Focus
In this unit you will review published climate action project reports and articles to understand what kinds of questions were asked, how these questions shaped the choice of project methodologies and methods to collect, organize and analyse data, and what logical arguments supported climate action aims and outcomes. Throughout the unit, you will develop skills and experience in clarifying your project purpose to develop a research question or action objective. You will identify suitable methodologies to support your climate action aims and consider a range of methods to generate, record, and understand the data and actions of your project as a response to your research question and purpose. In this process, you will explore both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and methods. It is important to determine which methodology and methods are most appropriate for the question you wish to explore, and the purpose guiding the research. During this unit, you will continue to gather your personal field notes (Assignment 1) to explore your own position as a researcher as you learn in the course, including observations on your experience completing each of the weekly learning activities. By maintaining your field notes as a participant observer during this unit, you will develop and record insights into some of the benefits and constraints when employing this qualitative research method.
Activities & Assessment Overview
In this unit, you will continue Assignment 1: Reporting participant-observer field notes (individual) which will be ongoing until a final report is due in week 9. You will also work individually to complete Assignment 3: Exploring the key question (individual) which is due in week 6.
Week 4
You will link your understanding of worldviews to appropriate methodologies and so, to the methods that can address your research question. This is a good time to reflect on the required reading on ‘Jumping the first hurdle’ to see if you find the ice cream cone model useful to develop a good research question.
Learning Activity 4: Rich research design
Read the chapter Selection of a Research Approach (Creswell and Creswell, 2018) and consider what methods might address your climate action project aim or research question. This week our synchronous session will explore three relevant methodologies and demonstrate use of the Sage Methods Mapping tool to access deeper knowledge and resources. You will perform a similar search to choose one approach that you would like to apply and select materials in the resources layer to read up on that approach. Now re-read your research purpose or question to see if the methods that interest you are suited to your purpose, resources, and abilities, or if the question or methods may need to be revised.
Week 5
You will review the research focus in the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Competition to better understand key priorities and approaches for climate action research in Canada. Although the call is now closed and sought larger scale projects than suited to a master’s program, consider the highlighted key risks and the overall assessment criteria for supporting projects in terms of your own topic selection.
Learning Activity 5: Selecting methodologies and methods
Moving from a general topic to develop an answerable question or a statement of purpose will usually happen as you finish reviewing the relevant literature. Using your own question to guide a search, find one or two research articles or project reports that address your key purpose, preferably citing a Canadian example or application. Record in your field notes how others have written about your topic, considering how your research design can fill knowledge gaps, validate prior research findings with the same type or different population, apply different methods, or increase research participation and application.
Week 6
A clear research purpose and suitable methodology is the foundation to design research. Considering that the data collection methodology may already have been identified, this week you will focus on types of analysis available within a methodology, exploring their practical application and their relationship to different methodologies and desired outcomes. Read about Fundamentals of qualitative analysis in family medicine (Babchuk, 2019) to decide what analysis will best inform your answers, as you move from defining your questions and data collection methods.
Assignment 3 is due this week.
Learning Activity 6: Checking the evidence: (Why and How)
Comparing action research reports and articles can highlight the role of methods in shaping how data is analyzed to deliver results from climate action initiatives and how those results might be used. Choose two research papers taking different approaches related to your topic and record in your field notes your
- evaluation of their data analysis choice and rationale and
- discussion of either their practical application or their relationship to theory.