Module Code and Title:        UGR303 Undergraduate Ethnographic Research           

Programme:                         BA in Anthropology

Credit:                                  24

Module Tutor:                     All tutors in Anthropology programme

General objective: This year-long module aims to guide students through the design and conduct of an independent ethnographic research project. It explicitly builds on what students learnt in UGR202 Anthropological Research Methods and ETY202 Writing Ethnography, but it is ultimately the culmination of all the skills and knowledge students have acquired during their study of anthropology.

Learning outcomes – On completion of this module, students will be able to:

1. Apply their knowledge of Anthropology to develop an independent research project.
2. Plan and execute an individual ethnographic research project.
3. Apply anthropological research methods within the context of an independent research project.
4. Write a high quality literature review based on independent research.
5. Articulate feasible and interesting research questions.
6. Select the appropriate research methods to address these research questions.
7. Design appropriate research instruments.
8. Conduct a pilot study to test the feasibility of their project, their research methods and/or their research instruments.
9. Discuss the ethically responsibilities of anthropologists.
10. Apply anthropological data collection methods to collect the data needed for their projects.
11. Organize the data they collect in a manner that will allow for efficient analysis.
12. Analyse data that they have collected using anthropological theories and concepts learnt during the course of their degree studies.
13. Discuss the implications of their research including areas for future research.
14. Communicate their findings and analysis in the form of a written report.
15. Communicate their finding and analysis in an oral format.

Learning and Teaching Approach:

The nature of the research process requires shifts in the learning and teaching approach depending on the stage that students projects are at. Below is an approximation that reflects these necessary adjustments. In the Autumn l semester students will be preparing their projects, including writing a literature review and a research proposal. In the Spring semester students are expected to spend a substantial amount of time collecting field work independently and writing up their projects.

Autumn Semester

Spring Semester

Support and guidance mechanism

Once they have selected a research topic, each student is assigned an advisor whose expertise and interests matches their project. This advisor is responsible for giving written and verbal feedback on each assessment component. Verbal feedback is given in-person directly after an assessment is graded and returned to make sure that students understand how to use feedback and the rubric to improve their project in an on-going manner. These sessions are formal and will be scheduled however, students will be encouraged to seek out their advisor for additional guidance and support as and when it is needed. RTC tutors are also required to hold weekly office hours for each module that they teach at a time convenient to students. These offer an opportunity for drop-in un-scheduled one-on-one sessions. In general students will not be allowed to proceed to the next stage of the project until their advisor feels they are ready. For example, students might be asked to rewrite their research instruments several times before being allowed to begin their pilot study. Computer resources can also be booked so that students can have some time in-class to work on written components with the supervision and support of their advisors and other tutors.

Assessment Approach:

As this a year-long module, students will receive a single mark for the module. To help monitor progress and maintain consistency with the other semester long modules, students will receive a mark at the end of the Autumn semester out of 100% and a mark in the Spring semester out of 100%. The final mark for the module will then be a combination of the marks from both semesters. Each semester will be worth 50% of the final mark. The final mark for the 24-credit module will be reflected at the end of the Spring semester for the final transcript and student record.

Assessments in the Autumn semester are related to preparing to conduct research, while assessment in the Spring is related to conducting and presenting research:

Assessments for the Autumn semester

A. Annotated bibliography: Portion of Final Mark: 10%

Students will turn in a properly formatted annotated bibliography of at least 8 appropriate academic sources. Each annotation will be expected to both summarize and critically evaluate the sources. The bibliography will be evaluated based on the following:

2%       Quality and variety of sources selected

3%       Accuracy and clarity of the summary of the sources

3%       Thoughtfulness and quality of evaluation of the sources

1%       Language

1%       Referencing and Format

B. Literature Review: Portion of Final Marks: 15%

Students will produce a literature review that demonstrates both their knowledge of their chosen topic and the gaps and contradictions within the literature that would justify further research. Students will be expected to show that they have used the feedback that they received on their annotated bibliographies to improve their literature review. The literature reviews will be about 750-1000 words in length.

