a rare case.

VICE. (2013, April 9). Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68%29

McIntosh, P. (1989). White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Retrieved 2021, from https://psychology.umbc.edu/files/2016/10/White-Privilege_McIntosh-1989.pdf

[amgeog2260]

Hi Kaya! 

You ask some very insightful questions regarding ethical considerations taken by the researchers in the film. While it seems that the researchers have taken some consideration to justify the benefits outweigh the risks, some considerations are left unanswered. For instance, did the researchers take precautions to mitigate the risk of transferring pneumonia to Agafia and Sedov? This being said, the researchers do ensure Agafia receives a goat and rooster from her wish list, conduct chores around the house, examples of how the research would compensate or benefit the participant. However, despite the actions the researchers took, the idea of a sponsor, which might have not been the researcher’s decision, made this a potential exploitative relationship. The sponsor is using Agafia’s story to promote a product which results in a greater benefit than the sponsor is contributing to Agafia. You make a good point mentioning that consent is needed from the participant throughout the research process and integration would help develop an alternate perspective. A question I have is how do you know that Agafia would consider her environment harsh? What do you consider a harsh environment?

Regards, 

Aiden Muir

[kmgeog2260]

Hi Aiden! Thanks for the response. I would agree that there was great things the reachers did to provide support to Agafia in return for her story, but that being said there were some grey areas in terms of consent and sponsorship. To answer your question I do not know if Agafia would consider her environment harsh, although, because she has been brought into the city multiple times I’m sure she can see other people have it easier than her, as well as seeing how the researchers respond to her living situation would probably make her question her environment compared to others. That being said she does seem to love her environment considering she has no intentions on leaving. To me a harsh environment (ecologically wise) would probably be anywhere with one extreme or the other in terms of temperature as well as one that is constantly changing causing the people to live there to adapt. 

Thanks!

[kmgeog2260]

Case Study on Surviving the Wilderness with Agafia Lykovs

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

The short documentary produced by Vice tagged above is about Agafia, 70-year-old women who has been living in the Siberian wilderness for the majority of her life. In the 1930s due to her family’s religious beliefs and the political climate in Russia, her father moved his entire family into the woods (160 miles from the nearest town) with very extreme weather conditions. Over the years due to outsider visits causing illness, and starvation the rest of Agafia’s family has passed away. The documentary was published in 2013 and the researchers sought out to understand and experience Agafia’s life/ living situation firsthand in what they described as “one of the most inhospitable places on earth “, (Vice, 2013). The researchers flew by helicopter to where Agafia’s home is and set up camp to live with her for a few days. Research Techniques The research techniques and findings of the documentary where not explicitly laid out but in my opinion the research method they used was qualitative with a mix of observation and interviews. The researchers conducted interviews with mostly Agafia recalling her history with the land as well as asking questions about her everyday life. They also conducted some shorter interviews with the park rangers that had helped them get there, and her neighbour about the same. A keynote about their research method is that it was naturalistic observation, meaning that Agafia was not taken out of her “natural setting”, but rather the researchers came to her. Invisible Backpack and Ethics The researchers unknowingly, or perhaps knowingly, brought with them their invisible backpacks filled with privileges that might not seem as obvious at first. Within this invisible backpack was the privileges of clothes, money, access to technology, geographical location, and education (McIntosh,1989). These privileges which seem subtle in the film do play roles in the research being done and that is why it is important to take note of them. Afterall, one’s invisible backpack also holds and shapes their worldview that has developed in very different ways from those they might be researching. In the film the researchers wore highly advanced winter gear and arrived in a helicopter. It was abundantly clear upon entrance the difference in lives they had to Agafias. Although, in some ways these differences and the way the Agafia lives her life contrarily from the researchers was the point of the study. It seems to me that there were ethical decisions being made in the process of the film. The researchers came off well mannered, helpful, wanting to listen and learn as well as not overbearing on Agafia’s lifestyle. They seemed genuinely interested and concerned for Agafias mental and physical welfare. Although, there were some questions I felt unanswered and uneasy about while watching. Number one, was there communication with Agafia before arriving (any heads up), if so, how? Secondly, they spoke in the film about how her family members had died after being in contact with geologist from the “outside world”, were there any precautions taken to make sure none of the Vice team brought any illnesses? Also, other than sharing Agafia’s story who was to benefit from this research? (Feel free to respond to any of these questions) If I were to research.. If I was given this same opportunity to go and visit Agafia I would conduct my research is a similar way in terms of method (oral histories, observational, interviews). I too come with most, if not all the same invisible backpack as the researcher before me so this is something that I would keep in mind but also ask Agafia about, see her opinion on outsiders coming in. Beforehand, I would try to make contact with Agafia to ensure that me coming would be something she wants. While there, I would try to integrate myself into her ways of life as much as possible, perhaps by staying longer (if I could). In the film they ended off with a great note about Agafia being a case that humans can survive in the gravest of conditions in

isolation (Vice, 2013). I would really like to expand on that idea and see if this is a generalizable note or if Agafia is a rare case.

VICE. (2013, April 9). Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68%29

McIntosh, P. (1989). White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Retrieved 2021, from https://psychology.umbc.edu/files/2016/10/White-Privilege_McIntosh-1989.pdf

[kmgeog2260]

Book Recommendation!

“Hi everyone! 

I recently read the book “This Changes Everything” written by Naomi Klein for another class of mine. It is an amazing commentary on capitalisms damage to the environment to explain climate change in ways I truly had never thought of before. For people interested in geography (physical or human,) or even just climate change in general I would absolutely recommend it. Here is a great passage that might spark your interest;

“ The victims in all this are regular people: the workers who lose their factory jobs in Juárez and Windsor; the workers who get the factory jobs in Shenzhen and Dhaka, jobs that are by this point so degraded that some employers install nets along the perimeters of roofs to catch employees when they jump, or where safety codes are so lax that workers are killed in the hundreds when buildings collapse. The victim’s are also the toddlers mouthing lead-laden toys; the Walmart employee expected to work over Thanksgiving holiday only to be trampled by a stampede of frenzied customers, while still not earning a living wage. And the Chinese villagers whose water is contaminated by one of those coal plants we use as our excuse for inaction, as well as the middle class of Beijing and Shanghai whose kids are forced to play inside because the air is so foul. ”  (Klein, chpt. 2)

It is people like Naomi that remind me why I study human geography and why it is so important.