121-342 Research Design in Geography and Environmental Studies

Note

All BSc students, except those enrolled in the BA/BSc combined course and the BASc course, can only receive 12.5 points science credit at the 300-level for this subject.

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Completion of, or concurrent enrolment in, at least 50 points of approved 200-level and/or 300-level Geography subjects in your home faculty.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject covers good research design and the writing of a worthwhile research report. Students learn how to frame a research questions, how to answer a research question, and how to collect, store and manipulate data that is used in physical geography, human geography and environmental studies. Topics covered include the history, nature and value of research; how to plan, manage and write a research report; sources of geographical data; field survey techniques; methods for designing surveys and experiments; methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis; presentation and interpretation of geographical data and several computer-assisted procedures. The latter include such things as statistical software, graphics software, text analysis software, spreadsheets and macros, policy-recommending software and use of the Internet both for finding data and for publishing.

Assessment

One 1.5-hour examination (25%), ten weekly practical class exercises equivalent to a total of 1000 words (50%) and a research proposal of up to 2500 words (25%).