4%       Overall organizing argument(s) (clarity, logic, coherence)

3%       Integration of sources (ability to produce a “conversation” between the sources)

5%       Quality of analysis/ evaluation of the sources

1%       Language

1%       References

1%       Improvement (in comparison to annotated bibliography, with particular emphasis on consideration and incorporation of feedback provided)

C. Research Question(s): Portion of Final Marks: 5%

Students will be expected to write a clear, feasible original research question(s) or hypothesis to guide the rest of their research. While the question itself may be relatively short students are expected a) to justify their research question (particularly in the context of their literature review) and b) continually refine and improve their research question(s). They will be assessed based on the following:

1%       Clarity and focus

2%       Feasibility

1%       Originality, complexity and thoughtfulness

1%       Improvement (both based on feedback and self-initiated)

D. Draft of Research Proposal: Portion of Final Mark: 15%

Students will be expected to produce a draft of their research proposal outlining their proposed project and the research methods they plan to deploy. They will be expected to also outline an appropriate and feasible pilot project that they can use to test some part of their proposal. The proposal will 850-1250 words in length.

2%       Introduction and research question(s)

3%       Literature review (must demonstrate improvement from earlier draft)

4%       Research methods (clearly connected to research question, includes discussion of ethical issues, well described, appropriate and feasible)

2%       Proposed pilot research (clear, appropriate and feasible)

1%       Language

1%       Organization

1%       References

1%       Timeline for project    

E. Research Proposal: Portion of Final Mark: 30%

Students will use feedback to improve their research proposal drafts and turn in a final version of it before embarking on pilot research. The final draft will be assessed based on the following:

3%       Introduction and research question(s)

5%       Literature review (must demonstrate improvement from earlier draft)

10%     Research methods (clearly connected to research question, includes discussion of ethical issues, well described, appropriate and feasible)

4%       Proposed pilot research (appropriate and feasible)

1%       Language

1%       Organization

1%       References

1%       Timeline for project

4%       Improvement (in comparison to draft, with particular emphasis on consideration and incorporation of feedback provided)

F. Feedback report: Portion of Final Mark: 5%

In order to demonstrate that they have made an effort to read and understand the feedback provided by their advisors on their proposal draft, students are expected to produce a report (which can be done in the form an excel table) explaining and justifying their response to each substantive piece of feedback that they received on their draft. The report will be presented in the form of a table.

2%       Completeness (responded to all questions)

3%       Quality of explanation and justification

G. Pilot study reflection report: Portion of Final mark: 15%

Students will produce a reflective report detailing the experience of doing their pilot study, their findings and what impact the experience and findings will have on their final project. The reports are expected to be 500-600 words long.

1%       Introduction

2%       Methodology

6%       Description of data findings and analysis

3%       Quality of reflection (thoughtfulness, originality)

1%       Language

1%       Organization

1%       Referencing

H. Oral presentation on pilot study: Portion of Final mark: 5%

Students will be expected to orally present the results of their pilot study as well as their reflections on them. The presentations are expected to be 10-15 min in length and will be evaluated on the following:

3%       Content (how well does the presentation address specified criteria, quality of overall narrative, all claims relevant and supported)

1%       Organization and structure; Language use

1%       Delivery (volume, pace, efforts to engage audience) and time management

Assessments for the Spring semester

A. Update Report: Portion of Final Marks: 5%

During the first week of the semester, students will write a short (300-400 words) update report detailing any work that they were able to complete on their project over the winter break. It will also allow students to restate their expectations (including their revised timeline) for data collection and analysis.

1%       Description of work to date (completeness, level of detail, justification for any lapses or delays)

1%       Description of work to be completed (completeness, relevance, feasibility)

1%       Reflection

1%       Revised timeline (completeness, level of detail, feasibility)

1%       Language, referencing and organization

B. Data Findings and Analysis – Individual Viva: Portion of Final Mark: 10%

Mid-way through the data collection process, students will have a one-one-one viva with their advisor as way to assess progress, prompt deeper analytical thinking and provide timely feedback. Students will be encouraged to bring examples from transcriptions and field notes and even written findings to the meeting in order to demonstrate progress. Each viva will last 20-30 minutes and will be evaluated based on:

2%       Ability to explain and justify project, research question(s) and chosen methods

3%       Ability to discuss progress to date (successes, struggles and solutions attempted)

2%       Preliminary analysis (including ability to link findings to research question(s) and literature review)           

2%       Ability to detail work that is still left to be completed (completeness, level of detail, feasibility)

1%       Language use

C. Data Analysis and Findings: First Draft: Portion of Final Mark: 15%

Students will be expected to submit a draft of their data findings and analysis section in order to demonstrate progress and receive feedback before this section becomes part of their larger report. The draft will be evaluated based on the following:

5%       Quality of data findings (clarity, logic, appropriateness of format, completeness, level of detail)

7%       Quality of data analysis (clearly providing an explanation of what the data means, all claims are logical and well supported by data, able to tie analysis to research question and literature review)

1%       Language

1%       Organization

1%       References

D. Draft of Full Research Report: Portion of Final Mark: 20%

Students will be expected to turn in a first full draft which will include all the sections expected in a research report. This draft will be cross-graded so that students receive feedback from two different advisors. The final reports are expected to be 5000-7000 words in length and will be assessed based on the following:

2%       Introduction and research question(s)

3%       Literature Review

4%       Research methods (well justified and described, clearly linked to research question)

5%       Data findings and Analysis (data findings are in a clear and appropriate format, clearly providing an explanation of what the data means all claims are logical and well supported by data, able to tie analysis to research question and literature review)

3%       Conclusion

3%       Language, organization and referencing.

