Any thoughts to share on last week’s guest speakers or on the timeline activity? You are only required to add to the discussion forum week 3,6,9,12 but the conversations have been wonderful so far so let’s keep it going.
mcphees
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mcphees
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mcphees
Thanks for getting the conversation started Mielle and I am happy to see that you all enjoyed Joey’s talk and learned something from it. Don’t let reading week allow you to neglect your projects and your community partners. We have an exciting Tuesday when we get back with three guest speakers and free lunch!
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mcphees
So we are now in week 5 where our focus is on the focus group. We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the focus group as a research tool and your experience of doing the trial one in class.
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mcphees
It’s week 3 already! I am looking forward to reading your comments and questions – let’s start a conversation here.
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Eleanor Shorrock
I will start!
I found the notion of a ‘co-educational’ process with our community partners a particularly interesting point that our guest speaker made. It made me consider what ‘knowledge’ is taught in University, how it is used when conducting research in the field and subsequent presentation of research findings. In his paper, “Decolonizing the production of geographical knowledge’s?”, Gibson highlights the tensions in representing academic work. He notes that the balance between ‘speaking for’ and creating an ‘authentic’ voice is one that presents a particular difficulty. Gibson does not intend to suggest that “radical dissolving of boundaries” occurred with his work with Aboriginal musicians and this is likely to be the case for our research with First Nations communities. However, working with our community partners to produce both a research question and devising ways to present our findings should help to represent First Nations epistemologies rather than imposing a
Eurocentric/academic knowledge and avoid ‘speaking for’ our community partners. By moving away from individualistic research towards one that includes all voices, our projects should be a co-educational process, something I believe to important.-
Mielle Michaux
Like Eleanor, I have also been thinking about my role as a member of the university– and how I need to be mindful of the ways that academia can condition its members to view ourselves as the ultimate experts on what we study. While I may have learned to research and write in a way that is designed to sound knowledgeable, our community partner is the one with the real knowledge and experience of placer mining and its culture. To respect their knowledge and learn from out interactions in the coming months, it will be necessary for me to be honest with myself about what my skills are, and what skills, experience, and knowledge I lack, and to break away from the idea that these gaps need to be hidden.
Related to this goal of pursuing knowledge, our conversation in class about the work of Laud Humphreys on the “tearoom trade” has made me think beyond the ethics of research design, and into the ethics of conducting research in the first place. As a researcher and generally curious person (many of us can probably relate), it is frustrating to come across a question with no answer. That being said, I have come to realize that this frustration is not, in of itself, justification for research that might be invasive or harmful to the participants. My desire to know something does not trump someone else’s right to privacy, and in my role as an academician I must sometimes leave my curiosity aside to protect someone else. -
brennwilliams
Great reflection Eleanor, I think that your recognition of the importance and difficulty of an authentic voice is particularly relevant to our course and more specifically, our work with various stakeholders throughout the term. I think that this not only relates to the concepts presented by Madeleine Meek, but also our discussion on positionality. I think that is important to recognize our own backgrounds and recognize that each and every one of us is approaching our research from a different background which has engrained various boundaries which we must dissolve in order to conduct effective research. As you noted, this is particularly true when dealing with Aboriginal stakeholders as we live in a society which has been constructed through colonization.
To add to this discussion, I have been pondering Kolb’s experiential learning cycle which was presented by Madeleine. I appreciate that this model emphasizes reflection, and after our class and subsequent discussion I began to reflect on my past experiences with community based experiential learning. The experience itself has been extremely valuable, however I have realized that it is quite difficult to step back from your project and truly reflect on your personal progress until the project is complete. It is only after my community based experiences that I have truly been able to reflect on what I have accomplished and how I may have improved both my experience and work. This term, I hope that I am able to do this more frequently. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to step back from a project you are immersed in so that this may be accomplished?
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brennwilliams
Apologies for the typos 🙂 Turns out we are unable to edit comments once they have been posted! To clarify, the second half of the first paragraph should read “I think that is important to recognize our own background and acknowledge that each and every one of us is approaching our research from a different perspectives which has engrained various boundaries which we must dissolve in order to conduct effective research.”
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Amy Shaw
Brenn – I to have been thinking about Kolb’s experimental learning cycle, and how we often get caught up with collecting research in the field and analysing the data rather than reflecting on your own process of learning. This is why I think that the individual reflection section of our blogs will be very useful to document weekly not only what we have accomplished in terms of the project, but be able to reflect on our personal learning. For me, I hope using the reflection section of the blog will allow me to see a change in the way I learn. For example, the vast majority of my learning throughout my high school and university career has been classroom learning, where a teacher has told me what other people have experienced. As I am so conditioned to this way of learning, I think it might be difficult for me at first to distance myself from thinking ‘It’s written in a textbook so it must be right.’ Instead, as Madeleine suggested, I must consider the community partner as co-educators, and use their knowledge to be critical of what I have learned in the classroom
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emily anne dunn
Like Amy and Brenn I have also been pondering on the role of the reflections, not just within this course and specific research, but in any future research I do. Unfortunately, it appears that the role of reflection often goes understated throughout research – indeed, I have never been encouraged to reflect on my own work throughout a project and only briefly afterwards – and have been thinking of what a large asset it can be when addressing any problems. Given that working alongside the community partner and seeing them as an equal is so key to this research, the role of reflection is perhaps one of the most important – as by documenting our thoughts and having a real chance to reflect on our own work, positions and any problems each week, we can document both our personal and professional progress. Despite its early days, I hope to take the process of reflection – via a blog – with me in my future research and introduce it to any other research projects I undertake within my lifetime. Like Amy, it is rare that I’ve been able to document my own experiences, rather than relying on the experiences of others and am excited to have the chance to. I think reflection is also key to understanding our own positionality and how our experiences may shape our positions and any conclusions we draw and is an important tool in addressing this. To me, Gibson’s article seems to be more a reflection of their own experiences than an instructive academic paper and made it a refreshing read.
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theriseofthesun
In response to Emily’s discussion surrounding the process of reflection in research, I would like to address the ways in which reflection is central to better understanding the successes and the drawbacks of the research methodologies and practices we choose to undertake. Also by reflecting on the process throughout our research study we are able to identify what worked and what didn’t work in order to address the gaps that could potentially be filled along the way, or in future attempts.
