Postgraduate Course: Research and Practice: Fieldwork (PGGE11232)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is designed to provide MSc students (MSc Environment and Development students only) with relevant research and practice skills for their MSc programme, for further advanced studies and work experience.
The content will cover and develop research skills that span the research process: developing a research design, research questions, planning data collection, data analysis and interpretation. These will be partly taught and assessed on and off campus. The focus will be on social science research methods, in order to equip graduates with knowledge across a range of topics and disciplines, facilitating an awareness of interdisciplinary research methods. |
| Course description |
Cuba is an exciting and vibrant location to do fieldwork in. With the country making an entrance to the global stage by 'opening up' and undergoing slow transformations, Cuba is an engaging to location to investigate themes around environment and development through the use of social science research methods. These themes are likely to as varied as tourism and local development, public health systems and environment, collective solidarity initiatives, tackling poverty and inequality, water and environmental politics and urban environmental or cultural projects. An illustration of a specific research theme is how the privatisation of the Cuban agri-food system is affecting people and environments, and how the Cuban example may be useful for answering key questions about social changes needed to tackle climate change. The Cuban context also relates to important social science questions about neoliberalism and (post)-socialism, development and social justice concerns in the global South, including the role of South- South collaboration with African, Asian and Latin American countries. In this regard, the global development themes can be understood cross-comparatively.
In this course, alongside imparting knowledge about research methods we will also be encouraging students to think through the multiple, multi-scale interconnections between development and socio-natural (or socio-ecological) issues working in a global context. In particular, it will consider how development is articulated and envisioned alternatively and encapsulates a living ideology of socio-political and environmental contestation. The students will design and carry out research projects focused on the tension between development demands, socioeconomic specificities (e.g. working with a dual currency system), solidarity politics and the plurality of development alternatives (e.g. agro-ecological extension services).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Development: Principles and Practices (PGGE11211)
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Co-requisites | Students MUST also take:
Understanding Environment and Development (PGGE11187)
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| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Priority is given to students in the MSc in Environment & Development. Students from other programmes will have access where there is space - with priority given to the cluster of MSc in Environmental Sustainability and MSc in Environment, Culture and Society. |
| Additional Costs | The programme fees will cover the cost of travel, accommodation and subsistence on the study tour, although students will meet incidental/personal expenses during the study tour. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 10,
Fieldwork Hours 80,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
106 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment will follow the normal procedures for the School;
It will specifically include:
1) Group presentation of research plan, methods and findings (30%);
2) Field notebook of readings, reflections and days on the field (10%);
3) Individual report of the research findings, including details of methods deployed, positionality and ethical issues (60%). (2500 words, excluding references and appendices - the latter should be at a minimum)
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| Feedback |
The course deals with key skills fundamental to academic and professional work, and assessments are designed to be formative in that feedback should be applicable to other courses, in particular the dissertation component. All work will be marked and the marks/feedback released to the students in line with the School of GeoSciences policies. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Have an appreciation for qualitative research methods around ethnography, participant observation, visual methods, fieldwork interviews and surveys, social action research; as well as research ethics;
- Understand the evolution of the theory and practice of development working in Cuba, as it undergoes socio-economic transformation and relate it to multiple connections with environmental and socio-natural issues;
- Develop geographical skills on the socio-natural outcomes and repercussions of alternative visions articulated by Cuban development, including issues of environmental justice, public participation, solidarity politics, political ecology and political ideology;
- Examine the various ways that socio-natural relations have shaped (and been shaped) by social, political and economic processes in Cuba
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Reading List
- Crang, M and Cook, I. 2007. Doing Ethnographies London: SAGE
- Clifford, N. et al. (eds). 2010. Key Methods in Geography. SAGE: Los Angeles.
- Connell, R.W. (2007) Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in the Social Sciences London: Allen & Unwin
- Cupples, Julie (2013) Latin American Development London: Routledge
- Gordy, Katherine (2015) Living Ideology in Cuba: Socialism in Principle and Practice Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
- Ioris, Antonio 2014. The political ecology of the state: The basis and the evolution of environmental statehood. Routledge: London.
- Rose, G. Visual Methodologies London: SAGE
- Saney, Isaac (2004) Cuba: A Revolution in Motion London: Zed Books
- Scarpaci, Joseph L & Armando H Portela (2009) Cuban Landscapes: Heritage, Memory and Place New York: Guildford Press
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will develop the following graduate attributes:
Mind-set attributes developed are those of enquiry and lifelong learning through development of research methods, with teamwork and communication skills, developing a global outlook.
Graduate skills developed are those of research and enquiry, and personal and intellectual autonomy- primarily through engagement with the research process. Communications and personal effectiveness skills are developed throughout the course, as is the ability to work together in groups. |
| Keywords | Research Methods,Environment,Development,Fieldwork |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kanchana Ruwanpura
Tel:
Email: Kanchana.Ruwanpura@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Paula Escobar
Tel: (0131 6)50 2543
Email: paula.escobar@ed.ac.uk |
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