A Place for Serendipitous Mistakes? Selling Mixed Methods Fieldwork to Students in a Digital Age^*

* Part of the student fieldwork experiences described above have been generously funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant (CMMI-1266381). I am especially thankful for my fieldwork mentors, Ben Marsh, Bill Overall, Billie Lee Turner II, and Dianne Rocheleau, as well as numerous colleagues, such as Todd Fagin and Mike Larson, who have spent time with me in the field. I am grateful for my students who continually push me to grow and evolve as much as I push them. I remain humbled by the many wonderful people, agencies, and individuals who continue to open their doors and their hearts to my students at our field sites. Lastly, I am grateful to the editor, guest editors, G.W. Schulz, and anonymous reviewers for their many helpful comments. The work on this manuscript was supported by the National Science Foundation, while working at the Foundation. Any opinion, finding, conclusion, or recommendation expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

abstract

I draw on over a decade of experience teaching two required mixed methods geography field courses at my university. I reflect on teaching field-based courses in a digital age when a large proportion of our students have no intention of either using mixed methods or even doing fieldwork. Yet, my department passionately defends the fieldwork tradition in geography, and continues to require these classes much to the dismay of our students. This paper explores why we continue to require such field classes, especially when students increasingly do not want them. Furthermore, I discuss why we should promote mixed methods when deeply entrenched qualitative vs. quantitative research camps persist and remain in our field. I also explore “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” of teaching mixed methods and taking students to the field, all while arguing that doing fieldwork is a place to find one’s “Zen.”

Keywords:

• fieldwork
• mixed methods
• teaching

Notes

¹ The name of a Western genre film directed by Sergio Leone (1967).