As an undergraduate I have often found myself relying on the peer-reviewed scholarly works as the go-to trustworthy medium of attaining knowledge. However through an expansion of research methods, I have been able to attain knowledge through other means, such as through interviews conducted with non-profit organisations that work to manage and improve social housing and healthcare programs in and around Metro Vancouver area. While I, as a researcher, was able to read and learn about different approaches to successful and unsuccessful social housing projects, it was highly beneficial to speak with members of the community, that may not otherwise had their voices recorded in the world of academia found in University scholarship.
It was through the reflection of my experiences as a researcher that enabled me to understand the complexities of knowledge-production. Also in regards to positionality as researchers, it is always important to remain open-minded to receive new knowledges that may challenge our prior understandings and beliefs, as we are diving into communities and social contexts that we are unfamiliar with. It is okay for other people, places, and things to challenge our dominant notion of thinking, as it generates a discussion between different parties and allows only for more growth to occur.
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atherias
Brenn, to respond to your question about how to reflect on a learning experience as it is happening, my suggestion is to talk it out. Although reflection is a personal experience, I think that a lot can be uncovered by describing our own experiences to others, whether sharing with our research groups, exchanging perspectives with the community partner, discussing with class peers, or even just with friends. I think these discussions can spark inspiration and insights that may otherwise remain uncovered. As we push ourselves to put experiences into words, we can synthesize thoughts and make sense of our learning, and saying things out loud really gives us the opportunity to express our passion for the work we are doing. I think this is another way to complement a largely individual learning experience that university often fosters. It turns learning into an exchange, much like the exchange of knowledge that will occur between our groups and the community partners, and can really enrich our experience. Of course, this really depends on each individual person’s level of comfort and communication preferences, but I’ve found that pushing myself to speak has made me much more conscious about my experiences. I really look forward to getting to know everyone in the class better so that we can feel comfortable having some of these discussions in class.
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adrian cheng
Aherias, I agree with your point of disclosing some of your personal history to further the progress of research. To speak about experience is to process your own history and perceptions; speaking. Speaking and discussing about how history shapes our view, as well as how that view can create biases in our world-view is very important to bring to the surface and acknowledge. Drawing from my experience volunteering with the Mental Health Network, I know that speaking about experiences can open the floor and encourage others to do the same. That way, everyone in the process can come to a deeper understanding as to where the other participants are coming from.
However, one thing to note I think is that personal experiences can be very overpowering, possibly to the extent that other people’s opinions are not fully digested and processed. I think a balance is hard to strike, but once that balance is achieved, I believe that understanding can be achieved.
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alison fung
Brenn – your point about everyone needing to try to dissolve boundaries from our experiences in order to conduct good research is very interesting. I have been thinking about how past experiences (work, volunteer, academic and personal) will shape our research, and ultimately, influence the development of Williams Lake. From experience in both government and non-profits, I wondered if I would veer to one side more when working on this project, and which side made more sense. While we need to balance our interests and past experiences to remain objective in order to contribute best to the sustainability of Williams Lake, it is our collective differences influencing the projects that makes this research so interesting as well. I also wonder, as the majority of us have not been to Williams Lake and are “outsiders”, how the community would react to this, and if they would be more or less interested in our views and work since we do not know the local context as well as they do.
When we are interacting with community partners and others, since it is so different than usual classwork, I am able to reflect on how experiential learning can be more beneficial (though not to say standard lecture learning is not useful too!). I am very appreciative that in this course we are getting to work with community partners and do “real work”. I have also found that when discussing strengths in my group, we were talking about skills from work and volunteer experience, rather than only academic strengths, which I have not experienced in other group projects at school. This class, to me, seems to be a great combination of work experience and school. Has anyone found a similar or different experience so far?-
kzivny
I like how you mentioned that it is our “collective differences influencing the projects that makes this research so interesting.” I love that the groups we are working with are so dynamic and every group member has a different background/experience or major/faculty. We can learn a lot from each other even just in the ways we conduct research. I have never been involved in a research project like this before where the outcome of our research has such a tangible impact on a real community. When you mention that we are “outsiders” to the Williams Lake community and wonder how they will react to our projects, I had similar thoughts when doing the activity the first week about our positionality as researchers. While we are still in the process of conducting background research on the community, it doesn’t feel as hands on yet as it will be when we start to develop our specific projects. That being said, I enjoyed the library workshop we just had on the different research tools we should take advantage of to help us with our projects!
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bridgitte taylor
I echo many of the sentiments expressed above! One particular thought I had this week came after reading Fairhead and Leach’s article. I was reflecting on the notion of how important it is to stay away from Eurocentric, colonial impulses when approaching research and policy options – this is especially of interest to me as an IR student – and how important it is to instead consider systematic approaches. By the same thread, depending on our own positionality, it can sometimes be difficult to suggest deliverables that tackle systemic issues, while still wanting to provide tangible, accessible options. In the context of the article for example, they cite various recommendations provided by social scientists; while perhaps made in good faith, many of them fail to recognize the complexities that surrounded environmental degradation.
This is something I’m definitely trying to keep in mind when approaching our project – how can I contribute solid and useful policy recommendations (in our case, a carpool project), while still recognizing that the need for a carpool project is in part the result of various systemic barriers faced some of its potential users?
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angelaho
I’ve really enjoyed looking through all of the blogs this week, as it gave me a better sense of how the rest of the class is doing with their research project. It seems like most groups are still in the early stages of identifying their research question and action plan. One blog that caught my eye belonged to the group working with the Cariboo Friendship Society. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to leave a comment on their blog, so I figured that I could share my thoughts here.
The group working with the Cariboo Friendship Society posed various research questions, but the one that interested me the most is the following:
“How do the effects of residential schools continue to be felt in Indigenous communities and what are the effects of foster care on child development?”
I was wondering how the Cariboo Friendship Society team plans to test out this research question. With regards to examining the effects of residential schools on Indigenous communities, how do you plan on exploring this topic? (i.e., will you conduct interviews, analyze data, etc?) Last week’s class activity on ethics reminds us to consider the ethical dilemmas that arise when conducting research on populations with vulnerabilities. From my understanding, uncovering and examining traumatic experiences can be traumatic in and of itself. Considering the sensitive nature of your research topic, does your group have a plan to safeguard against potential negative effects that arise from exploring a delicate and often personal subject?
I don’t expect the Cariboo Friendship Society team to have an answer right away, but I hope these questions will be useful in helping your group refine your research questions!
