Maddison Tawse

2nd year Evironmental Governance Major @ The University of Guelph

[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

[mtgeog2260]

Hello Adam,

I have very much enjoyed reading your final blog post, you mention plenty of relevant topics and give an explanation for each topic mentioned.  With this being said, there are a few specific things about your final blog post that I would like to discuss.  First, you mentioned that you have a great grasp on free consent.  This is a term that I have struggled with.  After reading your blog, I was able to form a better understanding of what this term meant, thank you for the explanation.  Now, I would like to mention one of the things that you are still confused by; critical reflexivity and the invisible backpack.  You said that you have trouble understanding how simply understanding these things can help remove them from skewing our research.  This is because once we fully understand our personal influence on the research project or how we could affect it, we can take active steps to not letting these specific things get in the way of research.  For example, once I was able to understand that I have privilege just because I have a safe warm home to return to, I am able to appreciate any of my future research projects more.  Finally, you mentioned that you would like to understand the ethical considerations at the University of Guelph specifically.  I agree with this because I ran into some problems during the digital storytelling projects.  I conducted an interview but did not get it approved properly for the ethics consideration and when I tried to use a direct quote, it was invalid because I did not get an ethics approval for the interview.  Luckily, my group was able to correct this but in the future we may not be so lucky!  So, it is very important to develop an understanding for this. 

Good Luck with your future endeavors! -Maddison

[krgeog2260-deactivated20241207]

My Final Blog Post!

For the final blog post, I went back and reacquainted myself with all of the course’s content from previous weeks to ensure I had a wide range of topics to include. Throughout this semester I have found GEOG*2260 to be very informative from a theoretical perspective. I’ve picked out some important course content that I can reflect on that also falls into the 4 sections given in the prompt.

Three things I know for certain about human geography research:

My first certainty within human geography research is the concept of ethics. Throughout times in the course, we were introduced to ethical research, ethics clearance and other types of welfare in the field (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021). With the current world, we’re living in today, too many people are experiencing injustice and to say society is damaged would be an understatement. I paid extra attention to this aspect of the course because I want to make an active effort to help others (however that may be) throughout my life and career. Gaining this insight was important to me and I’m glad I have more resources than I did before starting 2260 “before beginning research that involves people” (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2).

After some time in the post-secondary realm, I’ve grown very confident with my ability to measure validity (Hay, 2005, Chapter 19). After working through week 5 content of “literature reviews”, I know the benchmarks that articles have to meet in order for me to include them in my university work, and what I look for when reviewing news or stories that help me decide if I believe what I’m reading. The inclusion of Brown’s criteria for evaluation (Hooykaas, Week 5, 2021) gave me a more detailed list than what I had before, which now include the paper’s purpose and scope, among others.

Lastly, for my list of certainties, I’d like to talk about the invisible backpack. This topic will be the number one thing I take from this course because I had never thought about perspective and experience in the way I did in this course. Using the invisible backpack that comes from my identity and experiences spilled over into my regular life, and allowed me to change my thinking towards judgment and perspectives/opinions of others because everyone engages in the world differently. The invisible backpack has taught me another analysis technique that helps me form strong academic points and research! (Hooykaas, Week 2, 2021).

Three things I am still confused by:

Grounded theory gave me trouble because I couldn’t quite connect its importance like I could for other concepts. I believe that I don’t fully grasp this theory because I haven’t had a field experience where I am sifting through pages of data having to identify theories within it. Grounded theory is “an exploratory and inductive way of forming an in-depth understanding of the entire case” (Hay, 2005, Chapter 7, pp;138).

The next thing I was confused by in the beginning was coding. While I could understand the significance and was able to make an attempt in doing my own, it seemed to me as if it were just another organizational style (Hooykaas, Week 8, 2021). Deductive coding seemed more my speed rather than inductive, which is why I picked that one for the activity. I see the appeal for rigour and analysis of data, which is why I don’t doubt its valuable role in the research process (Hay, 2005, Chapter 18). 

My last point of confusion were the bottom-up and top-down approaches that were talked about during week 3. Since it was more than a couple weeks ago, I can’t seem to connect these approaches to the rest of the research theories and data analysis. I also would like to find further writings about these approaches because our textbook didn’t include information on the topic (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021).

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

As I move on in my schooling and as a human geographer, I realize how much more I probably have to learn. But when it comes to what I’m certain about myself at this moment, I know my social skills will allow me to develop meaningful connections in research. I’m able to relate and empathize with people well. 

Another asset that I have that will benefit me is a hardworking attitude and ability to stay productive to finish long and complex projects. If I am passionate about something, for instance a research project, I would be a valuable asset to any research team.

 Lastly, I know that I’m in the right schooling avenue because I genuinely enjoy the content I’m learning about. I’m getting very excited about all of the opportunities I’ll have in the future after going through the rest of my undergraduate degree.

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

I would like to spend more time on interviews and constructing productive questions. Since I have never experienced conducting a formal interview for research purposes, I want to revisit this concept as a whole when I have another opportunity to. It could be any of the types of interviews that we learnt about (over the phone, online, semi-structured, open etc.) (Hay, 2005, Chapter 8).

Secondly, I’d like to do something similar to my first, but with questionnaires. I can see a career in data collection for research and working for agencies that provide statistics so I would like to gain additional experiences in forming open or closed questions and using the questionnaires for mass research. The guideline in the textbook of a productive questionnaire caught my eye as interesting during that assigned chapter! (Hay, 2005, Chapter 12).

The last concept I want to spend more time developing came from this week’s (Hooykaas, Week 11, 2021) content involving the feelings of imposter syndrome. I have felt the feelings of fraudulence before when having academic or workplace success and resonated highly with the youtube video and information from the 2260 lectures. After being introduced to this topic, I want to dive deeper and see if I can apply that logic to other courses and achievements in my day-to-day life.

Thank you all for reading all my work throughout this semester! 

References:

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

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Lecture Notes from GEOG2260- Applied Human Geography.

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Kirsten, 

Your final blog post was an amazing read.  First, I would like to comment on the things you’ve learned from the course, they are very similar to what I had written in my final blog post.  I noticed that you said one of the most meaningful things you’ve learned is about ethics.  I agree with you on this.  Ethics are a very important tool in the research world and without ethics approval, your research data could become unimportant or even invalid.  I learned this while we were working on our digital storytelling projects, I had not considered getting an ethics approval for a short interview I conducted with my group and another professor at the university and it caused me to have to not use information from the interview because it would have broken ethics guidelines.  However, I am glad that I understand this now and will not run into this issue in the future.  

