Creative research methods for social sciences

Timetable

Lectures and workshops will be preferably 2 hours each week (15 meetings in total). The timetable will be provided at the start of semester.

Location: Collegium Geographicum, Bogumiła Krygowskiego 10, Faculty of Human Geography and Planning

Module aim (aims)

This module aims to broaden the knowledge about creative approaches to research projects. We will deal with qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches within the social sciences. The starting point for considering new and creative research methods will be the introduction to basic methodological foundations of science and motivations behind the augmentation of traditional research approaches. We will discuss how new technologies, devices, and software like VR and AR technologies, social media, geomedia, etc., are becoming new data sources. We will also answer in which cases creative methods are appropriate in research projects. Finally, we will consider ethical issues related to collecting and processing new forms of data obtained through creative methods and forms of presentation and dissemination of results. The module will consist of a lecture and a workshop part.

 

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

English language skills at a level enabling participation in discussions, workshop and reading the proposed literature.

Syllabus

Topic 1: Thinking outside the box - introduction to creative methods (3 meetings)

Topic 2: Ethical issues in research (2 meeting)

Topic 3: Using new technologies during research process (4 meetings)

Topic 4: Visual methodologies (2 meetings)

Topic 4: Participatory research (2 meetings)

Topic 5: Handling creative data - presentation and dissemination (2 meetings)

Reading list

1. Von Benzon, N., Wilkinson, S., Wilkinson, C., & Holton, M. (2021). Creative methods for human geographers. Creative Methods for Human Geographers, 1-424.

2. Kara, H. (2015). Creative research methods in the social sciences: A practical guide. Policy press.

3. Jones, P., Osborne, T., Sullivan-Drage, C., Keen, N., & Gadsby, E. (2022). Virtual reality methods: A guide for researchers in the social Sciences and humanities. Policy Press.

4. Crang, M. (2010). Visual methods and methodologies. The Sage handbook of qualitative geography, 208-224.

5. Freeman, C. (2020). Multiple methods beyond triangulation: collage as a methodological framework in geography. Geografiska annaler: Series B, human geography, 102(4), 328-340.

6. Vaughn, L. M., & Jacquez, F. (2020). Participatory research methods–Choice points in the research process. Journal of Participatory Research Methods, 1(1).

7. Sloan, L., & Quan-Haase, A. (2022). The SAGE handbook of social media research methods. The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods, 1-100.

8. Zimmer, M. (2020). “But the data is already public”: on the ethics of research in Facebook. In The ethics of information technologies (pp. 229-241). Routledge.

9. Babbie, E. R. (2020). The practice of social research. Cengage AU.