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courtenay desiree crane
In response to the Chris Gibson article “Decolonizing the Production of Geographical knowledges? Reflections on Research with Indigenous Musicians”
I do not understand how it is possible to decolonize if you are already situating yourself in a post-colonial world. I would be interested in hearing Gibson’s reasons for using that term to label Australia today. I did not see a footnote or any reasoning behind using the term, so it seems like it is something naturalized or taken for granted as true and not needing an explanation. I do not agree with calling Australia post-colonial, or neo-colonial. This implies that colonialism had an ending point and the current state is somehow advanced beyond that. I do not see colonialism as a period of time in the past; I see it as an ongoing process. I agree with scholar Patrick Wolfe, who explains how settler-colonialism is “a structure not an event” (Wolfe, 388). “At an academic conference on post-colonialism” Aboriginal comedian Bobbi Sykes asked: ‘What? Post-colonialism? Have they left?’ (Bobbi Sykes, as quoted in Linda Tuhiwai Smith, 25).
Sources
Gibson, C. (2006). Decolonizing the production of geographical knowledges? reflections on research with indigenous musicians. Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, 88(3), 277-284.Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples (2nd;2; ed.). New York;London;: Zed Books.
Wolfe, P. (2006). Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.Journal of Genocide Research, 8(4), 387-409.
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Marina Favaro
I totally agree, Courtenay, and I also picked up on that in the Gibson reading, which I found incredibly valuable otherwise. There is so much power implicit in word choice and when I hear “post-colonial” it makes me uneasy that it is possible to dismiss the ongoing neocolonization and the systemic issues left in its wake. What I did find valuable about his contribution, especially in regards to our research project is that Gibson acknowledges that as a privileged party in the non-Indigenous researcher/Indigenous subject binary, “We could not speak for Aboriginal (persons), and ultimately, as non-indigenous writers employed in Australian universities, we were always forced to acknowledge and negotiate our alignment with these neo-colonial institutions.” (238) In this sense, he does acknowledge the ongoing colonization, refuting his sentiment about Australia as post-colonial.
I believe that the same concern is relevant to myself and my group, and also speaks to the sensitivity capacities that must be developed in order for us to be effective researchers and counterparts to our community partner. Furthermore, in spite of the respect for women historically in many Indigenous communities, demonstrable by matrilineal societies and reverence for clan mothers, I am aware that the colonial imposition of values has meant the disenfranchising of women in many communities. I wonder to what extent our predominantly female group will garner respect from the community members with whom we will be working with.
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Anton Metalnikov
While it is obviously at a much different level, your discussion of colonialism actually reminded me of the visit to Williams Lake we will all be making. In modern times, colonialism manifests itself in many different forms, and can be visible as much in cases of forceful takeovers as it is through something like cultural imperialism. Therefore, we must be careful when working with the citizens of Williams Lake to avoid imposing our own views and assumptions onto their issues, and really pay close attention to local customs we may not be familiar with. While this is especially true for groups such as my own, as we will be working with a First Nations group, I believe that remaining conscious of our own prior experiences, as May discussed in class today, is important to keep in mind no matter what group we are in. Balancing the ideas we have for our research projects with the desires of our community partners will be an ongoing theme to be mindful of as we progress through the term.
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wileywilkins
Today during class, we had a guest lecturer whom showed a short video clip. Before she played the video she asked us to write down what we noticed, or observed while we watched. After the video was over, she asked us to discuss with people next to us what we thought was going on in the video. And I thought to myself, and in the discussion that I had no idea what was going on in the video clip. I was able to compare it to things I have seen before and I was able to make some assumptions with my complete lack of knowledge. My ideas were as following: first I thought maybe it was arranged marriages- the girls looked awkward and nervous and the guys looked older. Then I noticed that the music in the background was Spanish so I thought that maybe it was a quinceanera celebration- however none of the decorations really resembled that, just the ages of some of the girls and the bright colors. By the end I decided I had no idea what I had watched. What I found interesting though, is that in my mind I wondered if my initial two ideas/guesses were in some way rude for me to have presumed- like oh, there is Spanish music and young girls- it’s a quinceanera- or oh there are nervous girls whom look like they are not from here with older men- its arranged marriages.
So when we were asked to share our ideas, knowing both of mine were wrong, but maybe decent guesses, I felt awkward to share them because I didn’t know if they would sound off color, I figured they would sound ignorant, but drawing the line between something ignorant and something offensive, I think is a hard line to draw. I wonder if it’s normal for all people in a research situation to have these thoughts, and assumptions based off of very little to no evidence as to what’s going on. And is it right to vocalize these assumptions if you don’t know anything that is going on.
Then I wondered, it has to be normal for anybody in a research situation in which they know nothing about what they are seeing, to make random guesses and assumptions, but when do random guesses and assumptions based off of what is seen cross into a realm of discomfort of even possible insult? As researchers should we just except that we are going to make wrong assumptions and possibly offend people, should we keep our mouths shut until we know what’s going on in all situations, or should we hope and assume people will be understanding of our outside presents and use this to direct our research, questions, and assumptions in a project?-
amy luo
I recently came down with a very bad case of bronchitis so I’ve been falling behind on class. However, I took a class with Siobhan last semester, Social Research Methods, so luckily I have some prior background and knowledge on the research methods we are learning about. Similar to this class, we had to conduct a research project with a community partner for that class, but our topic was focused on a UBC campus partner and reducing waste on campus. I’m excited for this course because already I’m learning a lot and thinking about my positionality in ways I didn’t think of in my last project. I think mainly because this course focuses on a community deeply rooted in aboriginal culture, which is something a bit unfamiliar to me. My last research project was to do mainly with students on UBC campus, which often we don’t think too hard about because as part of this group it seems so fluid. I’m glad to have this experience where I have to think harder and reflect more carefully on my positionality. What’s also been great so far is having Courtenay in our group, who is also of Aboriginal descent. On several occasions she has brought a lot of insider knowledge to our group and it have been really insightful to hear things from her perspective.
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Marcus Jung
Wiley, I understand exactly how you feel. When we were talking about what we perceived and when Mai was asking us what we thought, I was apprehensive and hesitant to speak my mind as I did not want to be unintentionally offensive with something I may have said. It makes me wonder whether it is what we are saying that makes something seem offensive or the way in which we say it. Perhaps it is something different in that we must acknowledge our lack of knowledge in this area. Considering our positionality, I feel that we as researchers or even as simply as students, we may be faced with these scenarios of discomfort when interacting with different communities, cultures, fields of study etc. An open question for everyone is whether there is a way to reduce or properly address this challenge of balancing expressing our own thoughts from the framework we have with not being (unintentionally) offence.