I also noticed how you said the grounded theory still confuses you, I agree with this as well.  Although I did not write about it in my blog post, I still struggle to wrap my mind around it.  Another thing you said you were confused by was coding - I’m no expert myself however I can give you a few types and pointers!  When you’re coding, make sure to highlight chunks of information that you wish to refer back to.  It organizes your work better and makes your coding notes easier to understand.  

Good Luck with any future endeavors! -Maddison

[mtgeog2260]

Applied Human Geography - GEOG 2260 Reflection

3 Things I Know for Certain About Human Geography Research:

Throughout the duration of this Applied Human Geography course, I have learned many things that I will take with me and use in the future.  To start, I would like to discuss what qualitative research is.  This course has given me the opportunity to truly understand what qualitative research is in comparison to quantitative research.  Qualitative research is used to investigate and study the experiences that people have in regards to space.  It “is concerned with elucidating human environments and human experiences” (Hay, 2016, p.5).  Unlike quantitative methods, qualitative research requires the researcher to understand in depth why they are receiving the answers they are.  A qualitative research method that shows this would be in depth interviews with individuals.  I am also able to understand when it is most appropriate to conduct qualitative research.  As a researcher, it is important to understand when and why to use specific research methods.

Secondly, I would like to discuss the ethics criteria that I have learned about throughout this course.  Qualitative research of any kind requires an ethics approval from whatever institution or organization that a researcher is performing for.  An ethics approval ensures that both the participant and researchers involved will be treated with respect and conforming to the same guidelines.  An ethics approval typically states that the participant is free to answer when he/she feels comfortable and in a way that they choose.  For this course, I was required to get an ethics approval before interviewing a professor here at the university.  The rules of this ethics outline stated that the professor was to answer questions by her own free will, she did not have to answer any question she felt uncomfortable with, and that the interview would be no longer than 15 minutes unless she chooses otherwise.  

Finally, the last thing I learned that I would like to discuss is my invisible backpack.  This is a term used to define a researcher's influence within a research project.  For example, in class, we learned about researchers travelling to less fortunate communities where they exhibit privileges that those community members might not even have access to.  Being able to travel to these communities and then return home is an aspect of an invisible backpack.  This ties in with critical reflexivity because critical reflexivity ensures that researchers put themselves completely aside for the greater good of the research project.  Critical reflexivity requires one to be unbiased and ethical while conducting research.  

3 Things I am Still Confused By:

While learning many new things, it has become apparent that there are many things I am still confused by.  To start, I will discuss organizing information.  During the course, we were assigned to code our sources used for the digital storytelling project.  At first, I thought that we would create a legend of words and we would highlight them where they are used in the source.  I learned that instead of only highlighting the word, we were to highlight the section of the text that the word was referring to (Hay, 2016, p.377).  Now, I am still confused on how to pick out this information.  I am unsure of how to classify which information is more important than others when they both regard the same word.  

Secondly, another thing I am still confused about has to do with ethical consideration.  I am aware that all research conducted must be ethically approved prior to starting.  However, I am unable to determine what is ethical and what is not ethical in some situations.  In class, we watched a research video starring Agafia Lykov, a woman living alone in the Siberian mountains.  The research team went in to conduct their research and at first, I thought they were very respectful.  They did not enter her home or ask her for anything.  However, I learned later on in class that they were not very ethical.  I must evaluate ethical considerations better in the future.  

Lastly, I will discuss developing a research question.  An issue that became apparent to me when we began creating our digital storytelling projects.  Our groups were asked to first create a research question and then answer it through a digital storytelling process.  I struggled while making this question because I did not want to be too specific but I also did not want to be too vague (Hay, 2016, p.101).  Even now, it is difficult to conduct research questions for the same reasons.  

3 Things I Know for Certain About Me as a Human Geographic Researcher:

Personally, I have found out many things about myself through this course.  First, I have found out that I prefer and work more strongly while conducting qualitative research rather than quantitative.  I have developed my understanding for the use of qualitative research methods much easier than I have ever experienced with quantitative methods.  Secondly, I have determined that my passions lay within environmental geography.  After learning about economic geography through my digital storytelling project, I have come to realize this is not my strong suit and environmental geography is.  Lastly, I know for certain that I would be a great asset to research projects investigating how people live in smaller communities.  I have learned that I am resilient and a very hard worker who communicates well when doing research.  Because of this, a research project like this would be perfect for me.   

3 Areas I Need to Spend Time Developing/Learning in Order to Feel More Confident in My Skills:

There are some things that I acknowledge I must improve on before conducting any real qualitative research.  First, I will discuss coding again.  Although I am very good at organizing a method of coding, I often have trouble following it.  Next, I would like to improve my listening skills in regards to interviewing.  I have found that I am nervous during interviews and I tend to focus on getting the questions out which interferes with me actually hearing what my participant is saying.  The textbook suggests that when everyone involved feels at ease, data collected is more insightful (Hay, 2016, p.160).  So, I must work on my research nerves.  Lastly, I would also like to improve my research techniques in order to ensure rigour (Hay, 2016, p.125).  I ran into this issue while conducting an interview for my digital storytelling project.  I had conducted the interview and then tried to quote what my participant had said, however, I did not quote word for word which made my data incorrect/irrelevant.  

References

Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Toronto. Oxford University Press.

[amfgeog2260]

Mapping Racial Injustice

Article in ‘The Conversation’

For this week’s blog post I came across an online article published by ‘The Conversation’ journal on February 23rd, 2021 (link to the article: https://theconversation.com/how-black-cartographers-put-racism-on-the-map-of-america-155081). The article discusses the importance of cartography, which is the use, creation, and analyzation of maps. The article explains how useful cartography has been in the history of racial injustice, as a means by which to “put racism on the map of America” (Alderman and Inwood 2021). I have mentioned this in previous blogs, but I found a similar, more recent article for our digital storytelling project which mapped the global protests in response to the murder of George Floyd. This article caught my attention because it uses physical and social geography in the same way as the more recent article, but addresses and visually shows the impact of race related injustice across the United States. The article and maps also give visual weight to the specific states and regions which perpetuated more racial injustices throughout history, which we can draw similarities to the same states today. 

