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Field Methods (Option 1)
In this class, we will focus on a series of approaches to urban field methods, honing our observation and descriptive skills, conducting interviews, and designing and administering surveys. This work will be conducted first in the classroom through readings and practice, then in the field in Fredericksburg, and then in small groups in Washington DC or Richmond.
For example, if we decided to focus on public parks, we would (in the cold early weeks of the semester), read about public parks and practice our observational skills with photos and videos. Then we would further hone those skills (collectively and/or in pairs) in Fredericksburg, watching people in public parks, taking photos, and doing interviews or a survey. From there we would develop a comparative research question and a set of methods to collect data and research teams would be responsible for data collection in public parks in either Washington DC or Richmond.
Our final project would be a comparative study with a digital component.
Field Methods (Option 2)
This class will focus on developing a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project with a 5th grade classroom in a public school in Richmond. For example, we could study the history of Forest Hill Park and the park system in Richmond and take primary documents into the classroom to show students. We can ask them about their use of Forest Hill Park and other parks in and out of school and then work with them to think about access to green space in and out of the public park system. We would spend time in and out of our class time working on “lessons” to share with the students. We would gather data from and with them and then spend time in and out of class analyzing that data before going back to the class to share that with students.
We could focus on children and outdoor space, residential and school segregation, or some other topic that would be interesting to us and to 10 year olds. The final product might be less public, but the work would be very immediately relevant.