I also wanted to share that I am so thankful to be taking part of this class. Similar to a few other students in the class, I have been fortunate enough to have gone on UBC’s International Service Learning (ISL) program last summer to Uganda. The ISL is part of the Centre for Community Engaged learning and many of the concepts that I have learned in this program are brought up in our class, such as asset based community development and participatory observation. Upon returning home, I felt incredibly uneasy that all of this learning decelerated so quickly as we returned back to the busy school schedule. There were so many things that I wanted to explore but just could not find the time for. But this class is allowing to reinvestigate the things I have learned on my trip at a community level. Every lecture floods me with memories of my experience abroad which I am incredibly thankful for because I miss the family I have made Uganda so incredibly much and I have time to, in a sense, reconnect with my experiences.
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Kasper Richter
I don’t think that there was anything particularly wrong about those initial assumptions, because from what I understood that was the point of today’s exercise. In fact I imagine that those of us who do not have a great deal of knowledge about the local first nations groups will probably encounter similar situations as we are working on this project, as well as in future projects in general.
But when faced with such situations, whether in a research context or otherwise, I find that it works best to ask someone who is familiar with the subject matter to explain it for me either before or after the fact. Having the appropriate context is important to understanding different cultures and traditions, especially when one is supposed to conduct research on the subject presented to us. And generally, I’ve found that bringing attention to my own ignorance isn’t usually considered offensive. After all, I am an outsider in these instances. It is an unfair expectation that I should have the same cultural or social familiarity as someone who has been immersed in them. In fact, I feel that highlighting my own ignorance and asking someone who is more familiar with whatever it is I am experiencing shows that I am willing to learn and trying to understand.
Then again I am speaking as someone who has not taken many research methods classes. My own thoughts on the matter are indubitably influenced by this, and I invite the perspective of others to illuminate this topic even further.
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cheng yee seah
I agree with what both of you touched on, Kasper and Marcus! I think it’s definitely a normal experience to feel lost or confused with what’s going on during a participant observation as part of our research, especially when you are entering a new community where there may be cultural or social differences.
I think as May suggested today, it’s important when we are working with a community, that we are building these crucial relationships as part of the whole experience. A large part of our research is influenced and shaped by the researcher(s), so building these relationships with our community partner can help enrich our experience, but also their experience collaborating with you. At the same time, it may help us be more comfortable reaching out for help (or helping us answer our questions), and less chances of people getting offended if they are people you are working close to who understand your intentions. I think this feeling of discomfort as Marcus suggested is something we should embrace, as it often highlights our own positionality amongst a particular group of people, and it is usually the time when we can learn the most. Asking questions can often be a good sign to show that you are trying to build a mutual collaboration with your partners. It can help balance the power dynamics between the two groups by acknowledging and allowing our partners to know that we are not experts by any means, but that we are eager to learn more in order to collaborate on a project together.
I think it’s great that you are reflecting and questioning this awkwardness that you felt today too Wiley! I think being aware of all these thoughts and how you feel during this process is such a big part of participant observation, so it’s definitely a great start (and practice) in helping you take down useful notes when you have to. I initially had similar thoughts when I was trying to figure out what was going on in the video. It’s interesting how perhaps our past experiences/knowledge (or lack of knowledge) helps us try to make immediate connections to things we may be familiar with during such a time-pressured situation.
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Melissa Lee
I really enjoyed May’s lecture on participant observation today and found it very valuable for the research journey we are all about to embark on. I found her class activity in particular cut out the major differences in data collection between mere observation from afar and active participant observation.
I honestly was very unaware of the many considerations she laid out about performing this research method, especially the limits that it has (ex. we tend to privilege certain senses, becoming too focused on sight rather than smell for example; observation and representation are not “innocent”/objective because we approach situations with the prior experiences/unconscious biases we carry along with us; knowledge is differently valued; and ways of perception are different for each community). These limits, she says, reflect the constant ethical dilemmas she faces throughout her research. May has definitely opened my eyes up to be cautious and critical of my positionality and has reminded me to keep an open mind when entering research.
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Nelly Leo
Thanks for starting the discussion on today’s lecture Melissa! I had also never realized that we have tendencies to privilege sight and sound so I’m really glad that I can learn to reflect more on how my senses affect my observations of the world and the construction of realities around me.
While I agree that representations and objectives are never innocent, I’m wondering how information gathered through participant observations or other “less neutral” approach stand in academia and our science biased world? From my experience and how I have been taught so far, science (be it natural or social) is knowledge that is tested and should be able to replicated by others. There also seems to be a lot of emphasis on neutrality when conducting research to be able to produce a holistic and “trustworthy” result. The nature of participant observation incorporate researcher’s bias and understandings that would be very diverse if conducted by different persons. Are knowledges formed through such method considered equal to less personal approach? -
Nelly Leo
Thanks for bringing in the lecture as a discussion topic Melissa! Similar to your experience, I thought it was really eye opening to find out that we tend to privilege certain senses. It will definitely prompt me to reflect on my experiences and understanding of the world around me. It’ll be interesting to see why I construct certain realities based on which senses I use the most while in the moment.
On the topic of the lecture however, while i understand that observation and representations are never innocent, I wonder how methods such as participant observation or other “less neutral” approach in research fare in academia or in knowledge making? In my experience so far, I tend to see a preference in academia for neutrality in research or in knowledge making as detaching oneself supposedly creates a more objective knowledge, hence must be the real deal. I was also told that science (be it social or natural) is knowledge that is tested and replicable, the last component is important in preserving the “truth” value of science. Understanding that participant observation carries researcher’s bias and each individual researcher will make sense of things differently according to their own understanding/senses/background, etc, how does this method defends its credibility in creating knowledge that centres around narratives of people? -
Cheng Yee Seah
Can’t seem to find the box to start a new post sorry 🙁 But I definitely agree that today’s lecture brought out some key questions to do with positionality within research. I’ve also been thinking a lot about how this week’s reading has a lot of connection to our ideas of data collection and the power dynamics that plays into that. After today’s class discussion and completing our Week 3 assignment, I found many strong links between the two, and what this might mean for the next few months ahead. The reading definitely raised questions about who holds the power in deciding what should be documented and produced into data visualizations.
After going through many tables, charts and graphs over the weekend, it’s interesting to see how all this information went through filters/processes/exceptions in order to produce a set of data that can be displayed on a graph or a map. It made me think about how much information DOESN’T get displayed or shown, and how much it doesn’t tell us about a certain area or group of people. Although they can be very helpful at times, we often don’t think about how or who helped to produce this information, especially when they are from authorized and legitimate sources such as a .gov or .ca site.