Key Message

There is a strong and noteworthy message here. Although this is not an easy topic to talk about or write about, this article explains the power of mapping social injustice, especially in the history of the United States. The article explains the ways and uses of mapping and cartography over the course of history in America, to better understand, reflect on, and keep account of nationwide racial injustice. The article provides examples of cartography’s use from the late 1800s to examples like mapping police brutality through cartography more recently in 2014 (Alderman and Inwood 2021). Which outlines very clearly for the reader, that racially motivated injustices and inequities are continually perpetuated even almost a century after they were first mapped out. 

The Articles Sources

Because of the historic value with which this article was written, a lot of their sources would have been primary sources or historical, geography related resources. Specifically, the article used a primary source published in 1919 by the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People”. The primary resource shows a map of the United States of America, and mapped out is all of the lynchings which occurred in a decade long span from 1909 to 1918 (Alderman and Inwood 2021). The second cartograph from the same primary resource shows a similar map of America but for a thirty-year period between 1889 and 1918 (Alderman and Inwood 2021). The other notable primary source you can see below this paragraph; civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in 1963 using maps to organize a march on Washington. The article explains that this is another way/reason for maps to be used to create politically disruptive movements for social change (Alderman and Inwood 2021). This is another parallel to my more recent example related to maps of global protests for anti-racism movements and solidarity for George Floyd. 

Expectations and Responsibilities of the Consumer

I think one of the most important parts of this article is the impact that it could have, either for awareness, education, and/or the future of social justice policy in the United States. We also have a responsibility as a consumer to take any source or article we see and properly evaluate it and reflect on it. The textbook and this week’s content discusses the importance of conducting participatory action research (PAR) which can create positive results associated with co-learning and collective action (Hay 2016, p. 352). This is the type of resource where we all have a responsibility to acknowledge the social injustices, inequities and structurally systemic issues that still impact an underrepresented minority of people. The text also mentions the important process of transformative reflexivity, in which the researcher and the audience or in the case of the textbook, person being researched to reflect on issues and “negotiate meanings of information generated together” (Hay 2016, p. 355). The text also talks about the technique of mapping to further our research and understanding of a topic. For reasons related to our social geographic topic in our final project, to the racial injustices seen in the United States and Canada over the past year, this seemed to be a prominent and important piece of writing to reflect on, and hopefully discuss further. 

References

Alderman H., D., & Inwood FJ., J. (2021, February 23). How black cartographers put racism on the map of America. Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/how-black-cartographers-put-racism-on-the-map-of-america-155081

https://www.loc.gov/static/classroom-materials/naacp-a-century-in-the-fight-for-freedom/documents/lynching.pdf

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

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Aden,

The article you have chosen to critically evaluate is a very informative one.  Because our society is currently attempting to combat social injustices, such as racism, I believe it is very important to look back into history just like you have done here.  When you take a look back into history, many interesting things can be found.  For example, I had no idea that cartography was a technique used to track and pinpoint social injustices.  However, after reading your post and developing a better understanding for what cartography is, I understand that this would be a very efficient way in doing this.  Also, I agree with you in saying that “This is the type of resource where we all have a responsibility to acknowledge the social injustices, inequities and structurally systemic issues that still impact an underrepresented minority of people” (Aden, 2021).  This is because if we can’t learn from resources like this, we are not using them properly.  Change is important and it must happen, we must draw more attention to resources like this in order to bring awareness to the problem.  Especially with an article like this one that uses so many resources to support and prove the claims being made throughout it.  This article uses history and facts to outline the social injustices that many people have had to deal with for too long. 

Now, just a few questions for you...

1. What other types of projects could we use cartography for? 

2. Do you feel like historical data is more accurate than current data? If so, why?

3. Are you able to use cartography for your digital storytelling project?

[mtgeog2260]

Critical Evaluation of “Why Guidelines For What Canadians Can and Can’t Do After Getting Covid-19 Vaccines Are Still Unclear”

Article and It’s Key Message:

This blog post has prompted me to locate an article that I can successfully evaluate.  I chose to work with a news article because I believe that there will be lots more critiquing to be done throughout a news article in comparison to a journal article.  I began scrolling through recent news articles published by CBC News and stumbled across the one I have chosen.  The article that I have chosen to critically evaluate is titled Why Guidelines For What Canadians Can and Can’t Do After Getting Covid-19 Vaccines Are Still Unclear, written by Adam Miller, a senior Health writer working with CBC News.  This article can be found at https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/vaccine-guidelines-canada-covid-19-1.5961173.  I selected this news article because it discusses a very relevant topic, the Covid-19 vaccination plan for Canadians.  This article was published and posted during the wee hours of the morning on March 24th, 2021.  

The key message of this article is directed at Canadian citizens who have either received a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine or are waiting to receive one.  The article works to communicate the key message that Canadian citizens are going through a hard time waiting to hear what guidelines they must follow if they have received a dose of the vaccine and that they will no longer be receiving a second dose after 3 weeks, but 4 months instead.  The article also focuses on the “experiment” that British Columbia researchers are conducting which states that Canadians should wait the 4 months between doses.  

Sources and Evaluation:

Throughout this article, there are many sources that are referenced.  The author uses interviews with Canadian Health officials that have already been conducted and takes direct quotes from them to use in his article.  When referencing these sources throughout his writing, Miller states exactly who and what interview that he is regarding before placing a direct quote in the writing.  Miller also includes various statistics to support his claims which he has gathered from pre-existing research projects.  Instead of referencing these statistics in full throughout the writing, he references them at the end of the article.  Miller also includes a short video clip in his article when discussing Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, and her guidance for vaccinated Canadians.  

The sources used to write this article were most likely evaluated through their relativity to the Covid-19 vaccine roll out plan and the level of significance that they hold in terms of the altered timeline for vaccine doses.  Also, the sources were likely evaluated on their location of discussion and proximity to the matters dealt with since the article discusses experiments stemming from Ontario and British Columbia.  

Validation and Verification:

When examining validity and verification of a piece of writing, we often look at the proposal or the final project (Hooykaas, 2021).  In this case, I have chosen to look at the final project because a proposal is unavailable.  In this final project, it is clear that Miller uses triangulation by using various sources to support his claims.  Miller uses expert consultants as the source for his direct quotes and shows variations in the categories that he has found them from.  

Expectations and Responsibilities:

After reading this article, Canadian citizens of all categories should understand that although no specific guidelines have been given or announced yet in regards to what life will be like after the vaccine, they must still remain careful.  Vaccinated citizens should still be following Covid-19 safety guidelines in terms of social distancing and should understand that they are still at risk until they have received their full 2 doses.  It is our responsibility as Canadians to ensure that we are keeping ourselves safe and the people around us through these hard times.  

