I really enjoyed Craig’s presentation o…
I really enjoyed Craig’s presentation on interviews this week as it really gave me some confidence to be ambitious when deciding what research questions can be asked and who you can request an interview from. He highlighting that perseverance is key to a successful research process is important. In previous research, I have found that I have come to a dead end with communication lines and so approaching from a different angle or different institution is very important. Craig’s research is a sensitive topic so gaining access to the right people can be difficult but his perseverance is evident in just how many interviews he did and the interviewee’s he managed to get a hold of. This, I think, will be important for us in Williams Lake.
Adrian Cheng, 
Melissa Lee 2:33 am on March 12, 2016 Permalink |
It was a capturing presentation indeed overall with his story but what he had to say about interviews was so valuable to hear! You are very right when you say that his research is a sensitive one requiring his potential interviewees to talk about sensitive issues, so the amount of actual interviews he was able to pull off and the number of people he was able to get in touch with was very impressive. I was surprised to learn about all the cautious and tedious steps he did (and encourages us to adopt for our own research if we plan to conduct interviews) in order to “negotiate the access” such as the preliminary background research on potentials, and the extent to which one should extend their flexibility to meet up with the interviewees.
I think some of our class’ Williams Lake research topics can be culturally and politically sensitive (for example, my group’s research involves figuring out how many trees can be sustainably cut down considering that there are many traditional uses of the land by the Aboriginal peoples). Attaining access to the interviewees may not be a huge problem for many but it may be hard to gain their trust for them to completely open up to us. This is where Craig’s suggestion to keep a “political neutrality” may come to be important.
Overall I think Craig’s presentation really does make us wary about both the little details and the bigger picture about the whole process and considerations when it comes to performing/preparing for interviews in research.
wileywilkins 6:46 pm on March 15, 2016 Permalink |
Hey so I couldn’t get this blog to open up on my home computer. im actually surprised I was able to get it to open this time. So, since this blog post is late, I might as well talk about something that happened after this assignment was do; which was Max Rittz presentation today on sound geographies.
The first thing that hit my mind when he brought up sound geographies was this assignment I did last year for ‘urban environments’ or something along those lines. awesome class! any who one of the assignments we had (the only one that I didn’t like) was mapping noise pollution in Vancouver. we walked around a conglomeration of like 6 blocks and mapped the sound. I had found the assignment kind of pointless, until today! seeing a different approach to sound geographies by mapping the sound of boats in the ocean and where they are most prevalent? that was really interesting, and worth while. I now have respect for that assignment last year, and sound geographies in general. I have never thought about geography in the terms of sound. and now im going to think about it all of the time.
I wonder if using sound for geography will become more prevalent in research? I think Rittz brought it up, but sound (not language) is a way to communicate with all people. Most people are going to infer close to the same things from sounds, weather they are intrusive and aggressive, or soft and pleasant. Its one of the many things that makes us human that we can all agree on(besides people that are deaf I guess).
wileywilkins 6:47 pm on March 15, 2016 Permalink |
*whether
Adrian Cheng 11:12 pm on March 15, 2016 Permalink |
I totally agree with you. With each and every in class speaker, I have come to realize more and more how sensitive field research can be towards the participants in a study. With this in mind, I also wanted to comment on how important and intricate methodologies can be when carrying research out. To me, the methodologies are like the planting style of a researcher. Like a gardener, a researcher needs to keep a respectful yet flexible way on carrying out research with the risk of ruining the garden.