Even though it’s still quite early in the semester, it may be interesting for your groups to consider how you guys might want to present your final findings. What will be the most appropriate and relatable way to display your data? Who is your main audience? How can we convey the data in such a manner that can keep the “human aspect” of the interviews, focus group discussions and genuine conversations that may take place over the course of our time at Williams Lake? It has definitely helped me think about “different” ways we can display our final project for School Dsitrict 27 in ways that can actually be useful to the students and community members in SD27. I think it will also be a good time to push these boundaries of how formal research is assumed and expected to be produced, as we often lose so much enriched value by doing so.
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Donna Liu
I have also been thinking about the ways in which we might present our research. As May suggested in our lecture today, our role as researchers is to tell stories about the communities we may be observing and working with. Because we have the opportunity to build personal relationships with the community, we can work towards capturing a more visceral experience and knowledge of our research. I believe that our final projects have a lot of potential to be powerful tools that communicate stories of the communities at Williams Lake beyond academic formats. However, similarly to you, I have also considered how we may attempt to fit our findings into frameworks and tools that distort the voices of the community. Additionally, it will be interesting to see how our subjectivities will manifest in our research and how we may choose to address them or eliminate them from our presentation.
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gabriel olivella
I would like to expand on the topic that Melissa brought up in this discussion forum about the presentation that we just had with May about participant observation. I have been thinking throughout the day about how the act of participating is essential in gaining a better understanding of the issue that is being studied. From my perspective, I think participant observation has more advantages than limitations when doing research. In principle, and this is my personal viewpoint, in order to grasp a good sense of what a research topic is, the researcher has to go through a previous process of investigation. This investigation has to obviously encompass the academic, but there is also an equally relevant side to research and that is the human take on things. Our human aspect possesses the main channels to our understanding as individuals: the senses. The acts of hearing, smelling, touching, chanting, and flowing along the patterns of the topic under research are to a great degree the natural way of profiting from innate open gates to knowledge and understanding that our physical bodies are able to attain through sensorial learning. Without putting aside the objectivity, rigour, and ethics that a research should ideally have, in my opinion I think members of the academia and researchers should consider paying more attention to the equally large source of learning that their senses could provide them by plunging themselves into the context of the topic under investigation. This statement particularly applies to social research, where the topic studied are humans (Very important) behaving in response to the information that they receive from their surroundings; a process that can only occur through sensing. By putting researchers into the temporary circumstance of the subject being researched, they can have a larger understanding of things, they can gain a deeper level of introspection about their study area, and they can get to scratch the sources of their topics by temporarily feeling them upon themselves. This is in my opinion the finality of research: a transformative process that has the power not only to shed light on social issues but also to persuade a target public in reflecting upon their own actions and beings.
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Melissa, 
atherias 3:12 pm on February 2, 2016 Permalink |
Being the moderator of one of the two trial focus groups was definitely an interesting and challenging experience, especially given the time constraints for preparation and the fact that the research question that Mielle and I decided on was quite open ended. However, it did allow me to realize a few key points about moderating a discussion that I would like to continue to think about for future opportunities. The first is the way in which my questions were posed: it was challenging to ask in a way that implicated certain groups or individuals to encourage them to respond without pushing individuals out of their comfort zone or excluding anyone else from a question that could concern them. Another was the challenge of bringing the focus back to the subject at hand when people went on tangents- I can imagine this being quite common in focus groups, and knowing when the tangents are helpful or unhelpful is key. Finally, i’ve realized the importance of making my position in relation to the participants extremely clear. Before the trial, I hadn’t decided on my exact position (member of a department, grad student…?) which made me uncertain about my own perspective and positionality, and made my introduction unclear. Of course, since I would moderate as myself in the future, this would be less of an issue, I will just need to be very clear about where I am coming from. (a final detail is that it felt awkward to stand- I think sitting with the group would have felt much more natural and made me less of an authority figure).
amy luo 5:16 pm on February 2, 2016 Permalink |
I think the focus group as a research tool is very helpful for a variety of reasons – first and foremost, it’s efficient to gather information from a group of people at one time, instead of individual interviews that can be very time consuming. Individual interviews can also be difficult because in a one-on-one setting it may be harder to generate conversation, whereas in a group conversation tends to happen organically. Also as a participant and facilitator, in either role I think I would feel less intimidated in a focus group. Depending on your participants, it may feel like a safer space to share. For example, I can envision a focus group with traumatized aboriginals regarding residential schools where all the participants are members of the aboriginal community would feel like a much safer space to discuss than a one-on-one interview, especially if the interviewer/facilitator is an outsider.
Eleanor Shorrock 1:17 pm on February 5, 2016 Permalink |
I think a focus group would be a great opportunity for your research group due to the spontaneous nature of the methodology that Skop (2006) discusses. Focus groups will hopefully reveal some questions or issues that you had not considered before which questionnaires or interviews may not allow for. As you are working with children in your project, what is the appropriate age for focus groups and what are the issues surrounding working with children?
alison fung 2:04 pm on February 6, 2016 Permalink |
I agree with Amy that conversations will depend on your focus group. While some people may feel more comfortable, others may feel less comfortable if there are conflicting opinions. Having people of different ages, backgrounds and expertise will also impact the focus group differently which was apparent when an “international student” or “professor” would talk in our focus group. In a focus group in Williams Lake, I think there will also be people passionate about their viewpoint, and it is important as facilitators to ensure balance and respect in the discussion. I think having a mock focus group in class was a good exercise to give us more confidence in holding focus groups when we go up to Williams Lake.
For my group’s project, we need to determine different conflicts between stakeholders in the community forest, so we could potentially hold focus groups with the similar stakeholders, and mixed stakeholders to help determine different conflicts and viewpoints. Since we are there for only a week, getting a group of people together in a room would be more efficient, as other students have mentioned.
Melissa 3:53 am on February 9, 2016 Permalink |
Along with Eleanor, I was also unfortunately unable to attend class and participate in such a unique exercise. I found reading about everyone’s experiences and opinions very interesting and insightful in determining how participants might feel during an actual focus group. Skop emphasizes that one of the very unique elements about focus groups as a method of data collection is that the interaction between participants and the researcher is mostly being replaced by the interaction between participants. Thus even with a moderator the discussion can be spontaneous, which can bring deeper insight and multiple perspectives that may have been difficult to obtain from one-to-one interviews or surveys for example. Also, in such a comfortable open space where participants may express their opinions and natural reactions towards the topics, the researcher can draw valuable data about who they are and why they think the way they do.
