This course is taught in a hybrid format.
 

Antonia D’Onofrio Hyatt Hall 320 499-4289 (voice mail), or fax to 499-4623 or email me

Course objectives  Lectures, discussion, and fieldwork will be used to explore and to demonstrate: The importance of a researcher's role as the primary instrument of research; The importance of conceptual frameworks for generating research questions and for identifying valid information for use in field work; Concern for objectivity and trustworthiness; The value of personal interpretation and personal perspective in achieving credibility in field work; Sampling of persons, settings, times, and artifacts as nongeneralizable aspects of a study; General strategies for collecting information that are consistent with valid research; General strategies for interpreting information that are also consistent with valid research; Approaches for achieving balanced and full accounts of a problem; Bias, a valuable source of information, including both researcher bias and participant bias; and Portraiture and thick description in one's account of an investigation.

Student evaluation Class attendance and class participation both in the classroom and by posting online assignments are essential because the knowledge and skills needed to complete assignments will be taught incrementally. What is taught is reinforced through project based teaching and learning. And, students learn from each other, which is vital for learning that depends so much on comprehension of process, interactions and perspectives.   Grades will be based upon the completion of the following  6 assignments. All students must complete all of these assignments. 1. A field based project that needs to be planned and conducted throughout the semester. You must complete either a  long interview or an observational study. Your findings will be recast as a field report. You will develop a design for your study and you will be expected to write a short paper describing your fieldwork.  Your study will include a content analysis in which you organize and interpret your findings. The guidelines for the assignment are linked below. This project is worth 1/3 of the course grade. Use these field report guidelines. The guidelines must be followed. When I evaluate your field work I will be checking to se if your work conforms to the following attributes of good fieldwork. This is my rubric. Your work should demonstrate your acquired expertise in either interviewing or participant observation.  You will be expected to summarize literature on how to implement interviews and /or observations in the field.  Once your field data is collected and analyzed,  your conclusions should reflect the conceptual framework that you developed in the beginning of the course.  You must propose a field strategy for collecting information and you must use that strategy.  Your field work protocol must be the result of systematic research on how to conduct interviews (open ended) or how to conduct a study based on observation (participant).  For example, interviews should reflect your attempts to apply the work of writers in these areas.  Your paper should also reflect the use of a theoretical model to frame questions, focus strategy, and identify sources of data and information.   2 through 6. This course will be conducted in a hybrid format. That means that you don't have to come to class each week. You will have to participate on an ongoing basis however through the use of an electronic meeting forum. Each time we go out (that includes me) on the world wide web, we will be creating a discussion based on perspectives contributed by each member of the class. These perspectives take the form of essays (400-500 words) that are responses to questions that I devise. All of the questions reinforce work covered in class when we do meet in the traditional face to face format. The questions also build your repertoire of perspectives and skills, leading to a successful fieldwork experience. Questions for each discussion (and the essay that you write) will be posted on the course schedule. You should view your essay as a contribution to an electronic seminar. The seminars will be monitored and led by students. Everyone will have a turn. My contribution to this portion of the course is to react to what you have written, often moving the discussion forward and providing you with additional web resources. Together assignments 2 through 6 equal 2/3's of the course grade.  Another important resource:  How to Write a Field Study (tips from an expert)

Course policies: There is no absence policy. Students should arrange to get notes and handouts from colleagues. All lab reports are due by the end of the semester. There will be an automatic incomplete if this deadline is not met. Students must be financially cleared by the Registrar's deadline in order to participate. When there is no class, it will be noted on the course schedule. Academic fraud of any kind will result in a grade of F. Students are encouraged to use tape recorders. If you want a grade of Incomplete A student may be asked to audit the class in the next semester when the course is offered in order to clear a grade of Incomplete. Merely completing the written assignments for a course in most cases will not be sufficient to clear a grade of Incomplete when projects and discussions are part of the course curriculum, and thus the basis of assignments and one's grade. A grade of Incomplete may mean that one will not be able to register for comprehensive examinations according to one's original plan. (As you may be required to audit a class to clear an Incomplete in a later semester. This is not negotiable.) One should keep in mind that my top priority during the grading period in any semester is to submit grades for students who are currently enrolled in the courses I am teaching in that semester. Changes of grade from "I" to another grade will be of lower priority. I give students to the end of a grading period to submit their work, and I never establish early submission dates in order to accommodate my personal and professional schedule.  I do this so that students will have as much time as possible to complete their work, thereby accommodating to students' individual circumstances.  It is your responsibility to set personal deadlines and to monitor your time so that you can complete course work by the end of the semester when all grades are due. Grading scheme: A equals 4..0;  A- equals 3.9-3.8;  B+ equals 3.7-3.6; B equals 3.5-3.0, B- equals 2.9-2.8; C+ equals 2.7-2.6; C equals 2.5-2.0; less than 2.0 equals F. The final grade is based on the average of all online assignments and the grade assigned to the final paper.

The course bibliography is here               

course schedule