Community Research Workshop (Sociology and Social Anthropology)
Addressing a research need hands-on
Delving into pressing social problems and how people are affected by them is natural for students studying sociology and social anthropology.听 To quote Dr Laura Eramian, this is simply 鈥渨hat we do in our disciplines鈥� so integrating an experiential learning component in a Community Research course syllabus was logical.
Patrick Bondy, former student in the class was thankful for an early opportunity to do qualitative research in the class.
In the community
Patrick and his group worked with the Ecology Action Centre to organize and facilitate public focus groups to learn about the community鈥檚 perceptions of sea level rise.听 They transcribed the information, analysed themes and made a final presentation.听 The synthesized outcomes of his group鈥檚 work is available on the organizations which lends itself to the valuable work that was delivered.
Finding community partners with suitable problems that could manageably be researched during the three months of a university term was reportedly the greatest challenge for Dr Eramian.听 Happily, in the years she taught the class, she was able to pair all the students enrolled in the class with community partners effectively.
Supported by a passionate expert听听听听
Dr Eramian鈥檚 passion for her discipline and enthusiasm to support the student鈥檚 success outweighed the various challenges that accompanied a hands-on research course.
Students often shy away from courses that involve working in teams.听 To ease students into that groupwork space, Dr Eramian set out the expectations at the onset and checked in regularly to work through any difficulties and discuss and fine-tune collaboration techniques.听听 Classroom time was allowed for students to gain that additional support from her which helped as they managed their workload.听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听
"The group work requires effort and sometimes has its challenges but go for it!鈥�听 That is Patrick鈥檚 advice to any Sociology student thinking about taking the class based on his experience.听 He is continuing research in the area of Environmental Anthropology as a graduate student and credits his success and positive outcomes in the class to Dr Eramian.
听