E. Final Research Report: Portion of Final Mark: 35%

Students will use feedback on their draft to write a final full research report. The report is expected to show genuine and thoughtful attempts at improvement and will be evaluated on the following:

3%       Introduction and research question(s)

5 %      Literature Review

5%       Research methods (well justified and described, clearly linked to research questions)

8%       Data findings and Analysis

3%       Conclusion

5%       Language, organization and referencing.

6%       Improvement (in comparison to draft, with particular emphasis on consideration and incorporation of feedback provided)

F. Oral Presentation of research: Portion of Final Mark: 10%

Students will be expected to orally present the results of their research project. The presentation are expected to be 15-20 minutes in length and will be evaluated on the following:

6%       Content (how well does the presentation address specified criteria, quality of overall narrative, all claims relevant and supported)

1%       Organization and structure

1%       Delivery (volume, pace, effort to engage audience)

1%       Language use

1%       Time management

G. Feedback report: Portion of Final Mark: 5%

In order to demonstrate that they have made an effort to read and understand the feedback provided by their advisors on their draft students are expected to produce a report (which can be done in the form an excel table) explaining and justifying their response to each substantive piece of feedback that they received on their draft. The reports will be evaluated based on the following:

2%       Completeness (responded to all questions)

3%       Quality of explanation and justification

Pre-requisites: AFD101 Introduction to Anthropology, UGR202 Anthropological Research Methods and ETY202 Writing Ethnography

Subject matter:

1. Unit I: Review of Research Design and Anthropological Research Methods
   • Review of research designs: steps and logic
   • Review of anthropological research methods
   • Review of research ethics in Anthropology
2. Unit II: Annotated Bibliography
   • Review of academic sources: what they are and how to find them
   • Definition and features of an annotated bibliography
   • Summary versus evaluation
3. Unit III: Literature Review
   • Review of literature review: what they are and why they are part of the research process
   • Moving from an annotated bibliography to a literature review
   • Creating a “conversation”: integrating and synthesizing sources
4. Unit IV: Research Questions
   • Reviewing research questions: what are they and why are the heart of the research process
   • Identifying good research questions
   • Writing good research questions
5. Unit V: Research Design Details
   • Matching methods to research questions
   • Why sample and how to sample
   • Designing and testing research instruments
   • The value of pilot research
6. Unit VI: Practical Aspects of Data Collection
   • Finding and gaining permission from gatekeepers
   • Identifying and dealing with safety issues
   • Budgeting time, money and effort
   • Recovering from setbacks
7. Unit VII: Review of Data Collection Process
   • Practicalities of data collection and fieldwork
   • Storing and organizing data
   • Safeguarding data
   • Dealing with the unexpected during fieldwork
8. Unit VIII: Data Findings
   • Data findings as an iterative process
   • Coding strategies
   • Different formats for presenting data findings
9. Unit IX: Data Analysis
   • How to analyse and interpret data
   • Integrating data findings and data analysis
   • Supporting claims and arguments using data
   • Supporting claims and arguments using other academic sources
10. Unit X: Writing the final report
    • Writing a strong introduction
    • Returning to the literature review and research question
    • Building flow and connection between sections
    • Writing a strong conclusion
11. Unit XI: Presenting research orally
    • Critical differences between a written and oral report
    • How to plan an oral presentation
    • How to use visual aids (e.g. PowerPoint) in support of your presentation
    • How to prepare for the question and answer session after an oral presentation

Reading List:

1. Essential Reading
   • Babbie, E.R. (1999). The basics of social research. Belmont, CA: Breton Pub Co.
   • Bernard, R. (2006). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Plymouth, UK: AltaMira Press.
   • Golash-Boza, T. (2011, March 19). How to respond to a ‘revise and resubmit’ from an academic journal: Ten steps to a successful revision [Blog post]. Retrieved from: http://getalifephd.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-respond-to-revise-and-resubmit.html
2. Additional Reading
   • To be identified, evaluated and used by students as part of their research.

Date: March 15, 2018