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.

Miller, A. “Why Guidelines For What Canadians Can and Can’t Do After Getting Covid-19 Vaccines Are Still Unclear”. CBC News, March 24th, 2021.

[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 

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Alanna! 

It is great to see that you have begun organizing for your Digital Storytelling Project and it really looks like you are off to a good start.  I noticed that we used the same deductive coding methods for very similar reasons.  We both found that our sources had connecting themes and information that relates directly to each other and our main focus for our projects.  I also noticed that you chose to use flat coding frames whereas I chose to use a hierarchical approach.  This is because my relevant themes all had key terms that could be found in each of my sources.  This is probably why this technique works for my sources better as I noticed you said you were only working with four specific key terms.  

One suggestion that I would like to make for you is to highlight large chunks of information within your sources instead of only highlighting one word.  This could help you with your Digital Storytelling Project in the future because more information will be readily available to you.  For example, if you only highlight one word, you will have to re-read parts of the articles in order to find out why that one word is highlighted.  Whereas highlighting a whole chunk will allow for that explanation to be read without searching for it!

Lastly, thank you for sharing that you have used the preview on the Mac system to do your highlighting.  I have done mine within google drive and it is hard to keep highlighted sections in the correct colour.

Best of luck in the future, Maddison.  

[mtgeog2260]

Coding My Qualitative Research

My Sources of Data:

The two sources of data that I decided to code for this blog post are War, Capitalism, and the Making and Unmaking of Economic Geographies, a peer reviewed journal article that explains the history of our economy through our political history, and Why Some People Cannot “Believe In” the Science of Climate Change, and newsletter written by Amanda Warton Jenkins that uses the P.A.I.N. theory to justify the actions of capitalistic individuals and their impact on climate change.  The central focus of these two sources is economic, political, historical, and environmental geography and I have chosen to use them for the blog post because they will assist my group members and I in completing our final Digital Storytelling Project which has the theme of economic geography.

Deductive Coding & Hierarchical Coding:

For these sources, I have decided to use deductive coding methods because I have already outlined some common themes throughout each source; political, economic, historical, and economic geography.  Because my group mates and I are already familiar with these sources, we were able to come up with a coding system that centralized these key themes.  Because we already know what information we are looking for in each of these sources, deductive coding was chosen to be the most efficient coding system we could have used.  We also chose to include hierarchical coding methods because of the various terms and themes that we would be looking for.  My group uses a total of nine key terms stemming from three different themes which is why hierarchical coding would be more effective than flat coding frames.  

The Codes Used:

Since these two sources have very similar themes, and my Digital Storytelling Project group had already read these sources and became familiar with them, we decided to begin our coding with three main themes; historical, political, and environmental, with economic geography being the main idea to tie these themes back to.  Within these three themes, we began to organize a hierarchical code.  This includes nine key terms that each fall under a theme.  More specifically, Historical data was followed by the key terms imperialism, new economic progression, and slave trade.  Political data was followed by the key terms capitalism, division of labour, and core vs periphery.  Environmental data was followed by the key terms overconsumption, climate change/global warming, and consequences/sustainability.  I have attached images that show this coding system within my sources.

Applying This to My Project:

These methods of coding and these specific sources that I have coded will directly apply to my Digital Storytelling Project because they were gathered from actual sources that we have already read through and used for our annotated bibliography.  Also, I have gone ahead and used the exact same methods of coding right down to the specific shades of colours used to highlight as my group has used for their sources.  This will help keep our information organized and similar for our final project.  We will not have issues with conflicting opinions on ideas because we have organized a coding system that will not allow for this.  I am confident that each of my group members will follow the system correctly.  

Resources:

Schoenberger, E. (2019). Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography—War, Capitalism, and the Making and Unmaking of Economic Geographies. Economic Geography, 96(1),1-22. https://doi-org.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/10.1080/00130095.2019.1686973 

Jenkins, A.W. (2019, November 16). Why Some People Cannot “Believe In” the Science of Climate Change. The Ascent. https://medium.com/the-ascent/why-some-people-cannot-believe-in-the-science-of-climate-change31c45b626b6b#:~:text=PAIN%20theory%20was%20first%20described,%2C%20Immoral%2C%20and%20happening%20Now.&text=The%20PAIN%20is%20unavoidable.,future%2C%20and%20to%20someone%20else.

[rhgeog2260]

GEGO*2260 HELPED ME REDISCOVER MY PASSION

I began in Geography with little to no idea of what I wanted to do with my future. I knew I loved natural systems, biology, history, etc., but I did not have an idea of what I wanted to pursue.

Thanks to the digital storytelling project, I have begun to hone in on where I would like to be post-grad. My subject, historical geography, reminded me how interested I am in the past. It made me remember that all through middle school I had goals to be an archaeologist. Upon further reflection, I noted I also wanted to work with animals - therefore, my current plan is to pursue a masters in paleontology!

I have always found prehistoric creatures extremely fascinating. After taking both evolution and vertebrate biology through the University of Guelph, I know I get excited by these weird creatures, whether they be from the Cambrian, Devonian, Triassic, etc.! I love digging up Earth's past, and look forward to this future of mine.

I have researched several masters programs all around the world, with the most promising one for me being in Edinburgh! I have a passion for travel, so doing this program abroad would be one of my goals.

Thanks to this course, and in particular our digital storytelling project, I have been able to reflect inward and rediscover my passion. These past few online semesters have been mentally challenging, and it can be easy to lose focus of the end goal. But when your courses help you plan ahead, you get to see some light at the end of the tunnel! Our university lives are certainly different from those who studied geography before us, but I'm sure this will only make us better!

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Robin! It seems like you have built an awesome connection with the course and you are using course information to the fullest.  It is awesome to hear that you are definitely going to be taking something away from this course.  Even more so, you have been able to build your own ideas and use content from a project assigned through the course to really discover your passions.  My digital storytelling project focuses on Economic Geography and quite frankly, I am not very interested in pursuing anything in Economics.  So, I think it is so very interesting that you’ve managed to really build a goal and plan your pathways while utilizing this project.  I am in a similar position to you with another one of my Geography courses (GEOG 2110).  I have been learning about glacial ice and climate data recently and this has opened my doors to the idea of becoming a glaciologist.  Before attending this course, I didn’t even know that this could be an occupation and now it’s helping me form a pathway plan.  I always knew that I would be working in some sort of position that connects with climate change and climate data but I had no idea what and every time someone would ask me what I am going to do with my degree I had no idea.  It is awesome that we’ve formed a plan through our courses.  Keep up the great work and you will get there! Also, I have a couple of questions for you...

