My Project Research Design
How I conducted my research
During the presentations last week and this week, I notice that I had a completely different style of research than the rest of my classmates. Most of my classmates utilize media platforms in their projects to conduct participant observation and interviews. Meanwhile, my participant observation took place outside, including two of my interviews. I believe the process of our research were so different due to the nature of the topics of research we each had. In this post I shall share with you my process of research for this project.
The process of data collection began in mid-February and ended in early May. Utilizing the traditional methods of anthropological research I implemented a mix method research project gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. First, I gathered qualitative data conducting semi-structured in person interviews with willing participates in the neighborhood of Station North where they felt most comfortable and observed the culture of the environment through participant observation. I gather my interviewees through the snowball methodology. The participants provided the research with information about the history, their personal concerns, and current events in relation to the changes that are happening Greenmount West. Though a close examination of their narratives I am able to connect their association to particular spaces in the neighborhood and identify how gentrification played a role in their lives. With these interviews, I was able to formulate how individuals saw the current utilization of space as beneficial or non-beneficial to what they believe the purpose of the neighborhood is.
Secondly, I gathered quantitative data from the American Community Survey, produced by the American Census Bureau, measuring the demographic, economic, and housing profiles of Greenmount West for the four year period of 2010–2014. I also employed data about the home price index in Greenmount West from a reliable world data collection network called Graphiq. The collection of this data provided facts about what type of residents can afford to live in Greenmount West and gave evidence of the economic changes that have occurred overtime in the neighborhood. This data is an essential piece of evidence that visually displays Marxist theories upon the struggles between class divisions.
Lastly, I reviewed the literature of previous scholars who have done research upon symbolic violence and/or gentrification to make sense of my data. I purposely decided to inquirer the viewpoints of scholars last to decrease the moment of preconceived notions or bias I may have unconsciously buried in my collective conscious. To portray the uneven participation of social groups and manipulation of space I was witnessing in my data, I thought it would be best to appoint the theoretical perspectives of Marxist conflict theory to clarify how and why this was occurring in Greenmount West. Outside of the Marxist point of view I decided to input the theoretical insight of scholar Nayanika Mookherjee to expose the symbolic violence of my own participation in this research project.
Though out this process I tried to let my research grow organically without too much pre-planning. I also was very mindful of the IRB codes of ethic to decrease harm done to the community of Greenmount West and the individuals I interviewed.
