Teaching Research Through Field Studies: A Cumulative Opportunity for Teaching Methodology to Human Geography Undergraduates

Abstract

Notwithstanding its iconic status within geography, the debate continues about how fieldwork should be taught to undergraduate students. The authors engage with this debate and argue that field studies should follow the teaching of research methodology. In this paper they review relevant literature on the place of fieldwork in geography training, the importance of problem solving and the challenges of group learning. Drawing on these themes they outline the 300-level human geography fieldwork course taught at Otago University (NZ) and review student responses to this curriculum. They record observations on both the field studies course and the linkages between it and the preceding research methodology training students receive. They show that while the wish for more ‘real’ or ‘hands on’ field practice is widely expressed by their students, so is satisfaction with the group learning approach adopted in the 300-level course and with the range of personal skills covered in the research methodology and field studies training received.

Keywords:

• Fieldwork
• group work
• methodology
• research
• undergraduate

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank students and colleagues for providing a stimulating environment in which to consider the teaching of research. Special thanks to the GEOG380 (Arts) class who so generously participated in our research. We also thank Iain Hay and the referees who provided supportive and helpful comments while developing this manuscript.

Notes

• ¹ Throughout this paper a number of key terms are used that have various meanings in other contexts. For the purposes of this paper:

  	a.	Research methodology refers to the philosophical and practical construction/production of research (e.g. theory, paradigm and research techniques);
  	b.	Research techniques is used instead of research methods to avoid confusion with methodology, and indicates those strategies and skills employed to design and implement data collection and data analysis.
  	c.	Course refers to a discrete unit or module of study that contributes to a programme; it is typically represented by a subject or course code. This paper focuses on the case of a specific, 300-level field studies course.
  	d.	Phase refers to a component, division or sub-unit of a course and research process.
  	e.	Programme is used to refer to a series of courses (e.g. a research programme within a degree may involve students undertaking several courses within the programme). When discussing the Otago curriculum we also use the word programme to refer to the collection of courses that make up the ‘major’ or disciplinary specialism that undergraduates pursue in their degree, e.g. a human geography programme as opposed to physical geography, history or another specialism.
  	f.	Reference is also made to 100-, 200- and 300-level courses rather than first-, second- and third-year courses, the terminology used in some other universities.

² As with all universities, such teaching is also contextualized by the wider education policy and national contexts in which research and university teaching is situation (e.g. Le Heron & Hathaway, 2000).

³ For instance, in the last 2–3 years, GEOG102 has been taught in four phases covering: social and urban geography; cultural and rural geography; economic and development geography; and regional and political geography.

⁴ We recognize the teaching of ethics in geography occurs in a range of ways (Hay & Foley, 1998; Kearns et al., 1998) and Otago students gain some training in their second-year course while the field course requires them to consider specific ethical issues and prepare participant information and consent forms within the framework of the Otago research ethics policy.

⁵ It should be noted that field experiences are used for different purposes in the undergraduate curriculum. For instance our first-year field learning experience (single day trip) acts as an ice-breaker and an opportunity to observe and distinguish differences in urban and social settings while the fieldwork discussed in this paper is an essential component to the problem-based training we provide in human geography research.

⁶ This issue illustrates one of the ways external organizations and policy (in this case University and Occupational Health and Safety expectations) may act to discipline learners, academic supervisors and learning experiences.

⁷ See note 5.