1. What sub-disciplines do you plan on talking about as well as historical geography during your Digital Storytelling Project (if any)?

2. How long will your masters degree take in Edinburgh?

-Maddison

[mtgeog2260]

Critical Reflexivity Applied In a Real Life Non-Research Example

Throughout the course of GEOG 2260, or Applied Human Geography, I have learned many new concepts and information.  I have also built onto my prior knowledge from previous courses and expanded my understanding of many concepts.  So far, this course has been a blissful learning experience.  However, that does not cancel out the fact that it has been difficult at times.  I have enjoyed all the learning aspects, but at times of testing and assessing, I have not done as well as I would have liked to.  The poor results of some of my assessments has made me realize that if I am passionate about something or truly interested in something, it will either come naturally or the will to work on it and improve it for next time will come naturally.  I have been working harder than ever lately in this course and it has led me to a few personal findings of which I would love to elaborate on!

Something in this course that has resonated with me and that I will consider throughout any research project that I may be involved in at any point in my life is derived from the Week 2 Lecture Powerpoint and Chapter 2 readings in the textbook.  From this lecture powerpoint, I recall learning about critical reflexivity. “Reflexivity is a process of constant, self conscious scrutiny of the self as a researcher and of the research process” (Hooykaas, 2021).  As a researcher, the concept of critical reflexivity is very important in regards to ethics when conducting research.  Through this powerpoint and the textbook, I have learned how to apply and consider the ideas of objectivity, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity.  Not only will these concepts help me as a researcher conduct more ethical and considerate research, but as an individual in society as well.  These concepts can be applied to everyday life and not just research because they all play a role in ethics.  By having a more objective, subjective, and intersubjective mindset, I am now able to have more conversations about controversial topics yet very controlled conversations.  This is because I am now considering what role I play in the conversation and I really consider how my words and actions can affect the actual topic of conversation.  

This being said, I would like to discuss further what I mean with a real life example.  After learning about these concepts, one of my close friends introduced me to a youtuber who sets up tables in public areas with a sign that says “(Controversial Topic), Change My Mind”.  More specifically, I watched an episode about Male Privilege.  I am not going to discuss the actual controversy of this video, however; I will discuss what I noticed which i never would have noticed without being introduced to concepts from this course.  While watching the video, I noticed that the host of the discussion was not argumentative at all and gave people from the public the chance to speak whenever they chose.  Even when he knew they were wrong or he did not agree, he let them finish speaking.  He then went over what they said, politely, to make sure they were both at the same understanding and then in a non-argumentative way, presented his facts and oftentimes proved them wrong.  This allowed the participant to leave the conversation feeling educated and informed rather than wrong and angry.  I believe that critical reflexivity played a large role in making this possible for the host. 

References:

Hooykaas, A. (2021, January 19). Week 2: Philosophy, Power, Politics, and Research Design. Lecture. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/668082/viewContent/2673139/View

[mtgeog2260]

Disclaimer

This blog was created for the GEOG 2260 course ran by The University of Guelph.  Everything posted on this blog is my own words and The University of Guelph has no part in what is written here nor can they be held responsible for any discussion that takes place on this blog.  

[amfgeog2260]

Space and Place: Social Geography in 5 Minutes

Interviewee: Yi-Fu Tuan 

In 1977, Yi-Fu Tuan wrote a book called Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. This was an insightful look at how humans become attached to homes, neighbourhoods, and nations. The book also reflects on the human experience as it relates to space and place, and Tuan speaks as though place is security and space is freedom (University of Minnesota Press 2011). Yi-Fu Tuan is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the field of humanist and social geography. He was born in 1930, and not only would it be incredibly informative to interview him briefly to learn about his research and writing, but to interview someone who has been around for so long would give me insight into the history of social geography looks like, and how it has evolved over his academic career. Here are some questions I would ask Yi-Fu if I was given the opportunity: 

1. How different is your definition of “place” and “space” now, then when you released your book in 1977?

I hope to gain some information about how the actual definition of social geography has changed over time, from someone who reflected on what it means in a book over 40 years ago. 

2. Through continued exponential growth from globalization and technological advancements, are people less attached/appreciative of a sense of place in 2021?

I am curious to get insight into the impact that technology, globalization, and a world of increased movement has had on the individual’s sense of place and space. I wonder if it has become a phenomenon that is less “appreciated” or thought of as important in a world where travel is easily accessible. 

3. How has perspectives of gender, race, social location, and culture played a role in contemporary perspectives of social geography?

Social geography is changing, and the definition of it is starting to incorporate more about sense of place as it relates to socio-cultural inequalities and injustices such as gender, race, and religion. I am interested in Yi-Fu Tuan’s answer as he has seen the shift in history of what we consider important when studying social issues, and in this case geography. 

4. What would argue is the most important thing about researching and reflecting on social geography?

From someone as knowledgeable and influential in this field of study, I would like to know what he considers the most important thing through his years of research, writing, study, and teaching. 

5. Do you think the future of social geographic research will create a more united and equitable international community? Why?

Our digital story group has decided to frame our social geography topic as a timeline. We have broken up each portion of our digital story and research into past, present, and future perspectives of social geography. Since social geography is such a broad topic, we did not want to necessarily narrow it down too much, so we have divided it by time frame, from the origins and first definitions, thinkers of social geography, to what it means to us today and current research, and ending with where social geography might be headed in the future!

All of these questions encapsulate some part of that story, and to have the opportunity to talk with someone who has been a large part of the existence and growth of social geography, would be hugely beneficial to our research, perspectives, and understanding the trends that social geography has taken over time. Apart from rigorous and dependable questions, as the textbook explains, it is important to me that I am asking questions relevant and reflective to someone as well-versed in social geography as Yi-Fu Tuan (Hay 2016, p. 126). On the other hand, it is also important that the answers and information I get from the interview are helpful in my group and I construct a meaningful and robust storyline of social geography. 

The 5-minute window we have to interview is no doubt short, which increases the importance of meaningful, thoughtful, rigorous, and useful questions about the history, research, perspectives, and nuances related to social geography. 

