Data Collection

PART 4: FINAL PROJECT– DUE April 13 – including the following: Data Collection: You will conduct a data collection and analysis process for the method that you have selected in Part 3. You will collect and analyze only one sample of data. This could include an interview, survey, document or social media analysis, or photo voice/digital story. As you analyze your data, reflect and record the following, which will be pertinent to your final project: 1) what themes arose in your data? 2) how does this data help you better understand your research topic? 3) use the concepts/ideas/theories from your methodology to contextualize your results, and 4) what questions/concerns arose for you during the research process? A NOTE ON THE RESEARCH PROCESS: • You should plan to spend approximately 40 minutes to 1 hour doing your interview, survey or photovoice. Questions should be based on an attitude of respect for the interview subject and appreciation for the time they have given to you. • You must tell your research participant who you are and that you are doing the research as part of an assignment in a York University undergraduate course. You must also tell 5 your participant that a pseudonym will be used instead of their real name in your project report. You are required to inform your participant that they have the right to terminate the interview/survey at any time or to decline to answer any questions. You must go to your interview/survey/photovoice etc. with an Informed Consent Form – which must be signed before the process can begin. Remember that you need to give your participant time to read the form carefully. • You are required to maintain all informed consent forms in a sealed container, securely in your possession until the end of the course, at which time it will need to be shredded. Please keep any digital (audio/photo/video) data on a secure laptop or desktop and delete the data at the end of this course. The final project should include the following elements: 1. Set the context for your research topic: what are you investigating? Why does it matter? What are your research aims and objective(s)? 2. Research findings and discussion: Use the literature and scholarly analysis to delve more deeply. What is the theoretical context for this issue and how is it being understood? What are the debates? Then ask: What are the key themes that have arisen in your research investigation? Does your research data concerning the University reflect issues and themes that arise in the scholarly literature? Do certain theoretical approaches, studies, cases or examples help you to interpret your data? Ask: How did the University respond to this issue? Why? 3. Reflection & Recommendations: To what extent does the University’s response perpetuate, reproduce, or disrupt power dynamics, social structures and/or cultural norms? What recommendations would you make to the University to better address the issue? Close by reflecting on the research process and if/how you might have approached your research assignment differently a second time around. How might a shift in your positionality impact how you (re)interpret your research topic? Looking back, would you apply a different lens/methodology? How might this shape your selection of methods? 4. Bibliography: List your interview and all published secondary sources. Please make sure to reference all ideas and information not your own. Please follow the APA citation system. Your bibliography should contain a minimum of 10 external citations that have clearly been used in the final project in addition to relevant course readings and in-class lecture materials (a minimum of 6 course material citations), for a minimum of 16 references in total. 5. Make sure to include the data as an appendix in your submission: coded transcriptions or documents, photos, survey results etc. This final assignment should be 10-12 pages (approx. 5000 words) if you choose a written format. However, it can be creative, and you are welcome to integrate any of the methods 6 discussed in the course, e.g. video, performance, photos, surveys, virtual ethnography, etc. The more you can show the power of method, the better! While this is an open project, it must indicate and show a concerted amount of labour. It should also include some sort of critical written component in order to fully respond to and allow the grader to interpret the required criteria for the assignment. Make sure to cite relevant course readings and external academic articles for this assignment.