The only limit I can think of about focus groups is that, even though they may consist diverse types of participants (ex. the one in our class included international students, domestic students, parents of students, etc.), their small sample sizes might not be a good representation of the larger population. Therefore I think focus groups are great to gain further insight but the researcher should not depend entirely on them to guide their research.
Amy Shaw 6:32 pm on February 2, 2016 Permalink |
I found the focus group exercise in class today extremely helpful to understand the dynamics of this kind of research technique, but to also understand the challenges a moderator could face during the discussion. My role was as a local resident, and as the research question was more focussing on how international students had access to support at UBC, I didn’t feel that my role of local resident could add very much to this conversation. From this exercise, I have learned that it is important to steer the conversation in a way where all participants can voice an opinion, most importantly so they can get there valuable knowledge across but also so they don’t feel like they’ve wasted their time.
I also agree with Amy’s thoughts on focus groups acting as a safe space for people to share their experiences. In this week’s reading (Skop, 2006), she argues that focus groups can allow the participants to feel empowered. Furthermore, I agree with the author when she argues that we must be critical of how data comes in ready categorized forms, such as questionnaires, not allowing people to express their opinion if it lies outside the options. Finally, I feel that focus groups are more beneficial than interviews as they can uncover interlocking processes around the issue you are discussing, which may have not been uncovered using another research method.
Donna Liu 9:28 pm on February 7, 2016 Permalink |
Similarly, I also felt that in the role I played as a reporter, I was unable to contribute meaningfully towards the research question of the focus group. In the context of the focus group, a reporter participating may not have a direct personal connection or concern in the topic of international students. As the focus group began to increasingly more intimate, my role felt more distant from the discussion. As Skop suggests, segmentation in the design of the focus group can help organize participants who share similar experiences relevant to the issue being discussed. This can also encourage more intimacy and security in the participants. I feel that segmentation in our focus group would have allowed different groups of people to share more effectively.
wileywilkins 6:39 pm on February 2, 2016 Permalink |
The focus groups exercise in class was a great practice for the potential to use one in our projects. I never thought about hosting a focus group before for a project, but now I can see that they could be very useful. It seems like one can gather a lot of information about a topic or topics in a short period of time. not only can someone gather a lot of information, it also seems like a great way to gather local knowledge about a topic. local knowledge for a project such as this seems very crucial since we are working with a community in which we do not live, so hearing from the residents directly and hearing what they have to say could easily drastically transform a project and the ways in which someone goes about doing the project. its also a great way to avoid the time consumptive process of individual interviews. If it becomes an option I want to try and conduct one in some way in Williams Lake.
Kianna Zivny 2:06 pm on February 4, 2016 Permalink |
I agree, I never thought about using focus groups in our research until we did this activity in class. I think it will be very useful for our project to help us understand what the community members think about our research and what will actually work in the community. I enjoyed doing this activity in class, even though I didn’t say a lot, I like to hear what everyone else has to say about the subject in this manner. In our trial focus group, even though we were playing roles, the personal opinions of the participants were coming through (as Siobhán mentioned she noticed at the end) and that made it interesting as well.
Emily Dunn 3:35 pm on February 4, 2016 Permalink |
Again, I agree about the use of focus groups – and never having thought of them as a possible research technique until this class. I think its biggest advantage lies in both its advantage to give the community a perspective and voice in research and the fact that it isn’t very time consuming. This is especially important given the context of our research in Williams Lake as we are only there for a few days. Research groups not only save time when compared to say, interviews but encourage more open debate and a possible expansion of research. Saying that, its construction would have be carefully planned – ensuring that everyone feels comfortable to contribute within the group. One thing I did notice from the trial focus group was the variety in speech – with some contributing a lot and others a little. Part of that may be due to the fact we were playing roles, but I think, if the group had been real, it would have been better to separate e.g. students, parents, faculty. Saying that, the trial focus group gave me a new perspective into focus groups which I will take on in future research.
Eleanor Shorrock 1:02 pm on February 5, 2016 Permalink |
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the focus group session. Kianna, you mentioned that you didn’t say a lot but mostly listened. I think this is an important point when selecting participants for focus groups. Do you think there would be an alternative composition of participants that you would have felt more comfortable with? Skop (2006) suggests that the ‘segmentation’ of a focus group is a factor to consider, ensuring that the group is fairly homogenous so that participants feel comfortable in sharing their opinions. When I taken part in focus groups myself, I have found that some voices are much more dominant and has put me off saying what I really think! If using this methodology in Williams Lake, I think it will be crucial to consider this and compose groups of similar age/ ethnicity ect.
Adrian Cheng 7:25 pm on February 8, 2016 Permalink |
I agree completely with Wileywilkins on how focus groups can become very effective for getting a quick feel for the community and how they relate to the researcher and the research question. A research format like a focus group allows for a more human dimension that is often insufficient in other research formats. For it’s strengths however, power dynamics become especially important in a impressionable setting like this I believe; intimidation and uncertainty can easily affect how informants feel about themselves and what they want to say to the researcher. That being said, my role as a reporter made me realize how easily that role can be taken advantage of or warped to suit a certain agenda. Loosely quoting the professor, as reporters we need to add “flair and controversy” to how we (the reporters) should frame our reports. I ended up needling certain areas and framing information in such a way which would make verbal slip ups more likely. I promptly apologized to the individuals I needled after the focus group stimulation was over.
Marcus Jung 5:29 am on February 3, 2016 Permalink |
It was definitely a great experience to have a focus group exercise in class as it allowed me to experience what a participant may be feeling during this type of research method. Perhaps as noticed in class, I am a quite quiet and was slightly intimidated to speak out in front of the entire group during the conversation due to the pace of the discussion. I am sure that there will be other individuals that feel the same in focus groups that we may be conducting up at Williams Lake. It reinforces the downside of focus groups that some people may be overshadowed by louder participants (although Mielle did a fantastic job of giving the opportunity for all participants to speak). This has taught me to be sensitive to the feelings of the participants by trying to empathize with them during the session. And I believe that this ability to empathize comes not only from practice, but preparation of the material so you do not have to focus as much of your attention to the material but more so on the participant’s verbal and non verbal communication so you may adjust yourself accordingly to make them feel comfortable.