I would love to hear what you think about my questions, and my choice of interviewee. Is there something missing that would make my question/framework more robust and useful? I also look forward to reading your posts and seeing which thinkers you all have decided to focus on!

References

University of Minnesota Press. (2011, August 24). Space and Place. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/space-and-place

Hay, Iain. Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Fourth ed., Oxford, 2016

Tuan, Y. (1977). Space and place : the perspective of experience. University of Minnesota Press.

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Aden, I think that your choice to interview Yi-Fu Tuan is a great one.  This is a very insightful individual for you to interview for your project.  Because of the direct relation Yi-Fu Tuan has to research regarding social geography.  Also, the book that Yi-Fu Tuan has written would probably provide some very useful information for your project as well.  As long as you reference it and give credit to Yi-Fu Tuan when citing or using his work, I see no issues in using the book and even directly quoting it.  

As for your questions, I think that your first question is perfect and will allow you to broaden Yi-Fu Tuan’s understanding of social geography as well.  This is a very strong question.  This is like many of your questions, you have so many well put together questions.  However, I believe that some of them may be too specific and interfere with your interviewee’s creative freedom to answer the questions.  Meaning, your interviewee may feel as though there is a right and wrong answer to your questions.  To fix this, try to make your questions less specific by broadening what it is asking.  For example, instead of asking “Do you think the future of social geographic research will create a more united and equitable international community? Why?” ask “What do you think the future of our community will look like in regards to social geographic research?”. 

Keep up the awesome work Aden!

-Maddison

[mtgeog2260]

Interview On Economic Geography With Dr. Roberta Hawkins

     For my team’s Digital Storytelling Project, we have chosen to explore economic geography and the sub-disciplines involved with it.  Economic geography explores economic processes and the factors that influence these processes.  Some of these influential factors include culture, globalization, etc.  Economic geography is interdisciplinary, meaning it is intertwined with a variety of subfields in geography such as historical, political, and environmental geography.  Because of my major, Environmental Governance, I have been introduced to many environmental and economic courses thus far.  So, when it came time to choose someone to interview who would benefit our research and provide us with educated insightful information, I knew exactly who to contact.  For this interview, I have chosen a professor from The University of Guelph, Dr. Roberta Hawkins.  

     Dr. Roberta Hawkins will be able to answer our questions surrounding economic geography with an environmental geographic approach.  Before the interview, it is important that my team ensures Dr. Roberta Hawkins that she is not obligated to answer any questions that she is uncomfortable with or simply does not want to answer.  Also, we will inform her that our questions have passed an ethics test and she is free to use her own words to answer these questions in any way that she deems fit.  Upon being granted the opportunity to interview Dr. Roberta Hawkins, these are the questions that I would like to ask:

1. What does economic geography mean to you or could you describe economic geography in your own words?

This question is a good question to start off with because it focuses on the main subject of our research yet does not narrow in too much.  This will allow Dr. Roberta Hawkins to start the interview off the way she would like to.

2. Why is economic geography relevant today or could you simply state the relevance of economic geography in general?

This question will hopefully help us get into the subfields of economic geography because economic processes can be easily influenced by these things.  The answer to this question will also help us delve into historical geography because we can compare its relevance today to economic geographies' relevance in the past.  

3. What is the most important/influential moment that you can think of in regards to economic geography?

This question will help us further our discussion about historical geography in regards to economic geography.  Also, this question will help us better understand which factors influence economic processes the most and which ones are most important to the growth of the economy.  

4. Which sub-discipline of economic geography do you believe is the most relevant and why? (political, historical, or environmental geographies)

This question will help me to decipher which sub-discipline is the most relevant/influential to economic geography.  This will help my group make our project more concise and specific. 

5. How do you think globalization will change in the future? (more specifically in the next 25 years)

This question will allow my group to understand the evolution of economic geography and more importantly the processes involved with the economy (globalization) on an international scale.

     I have chosen these questions because they will allow my group to look at economic geography as a past, current, and future situation.  Also, these questions allow for Dr. Roberta Hawkins to have enough creative freedom when answering them.  They are not too specific but will be helpful in determining the main subject to be answered. 

References

Hay, Iain. Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Fourth ed., Oxford, 2016.

[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?

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Caitlyn, 

You have chosen and described a very interesting research project!  Throughout your proposal, you stated very specific details such as the exact questions you would ask your participants during interviews.  By doing so, you have actually convinced me that one day you will be conducting this research!

Also, you have chosen a very relevant research topic.  With the world’s current situation and the Covid-19 pandemic not really slowing down, there seems to be even more pain for the tourism industry to face.  I can appreciate the purpose of your research project as the results related to it would benefit many hard-working individuals.  It is also a very good idea to focus your research around the countries who have had the biggest impact made on them because of Covid-19, this means that these countries will be helped first when a solution arises from the research project.  

With this being said, I have a few questions to ask you surrounding your work on this project...

1. Do you think that there is a direct relationship between the countries that have been impacted the worst and their economic status? 

2. Do you think that there is potential for these countries to bounce back from this impact or will they be dealing with this for decades to come?

3. Which aspect of tourism do you believe has taken the hardest hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

4. After conducting this research, do you think it is partially your responsibility to interfere with rules and regulations if you think a person has wrongfully been denied work? (E.g. would you interfere with the countries government if you believe their Covid-19 rules are too strict?).

-Maddison

[mtgeog2260]

Changing The Minimum Age For Work (in Ontario)

Background & Proposal:

If I were to conduct a research project as a graduated student with limitless resources, I would choose to centre my research around the minimum working age for work in agriculture and its relation to children in Ontario specifically.  Currently, the minimum age for working in Ontario is 14, as long as work does not interfere with school hours.  I believe that it could be beneficial to many aspects of a child’s development if the minimum age for work were to be lowered to 12.  Now, in many cases, there is no reason for any child under the age of 14 to work, however; there are many children that require routine in order to better their current and future selves who have not reached the age of 14 yet.  Also, performing agricultural work (working in crop fields, taking care of farm animals, etc.) allows a child to gain knowledge and information that will benefit them in the future.  Not only would our youth learn while working, they would also gain access to a safe environment.  If children could start working at age 12, they would create an environment which could keep them from committing acts of deviance and furthering bad behaviour in their lives.  

I have chosen agricultural work specifically because I believe it would go against many ethics and morals to force children into any other type of work at such a young age.  Agricultural work is intensive, but more so in a way that would be beneficial for the child.  Also, if more children had been exposed to agricultural work, there might be harder workers and better cooks around today!

