FOCUS GROUPS: Methods for Success

It’s that time of year again. The AAG meetings are fast approaching and abstracts submitted in September are taking shape as paper presentations at various speeds for all of us. The QRSG has co-sponsored 34 session for the AAG annual meetings in Los Angeles this year covering a wide range of issues. (See the last page of this newsletter for a full listing.) Please try to attend these sessions to show support for the group but also to engage in the broader discussions surrounding the use of qualitative methods in geography.

I will not be attending the Los Angeles meetings and realize what a lost opportunity it is for me to gather with colleagues and talk with them about their research and the strategies they have developed in order to meet the challenges of conducting and teaching qualitative research methods. It seems to me that even as qualitative methods are becoming much more widely accepted, those of us who use and/or teach such methods are running into more roadblocks as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) at universities tighten the procedures concerning the use of human subjects.

This issue was raised in the Winter 2000 newsletter. One member pointed out that at his university “a change in policy has meant everyone dealing even indirectly with "humans" have to go through this terribly bureaucratic review. The review is also problematic because it is entirely modeled on a foundational, scientific approach to research. Moreover, the review committee (likewise scientifically oriented) often feels the need to consider matters of methodology that are totally unrelated to ethics (such as sample size, question-content, etc)."

At my own university, procedures were revamped (and tightened) and I found myself having to go to the National Institutes of Health website to take an on-line tutorial in order to continue the research I have been doing for a decade. Moreover, my students must also go through the IRB and complete the NIH tutorial for their course projects (all in the space of a 15-week semester!) While I appreciate the desire to protect respondents in the research process, I find myself in the position of applying for IRB approval for interviews and educational outreach programs in local schools by filling out standard forms that are designed for experiments involving human subjects. I am curious to hear if others are running into these issues and if anyone has figured out strategies to make the IRB process more compatible with the type of research and teaching in which members of QRSG are involved.

QRSG is also looking for new ideas for the future. What can we do to expand student participation? How should we be spending our dues (keeping in mind how limited they are)? In the past, QRSG decided to spend our limited funds on our student paper competition. Though the deadline has passed, please keep this paper competition in mind for next year and encourage your students to participate.

This year’s business meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 20^th, 7:00 p.m. in room Santa Anita A. It is our one and only chance to gather as a group and congratulate our members on past successes and plan for the future. In addition, we will be welcoming a new treasurer and three new board members to the group. To that end, please vote for a new treasurer and board members as soon as the e-mail ballot arrives in your virtual mailbox in late February.

As always, we must acknowledge the contributions of Meghan Cope who ushered this specialty group into the world and continues to remain instrumental to its functioning by maintaining our website and editing our newsletter.

With best wishes for a wonderful meeting in LA,

Lydia Savage

Department of Geography-Anthropology

University of Southern Maine

(Co-chair with Stuart Aitken, who will write the Summer newsletter’s Letter from the Chair)

QRSG Board Members

Co-Chairs (2001-2003):

Stuart Aitken, San Diego State University

Lydia Savage, University of Southern Maine

Secretary/Treasurer (2000-2002):

Lorraine Dowler, Pennsylvania State University

Board Members (2000-2002):

Carolina Katz, University of Washington

Matthew Kurtz, University of Kentucky

Maureen Hays-Mitchell, Colgate University

Board Members (2001-2003):

Fernando Bosco, The Ohio State University

Catherine Nolin Hanlon, University of Northern British Columbia

New Books

Two new books have recently come across my desk that QRSG members should be interested in. One is edited by Pamela Moss (2002), titled Feminist Geography in Practice and covers many methodological and epistemological issues that are relevant for qualitative research. This book is published by Blackwell Publishers. The second book is Qualitative Methods for Geographers: Issues and Debates, edited by Melanie Limb and Claire Dwyer (2001), published by Arnold Press. It has chapters on research design, interviewing, group discussions, interpretive strategies, and writing, and then a set of “vignettes” written by undergraduate students about their own research using qualitative methods.

- Meghan Cope, Newsletter editor, past chair

QRSG Elections Notice

A call for nominations went out in early February on the QRSG listserv for the positions of Treasurer and three board members to serve from 2002 to 2004. Please look for your electronic ballot in your mailbox in late February and send your vote in promptly.

Winners will be contacted prior to the LA meetings and are expected to attend the QRSG business meeting if possible.

Cinematic Geographies Sessions

Space, place and setting are just as important in Hollywood film making as in academic geography. To celebrate the 2002 AAG meeting being held in Los Angeles, Chris Lukinbeal & James Craine have organized a series of sessions on “Cinematic Geographies.” An international diverse group of presenters will expound upon a variety of topics including: film production in Toronto, Film-Location Tourism in Morocco, representations of urbanism in Kuala Lumpur and Berlin, images of disabilities, race relations and mythic landscapes. Two panel sessions will bring together academics to discuss, “Using Popular Films to Teach Cultural Geography” and, “The American West on Film.” Another panel session will bring in “Industrial Insiders” to discuss the role of geography in film production. And last but not least, Director Jan Krawitz will be present at a special screening of the documentary, Drive-In Blues at 10am on Thursday (March 21) morning in the Marriott Grande Ballroom - Salon 3. Jan is also a professor in the Department of Communications at Stanford University (http://www.stanford.edu/~krawitz). Drive-In Blues celebrates the drive-in and laments its decline. Laced with unusual archival trailers, the tone of the film swings between camp and nostalgia. The “Cinematic Geographies” sessions are sure to be entertaining and informative and will offer valuable insights into this exciting new geographic subfield. For more see http://www.southernct.edu/~lukinbea/

Announcements

FOCUS GROUPS: Methods for Success

Design, moderating, and analysis using QSR N5 software. Dates: 28 April-3 May 2002

SdG Associates is running a 5 day retreat on the focus group method. This retreat will give a thorough training in the Focus Group method from the conception and conducting of focus groups through to analysis and the production of a report.

No previous knowledge of QSR N5 is necessary. The workshop will be run by Dr. Christine Clements Stein and Dr. Silvana di Gregorio.

E-mail: sdg@sdgassociates.demon.co.uk

Web-site: www.sdgassociates.com

Student Paper Competition

Although the deadline passed in early February, we wanted to mention the first annual student paper competition because this is the only expenditure the QRSG is making this year with our meager funds. We hope to expand the competition and other student-focused activities in coming years as funds permit.

The Qualitative Research Specialty Group (QRSG) will announce the winners of its first student paper competition at the Los Angeles Annual Meetings of the Association of American Geographers. We welcomed graduate students engaged in research using qualitative methods to participate. research, but need not have been entirely focused on methodology.

A big thank you to the coordinators for this competition, Dydia DeLyser and Hilda Kurtz!

Please come to the QRSG business meeting to find out who our winners are and to congratulate them.

Mark your calendars! The following are QRSG-sponsored sessions at the 2002 AAG Annual Meeting in Los Angeles

QRSG Business Meeting: Wednesday, March 20^th, 7:00 pm. Room: Santa Anita A

Please come and share your suggestions, congratulate student paper competition winners, and help guide the future of the QRSG. All are welcome!

Panel and Paper Sessions (further information about individual sessions and participants is available on the AAG website: http://www.aag.org/):

Cinematic Geographies II: Cultural Politics, Production, Methodology -- Paper Session

Time: Wednesday, 3/20/2002 -- 10:00 a.m. - 11:40 a.m.