Mielle Michaux 12:46 pm on February 3, 2016 Permalink |
Second moderator here, and I completely agree with Adele– the wording of the questions and the research question were something that was hard to fine-tune, but important for the outcome of the focus group. It’s much easier to ask a question on the spot when the phrasing and goal of the question have been perfected (as much as possible) ahead of time. Our reading for this week stressed the value of focus groups for studying the process of interaction in addition to experiences of the participants, and moderating on Tuesday really made me see how this could offer unique information that would be difficult to observe with other research techniques. Watching the participants clarify and evolve their (your!) positions over the course of the discussion was at least as interesting as the positions themselves, and the interactions produced by the group added another dimension to the verbal data. I’m not sure if video-recording focus groups is considered acceptable practice, as it might make participants uncomfortable, but the ability to observe nonverbal cues with undivided attention could produce quite interesting results to go along with notes taking during the focus group. Finally, as Dr. McPhee noted, quite a few personal opinions began to creep into the discussion as time went on, and as a moderator and international student with opinions on the issues myself, this was by far the most enjoyable part of the process for me. I’m looking forward to more chances for discussions like this in our class over the course of the semester.
courtenay desiree crane 1:46 am on February 9, 2016 Permalink |
I believe this was a really valuable exercise. Our group was a bit quiet, and it sometimes took awhile to get conversation going, but when people started contributing, the points were really valid. Mielle did a great job moderating. She directed questions to provoke conversation in a really inviting and non-intimidating way. I believe the success of a focus group, to a large extent, depends on the moderator, as well as the energy and dynamics of all the people in the room. As personalities can certainly bond or clash, in a focus group there is a potential for heated conversation and emotions to rise.
This activity was particularly insightful because our group is considering doing a focus group as a part of our research. Our topic focuses on trauma and re-traumatization, so it is a very sensitive topic and we have to be cautious of how people in a focus group may react. While listening to someone voicing their experiences with trauma can be healing and can lead to some valuable insights and understanding, it can also potentially trigger re-traumatization. After sharing our potential questions with our community partner, her response was to try to frame the questions in a more positive way. We want to take a strengths based approach, and I am realizing that the way in which questions are posed is so important. Saying how do you cope with trauma is approaching the topic with a deficit from the beginning. The word cope implies that they are struggling with this problem. However, if instead we use the word grown from, or overcome, it poses the question without the initial deficit. Although focus groups have potential to be very positive research tools, they require a lot of consideration and planning, as well as a really good moderator.
Angela Ho 12:47 pm on February 4, 2016 Permalink |
Going into Tuesday’s class, I felt a bit uncertain about our focus group exercise, because I was playing the role of an international student as a domestic student. However, during our focus group exercise, I was surprised to find that I felt pretty comfortable during the discussion. Even though I thought that I didn’t know much about the topic, the conversation brought forward new themes that I was able to relate to and discuss. I also found that it was fairly easy to present my own opinions, even though I played a role that was different from my real position. I merely had to rephrase my position (e.g., as an international student rather than a domestic student) when voicing my thoughts on issues such as tuition increases. Overall, it was interesting to see how a variety of perspectives can contribute to an insightful focus group session. Since my group will be examining student experiences in regular and alternative education in Williams Lake, I think using a focus group will be beneficial as it can produce fruitful conversations and new insights. As the experiences of the students may be different from my group members and I, conducting a focus group can create a comfortable and supportive environment for the students to share their thoughts.
marina favaro 4:49 pm on February 4, 2016 Permalink |
I found the focus group exercise very interesting, especially within the context of positionality. I found that in the interests of making the exercise seem more realistic, participants drew from their own experiences, whether personal or the lived experience of someone they had encountered. As a faculty member, I adopted the persona of an International Relations professor, inspired by one I have taken a few classes with. He continuously laments the merits of the internationalization of education at UBC and the diversification that he has witnessed in his classroom. Even having experienced the internationalization of education at UBC during my time here, my experience is so coloured by my positionality and, as a result of the focus group, I was exposed to opinions that I had never encountered before. I wonder, then, about the merits of segmenting focus groups (as seen in the readings), and whether one unified perspective is more valuable than the diversity of perspectives that were present within our focus group.
gabriel olivella 12:17 am on February 5, 2016 Permalink |
Using focus groups in my perspective is a good tool to extract information from target individuals during a research project. Judging from the way the conversation flowed during tuesday’s class exercise, on the Internationalization of UBC, it was interesting to notice that even if participants were not talking about the specified topic, many of the insights and perspectives were just as valuable. In a sense, diverting from particular topics, in this case UBC’s internationalization, triggered some other thoughts on issues equally relevant and still deeply related to the main theme. Even though switching topics can hinder the main research questions, the fact of momentarily commenting on other themes is very enriching to the fluidity of the group’s conversation and for the research in general. This is when I come to understand why the moderator comes in, to allow for certain liberties of conversation and thoughts, but also to modulate the timing by restraining some other commentaries and returning the conversation to the main topics. Since time is usually a great limitant in focus groups, the presence of a moderator in stating a special topic and channelizing the conversation is useful, efficient, and problem-solving.
In my experience as a focus group participant, I have to admit that I had trouble fitting into my own role. I was meant to be an international parent, but often times my own ideas and complaints would shout out of my mouth unconsciously.
The exercise of recreating a focus group was an overall fun experience, because aside from making me laugh it made me briefly interact with some classmates I have not had the chance to meet yet.
bridgitte taylor 12:53 pm on February 8, 2016 Permalink |
While I had participated in one focus group in the past (in high school), I have never really had time to think about the ethics, organization and value of this method. This is where I found the actual re-enactment of a focus group extremely helpful. Despite the fact that it was a mock focus group, the element which stood out most to me was the notion of discomfort. This partially was because the group was a mock group, and because we had to stick to a “character” that we may or may not personally agree with, but also because it became clear that the makeup of a focus group should be given the utmost attention. I found that the opinions that some of the characters had to abide by, were either encouraging or discouraging of certain dialogue. To rephrase – I can now understand how someone may feel uncomfortable to share their opinion in certain group situations. While this is not to say that this was my actual experience with the activity (in fact, I actually through it was quite fun), it was an actualization that I had, nonetheless.
Our group has recently discussed the possibility of running focus groups when we visit Williams Lake. We thought it would be a valuable means to gather understanding of various safety issues, transportation accessibility, etc. Taking what I learned from the activity then, we are definitely going to have to consider how we can maximize our focus groups capacity to be a “safe space”, where participants can share their experiences/views freely and comfortably. Second, depending on the topic of which the focus group intends to address, we may have to look into finding an independent moderator. This will require some more brainstorming. Finally, I found that being in character made the focus group a tad difficult – it was hard to stay in character when you yourself may have opposing views.