In order to go about actually conducting research for this project, I would first select a group of willing and consenting 12 year olds (with permission from their parents first).  I would select roughly 10 of them and schedule half of them to do non-intensive agricultural work at a nearby farm on Saturdays and Sundays for 4 weeks.  The other half of participants would be instructed to live their weekends as per usual.  By the end of the month-long research, I would sit down and interview each participant individually to see how working or not working on weekends has affected them.  Questions that I would ask the participants would give me insight on how they felt about working short-hour days or if working is something they would like to do.  

Expected Results & Who Might Benefit:

After conducting this research, I would expect the participants who worked on the weekends to have lots of new information to share about their experiences and to be eager to go back to work.  This means that working gives the child something to do and they would enjoy that, especially with agricultural work.  There are many children aching to visit farms because of all the things to do there, thus; it would be a good idea to lower the working age so that more kids could get into the routine and stay in it!

Therefore, it is clear that all children 12 years of age and older would benefit from the outcome of this research, if it were to be approved after all supporting findings are submitted.  Also, parents would benefit from this as well because it would allow them more free time to get household chores done or even work themselves.  

Ethics & Myself As a Researcher:

Because this research project tests many boundaries (a legal age set to work) and involves real human participants only aged 12, I would need to go through an REB review process in order to begin conducting research.  This would ensure the safety of my participants and confirm that none of this research has the possibility of harming any of them.  

Approximately 10 years from now, I could use this research experiment to start a movement.  A movement surrounding the change in minimum age for work.  However, not focussing on the direct outcome of this project, it could help me gain leadership skills and assist me in learning how to conduct research properly for my next research project. 

References:

Hooykaas, A. “Ethics” University of Guelph, 2021.

[jbgeog2260]

162 Miles Away and Happy

Agafia

Agafia Lykov lives in the remote Siberian wilderness, 162 miles from civilization, and has been doing so for the past 70 years. Her family fled to the mountains in 1936, in hopes of escaping oppression and death by Stalin. For over 40 years, they lived disconnected from the outside world, battling through the bitter cold, threats of dangerous wildlife, and a constant shortage of food. By 1987, Agafia’s entire family had perished and she lived alone for many years until a Russian geologist moved to a cabin down the hill from her. Agafia still lives there to this day, and researchers from America have traveled to meet her and study her way of life.

Research

In their time with Agafia, the Americans used different research techniques. Rather than asking questions, they incorporated a value-free and bottom-up approach by going in with no expectations and letting her tell them what she wanted. This allowed them to gather information by simply observing her. With qualitative research like this, It can be easy for research to become subjective, however, the Americans were able to keep it fairly objective by letting the results speak for themself. Despite being someone who wanted nothing to do with the rest of society, Agafia seemed to love interacting with new people on her own land and showing them her way of life, and for this reason, I believe this was an effective way of doing research.

The Siberian mountains where Agafia lives

Ethics

Along with being very disconnected from society, there were many ethical considerations the Americans had to make while researching Agafia. This included the different languages they spoke and the idea that they might be intruding on her space. To break the language barrier, the Americans were joined by the director of Vice Russia as their translator. In the past, interactions with the outside world lead to death and health issues for Agafia and her family, so to avoid physical injury, the researchers stayed separate from Agafia in their own tent. They also compensated Agafia for their troubles by bringing her a goat, rooster, and helped her with chores.

Invisible Backpacks

The filmmakers of this documentary had many things in their invisible backpacks. Being white and living in America definitely provided the filmmakers with many opportunities. As well as living in New York City, likely having safe housing and not worrying about what they might eat next. They could have seemed like just average people with as much opportunity as anyone else, but seeing the things that Agafia was missing from her invisible backpack, brought to light what the Americans had, even though they were not necessarily noted.

Me As a Researcher

If I were given the same opportunity, I would have approached this case study slightly different as a student researcher. I believe it would have been beneficial to take more of a top-down approach and ask questions about Agafia’s life growing up, what it was like at first when they had no shelter or food, and how they developed the lifestyle she lives now. Having Agafia decide what she talked about, protected the researchers from asking possibly offensive or invasive questions, however caused them to miss out on meaningful information. Some other ethical considerations I would have made if I were doing this case study, would be to avoid talking about Agafia’s personal life with the geologist. I could tell it made her uncomfortable when she was talking about it and it was not necessarily important information to know about. Despite the changes I would have made, I believe the researchers did a well done, ethical job and paid good respect to Agafia while researching her. 

Best,

Josh

Sources

Vice (2013, April 9) “Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years (Full Length)” Youtube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Josh, 

Great post! I agree with you in saying that the researchers conducting work with Agafia had an invisible backpack on.  The primarily white group, living in New York has very many privileges that they may not even recognize.  In comparison to Agafia, the research team is able to come and go from the remote location by helicopter, this is a privilege.  

Also, I thought it was very kind of the researchers to bring Agafia the goat and rooster that she had requested.  Another ethical consideration that I would like to point out is the fact that the researchers kept Agafia’s remote location a secret to maintain her privacy.  We as viewers are given information of where she lives and we also know that it is a remote location, however, the film makes it known that the spot is inaccessible to people unless they travel by helicopter.  

Also, I would like to discuss some research techniques used by the researchers here.  You pointed out that the researchers used observation to come up with their findings.  I agree with you in saying this.  The researchers used participant observation to collect lots of their information.  In doing so, they got to take part in Agafia’s daily chores and got to experience the work that she does first hand.  I believe that this is very important because it plays a big role in the delivery of information.  

-Maddison

[mtgeog2260]

Surviving The Siberian Wilderness

In 1936, Karp Lykov determined it unsafe to keep living in the populated Russian area that he had been living in.  The premonitions of war and frequent violent changes brought too high of a risk for Lykov.  Karp Lykov decided it would be best to relocate to the Siberian mountains, more specifically; the untouched snow covered biome of the taiga.  This is where he would live with his wife and four children for the rest of his life.  In 1944, Karp’s first daughter, Agafia, was born.  Along with her 3 other siblings, they all managed to live off the scarce resources that the land had to offer.  Food was oftentimes scarce, in fact, Agafia’s Mother met her demise when she starved herself so that her 4 children could eat.  In 1978, after 40 years went by without any communication from the outside world, a team of geologists who had spotted the Lykov’s living arrangements from a helicopter dropped by for a visit.  It was found that the Lykov’s had been so isolated that they did not know World War II had even occurred.  After the visit, Agafia’s 3 siblings became very ill; the geologists had brought pneumonia to the family and killed all 3 of them.  Agafia continued to live off the land for another 25 years after their deaths.  Then, a researcher returned.  Yerofei Sedov moved into a small home very close to Agafia, their relationship is not the best as Agafia finds herself having to do many things for him and is not in favour of many of his actions.  