Anton Metalnikov 11:41 pm on February 8, 2016 Permalink |
I found the focus group to be quite challenging as I had a difficult time separating my own opinions about the role of international students at the university from those of me as a “parent of a domestic student.” When I was able to immerse myself however, it was easy to understand the benefits of focus groups. Our conversation topics frequently veered away from the initial prompt posed by the moderator, and I believe that this actually helps to learn more about people’s views on a subject as it highlights perspectives that may not seem obvious to an outsider. Interestingly enough, the night that we did this exercise I actually participated in my first ever focus group, as part of a TransLink committee as we were asked to debate their public engagement approaches. It was definitely a rewarding experience to learn about focus groups and then go and work in one as a participant, not an actor. Our group is considering focus groups in Williams Lake so I hope to be able to build on these experiences should we end up doing so.
Kasper Richter 9:43 am on February 9, 2016 Permalink |
I felt the focus group was an interesting thought experiment. It allowed us to discuss several different topics at hand in a semi-controlled environment and produced a unique and interesting dynamic within the groups themselves. At first, it was clear that some group members were expressing views that were contrary to their own and were uncomfortable about the situation, but as we began the discussion I found that they were all quite eloquent in explaining these points of views. I felt that it allowed us to explore different perspectives on a clearly divisive topic, and to some extent it could provide new avenues for considering the topic itself. I felt that our moderator did an excellent job of ensuring that the discussion did no veer off topic, and was able to direct questions that would prompt each member of the group to speak at least once. While there were some clearly opposing sides in this discussion, I felt that the group members did a very good job of arguing their role’s points rather than expressing their own opinions.
Overall, I feel that focus groups are good for beginning discussions on certain topics, and can be an excellent tool to incite intellectual reflection of the topic at hand.
Cheng Yee Seah 11:59 pm on February 4, 2016 Permalink |
This week’s focus group exercise allowed me to think about several factors that I had not fully considered before. I have facilitated a few focus group sessions before (though there were definitely a lot of things to improve and learn from those), it was actually quite helpful to be a participant, as it gave me a better understanding of some of the challenges participants may face during such activities. Gabriel and I were both international parents, and we had a really good discussion about the university price increases, and went slightly on a tangent during our discussion before the focus group. During the session, it was not only really hard to stick with my character, but it was interesting to see how a group playing various backgrounds can be advantages and unfavourable for different reasons.
With a mix group, I found it a lot more difficult to have a flow in the conversation, as I felt everyone had different concerns and experiences related to the internationalization of education. During my one-on-one conversation with Gabriel, it was a lot easier to go in depth on a topic as we had similar views and discussing both as parents made the discussion flow more smoothly. On the other hand, the potential of having a mixed group can help participants understand different views and perspectives that may be different to their own. This can be useful, particularly when trying to generate new knowledge and ideas amongst a group with diverse demographics.
Donna Liu 9:34 pm on February 7, 2016 Permalink |
Similarly, I also felt that in the role I played as a reporter, I was unable to contribute meaningfully towards the research question of the focus group. In the context of the focus group, a reporter participating may not have a direct personal connection or concern in the topic of international students. As the focus group began to increasingly more intimate, my role felt more distant from the discussion. As Skop suggests, segmentation in the design of the focus group can help organize participants who share similar experiences relevant to the issue being discussed. This can also encourage more intimacy and security in the participants. I feel that segmentation in our focus group would have allowed different groups of people to share more effectively.
Nelly Leo 11:00 am on February 8, 2016 Permalink |
The focus group exercise was really interesting! Our group’s discussion went slightly tricky and I really respected the moderators for keeping their cool and keeping the conversations on track. It was also really nice to have been asked for my opinion when there’s a discussion going on as at times, I feel like certain questions weren’t meant for me to to answer. While i thought having a diverse stakeholder in a various group really helps paint a clearer picture on the issue due to their very different perspectives, it could also cause tension and unwillingness to speak the truth. I for now, struggled really hard in keeping my role as an admin. Firstly, I felt that I had to be responsible for a lot of concerns that were put forwards because I was representing an institution. That in itself was extra pressure, as other participants would have questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer since they were beyond my part’s expertise. Second, there was a constant struggle between how I really feel and wanted to say versus what my role would allow me to say. This last part was something that I had not thought about in terms of having focus group. In terms of our project, many of the people that we would converse with might belong to groups or organization where they are in a professional role that might push them to keep up the institution’s good name. It means that an opinion might not be what the individual fully believes in, or it also could be, further conversations must be had if there is a need to separate the individual from institutional opinion. This exercise also taught me to be less judgemental and to view other people as more than their title or affiliations. I’m really glad we did this exercise, it allowed for one more option for our project research and it also reminded me of how complex a person could be and to see them beyond their title; admin, international parent, cattle rancher, biker, etc. This serves as a good reminder as we will later proceed into our research at Williams Lake, working with communities and individuals there.
brennwilliams 11:49 am on February 8, 2016 Permalink |
I felt that the focus group exercise was extremely valuable. The research conducted by Skop was useful in providing background on the benefits and challenges associated with focus groups, but actually conducting one in class provided much more insight than any reading could. As I played a domestic student (which I am) I found the exercise quite fluent and feel that I was able to contribute meaningfully to our discussion. Furthermore, our facilitator did an amazing job keeping us on track and to progress our conversation. I thought it was interesting that so many personal opinions, not necessarily on the internationalization of education at UBC, but on the institutions itself came out in our discussion. This makes it clear to me that as stakeholders at UBC, we need to create and maintain a more open and structured dialogue in order to have our say.
theriseofthesun 1:19 pm on February 8, 2016 Permalink |
I found the focus groups in class to be an effective means of obtaining opinions from individuals with varying social backgrounds and experiences. It allowed for the generation of a collective conversation about a selected topic that branched out into specific concerns based on the individual’s priorities. I found that by having a moderator, it enabled the group to be prompted to constantly re-evaluate our personal biases and soak in what other people had to say. I definitely felt urged to constantly express my opinions as a “Domestic Parent” but had to restrain myself at times because it was important that others felt comfortable and free to speak their mind. As my group who is considering to conduct small focus groups with high school students in Williams Lake, it was a great to have this mock focus group to allow us to consider the potential pro’s and con’s we may encounter. For example: would it be better to separate girls from boys? people from different racial/ethnic background? How might this affect the conversations that are generated? How can we ensure that we create an environment that encourages a safe and open discussion? It will be useful to research previous focus groups conducted by other scholars with high school students to understand the dynamics of different groups and what steps we should take for more successful focus groups.