There are various research techniques that could be employed here.  Some techniques being participant observation and interviews.  The team from the short film that was researching Agafia’s living situation uses participant observation to better understand how she lives.  By assisting Agafia with chores and other practices, the researchers are able to develop a more in depth understanding for these ways of living.  Also, the team conducts various interviews in order to gain information on specific topics.  The team allows Agafia to have lots of creative freedom as she chooses what she gets to share and mostly what is being discussed.  

Throughout the course of their research with Agafia, the research conducted was not very invasive and did an excellent job at allowing Agafia to speak freely.  The invisible backpack worn by the research team outlines their privileges in comparison to Agafia’s.  The research was primarily white men coming from developed countries with warm homes to return to.  Unlike Agafia, the research team has the ability to come and go via helicopter.  This is a privilege that Agafia is unable to enjoy.  Aside from sleeping in tents in the harsh Siberian weather, the research team endures very little struggle conducting this work.  This invisible backpack can be easily identified while watching the film as it is easy to recognize the privileges that the researchers have compared to Agafia.

While filming and conducting research with Agafia, the team of researchers would have had to make some ethics considerations, which they did.  In order to maintain a level of privacy for Agafia, the researchers slept in tents and only entered her home when invited.  Also, they allowed Agafia to speak freely instead of answering specific questions all of the time.  Also, the team had considered the fact that a language barrier may exist between them and Agafia.  Because of this, they had a translator join them for the research.

If I were given the same opportunity to both research the family and to communicate my findings to a larger audience of peers, I would follow similar steps that these researchers did.  I think that filming the research efforts while they were being conducted is a very crucial part in displaying it for a larger audience.  Not only would the information collected be communicated to them, they would also have a visual representation of how the information was collected and who was directly involved.  As a student researcher approaching this topic, it is important to consider my own “invisible backpack” as I have many of the same privileges that the researchers filmed do.  It would be important for me to be as minorly invasive to Agafia as possible.  I would make sure to come equipped with a translator in order to gather accurate information.  Also, I would keep in consideration that Agafia is at high risk of contracting diseases from the outside world.  In doing so, I would take precautions while doing my own research to not get her sick.  

References:

Vice (2013, April 9) “Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years (Full Length)” Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 2: Philosophy, Power, Politics, and Research Design [PowerPoint Presentation]. GEOG2260, Guelph.

[asgeog2260]

The Fate of Kiribati

After watching the assigned video entitled ‘Kiribati: The Sinking Islands Being Destroyed by Climate Change’ I have now become aware of, yet another beautiful area affected by global warming. In this week’s blog prompt, I have been hypothetically tasked by the countries government to help find ways to mitigate these current issues. Firstly, I would like to point out the importance and power that carrying out research can have on advancing a particular study. In this case, pushing research in this area could prove to be valuable is several ways, such as assessing timelines, providing explanations, and encouraging solutions. Thus, there is a great deal of power within the research!

Roles of Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Intersubjectivity

Secondly, drawing focus on the issue while considering the roles of objectivity, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity; there are a few points that come to mind. Objectively speaking, I would simply lean on the facts of the matter; helping develop an understanding that the situation is very real and the severity that the actual research shows. Subjectively speaking, I would have to consider my personal interpretation though the connection that I would develop with the citizens. Attempting to understand their particular situation, which would provide even more motivation to assist them. Finally, I would then link both the current issue with the emotional value that has been provided in order to make change. At this point the motivation to make change would certainly be present, the only thing left to do would be to work with others (whether it be government workers or external helpers) to attempt to invoke major change.

Links to Human Geography

There are many geographical approaches that fit well in this particular situation; but in my opinion there are two that really stand out. I believe that cultural/historical perspectives play a major role in this case as the locals explained the great value that both the buildings and land held. This is a place with great ancestral value, being forced away would pose a true threat to their culture. Secondly, the topic of social geography should also be mentioned to consider both the native society as well as our society as outsiders looking in. Noting that many here in North America are less concerned with issues that don’t directly impact them directly. Thus, working out ways to stress the importance of the matter and why this issue will affect them in coming years if it is not resolved. For example, explaining to Americans living in the southern states along the Atlantic that after Kiribati sinks Florida could be next.

My Actions

In my opinion, this situation is already in need of dire help. With that being said, I believe that the solution will require assistance from more than just the natives in Kiribati. Therefore, I stress the importance of awareness, as well as funding and change from others around the world. Everyone needs to play their role in limiting carbon emissions; which can be done in several different ways. I would also work to ensure that the world became aware of the current issue, potentially through social media platforms and new reports. I feel as if there is no hope for the island county if the only effort to save the land are poorly funded temporary barriers. With proper research, funded protective measures, and global changes in halting global warming; saving the county of Kiribati may still be possible. 

References

AJ+ (Director). (2014, December 8). Kiribati: The Sinking Islands Being Destroyed By Climate Change[Video file]. Retrieved January 18, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P7jXveokDY

Anote Tong, M. (2019, April 01). Opinion | Our island is disappearing but the president refuses to act. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/10/24/kiribati/

[mtgeog2260]

Hi Antonio, great post! I very much agree with you in saying that it is important to develop an understanding that the situation is very real and the severity that the actual research shows.  Many further developed countries need to understand that Kiribati is fighting climate change on the frontlines, however; once Kiribati succumbs to this problem, other countries run a very real risk of being next.  I think that it is important to include this as part of your research plan as it would play a huge role in gaining attention from other countries.  How would you like to get the information about Kiribati out there to the rest of the world? Is there a way of doing this that is more efficient that using social media platforms?

Also, I noticed that you said this situation requires more than just the assistance of Native from the islands of Kiribati.  The Kiribati Government has played a role in reaching out to the larger countries.  The Government has established rules and regulations to control the islands growing Tuna industry so that Tuna fishers will have stock available in years to come.  This will also prevent over fishing.  The people from Kiribati are hoping that more developed countries will see them doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint and then follow in their path by reducing their carbon emissions as well.  These rules and regulations that were put in place really show that no matter how small or underdeveloped a country is, they are always able to do their part. 

Sincerely, Maddison