My Heart's Not In It

Reflecting on my experience as an outdoor researcher. 

 3 Things that I know…

Understanding qualitative and quantitative research on a deeper level.

Before taking this class, I had learned about qualitative and quantitative research and data back in high school but more in a broader term. It was interesting to learn more about qualitative and quantitative research and learning the various terms researchers use when doing their measurements.

2. It is very important to find and use credible sources when doing research. 

When I am doing research for a certain topic, I always try to find credible and reliable sources. I know this is important because there is a lot of misinformation out there on the world wide web. Before, when I would do my own research I would not dive as deep into the sources I would look at. I tend to use the first page on google most of the time because you would think the better websites would be at the top. That is not the case all the time. This class has helped me better understand where to find good sources. Not just from Google but from other search engines such as Lakehead University’s Omni database. Learning how to find better resources allows me to get juicier information that deepens the specific topic I am researching.  

3. Open and closed questions

  Open questions are questions that can be answered freely. While closed questions are questions that can be answered with a yes or no or with a set of premade answers ( A, B, C, D). Both types of questions are beneficial for collecting information, especially when gathering qualitative and quantitive data. I know how to build solid questions based on what kind of response/information I am trying to get.   

Things I am still confused about…

Ethics 

I had a tough time trying to figure out some of the lessons on ethics. There are so many rules and guidelines to follow when conducting ethical research that it makes it a little confusing for me to follow what I can and can not do for research. I am also not fully sure as to how there are so many ways research needs to be ethically reviewed that I still do not understand. I understand ethics that which is to maintain privacy for the participants, I just do not get all the strict guidelines and rules to follow. I worry sometimes if I am doing it properly or not because I am unsure. 

2. Taking the next step after collecting data

I have an understanding of how to collect the data but it is after I get the data I do not know what to do for the next process, especially with quantitative data. When it comes to quantitative data, I do not get the process of coding and putting it all in spreadsheets and graphs. I guess it is mainly from a lack of experience doing that kind of stuff, but even just learning about the process of coding I did not get.   

3 Things I know for certain about myself as an outdoor recreation researcher…  

There are so many different opportunities I can take. 

This class has taught me that there is so much in terms of research that Outdoor recreation has to offer. Outdoor recreation is growing more and more and there are so many different types of research opportunities I can do. After doing research on skate trails for the podcast, it showed that research can be done on any topic. The guest speakers really helped in letting us know about the many outdoor recreation research opportunities out there and I definitely want to take advantage of those chances. 

2. Developing research questions and hypotheses. 

 I learned from this class how to develop better research questions and build a strong hypothesis around them. This is important to me as an outdoor reccer because I can develop strong questions focused on my field of study. I am mainly good at coming up with solid open questions.  

3. My invisible backpack.

I learned more about my own invisible backpack and what that means to me and my perspective of life and how fortunate I am to be able to have the chance to participate in doing research in the outdoor recreation field. 

3 Things I need to develop and learn to build my skills…

1. Surveys 

I would prefer to do interviews and get more personal answers if I were to conduct research which is why I need to continue working and developing getting better at creating surveys. This means I need to work on creating better-closed questions so I can optimize the usable data I am getting. I can do this by learning from surveys that are out and finding more about what makes a good survey question. Depending on the survey most people do not want to spend a long time writing their answers which is why I need to get better at closed questions.     

2. Sampling I have a hard time figuring out what is important enough to include and what is not. This is why I need to get better at being able to separate usable data and non-usable data which will help to make organizing data easier and more efficient. For future research projects having a strong understanding of what type of sampling to use and what type of population to sample on will make it easier to choose how to go about the process. 

3. Interviewing 

I really enjoyed reading your responses this semester. They always seem to lend a little humour to topics that can end up feeling a little bland at times.

I can really relate to your progression in ability to find credible resources. Learning this semester, the best ways to use the Lakehead Omni site has also really helped me find some “juicier information” for my research as well. I find now that I go through the academic library rather than google, I can not only far more credible, but also far more interesting information; these academic papers seem to go deeper into topics they speak about, and look at those topics from angles that are much more fun.

I also found your thoughts on ethics really insightful. While I feel more comfortable with my understanding of ethics overall, I completely understand and empathize with the worry about making sure you’re doing everything right. This semester we learned a baseline, and it made me realize how truly important ethical research is, but because I obviously still don’t know everything, I worry that I am making an error that could profoundly negatively impact someone.

I completely agree about feeling like you need to get better at sampling. I found it very confusing to figure out appropriate research sample size, and what data is worth including in your final product. I found that a lot of the helpful knowledge I had in this area came from a Biostatistics class I took last year, so I wonder if the addition of a basic level of statistical understanding to a course like this would be beneficial.

 Three things I know for certain about outdoor recreation research: 

One thing I know is what qualitative data is and how it’s used. Researchers reflect on ideas before data collection and develop conceptual findings (Neuman 2018). This data is collected by a variety of methods including interviews and observations. Qualitative data is useful when you’re not dealing with hard data but are pursuing a more story-based result.

I also know the nine different question types that can occur during a qualitative interview which are as follows:

- Introducing questions are used when you want a detailed description from the interviewee.  The interviewee is prompted to give a personal account of a situation in this instance (Neuman 2018).  

- Follow-up questions are used to get additional information from the interviewee (Neuman 2018).

- Probing questions are asked when more details are required, typically because the interviewee’s response to a question was brief or not specific enough. These differ from follow-up questions. Where follow-up questions prompt the interviewee to expand on a particular point, probing questions initiate a general expansion (Neuman 2018).

- Specifying questions are asked to get more detailed descriptions about parts of the interviewees answers that lack specifics.

- Direct questions are typically introduced toward the end of the interview and are questions that have not yet been answered or discussed by the interviewee (Neuman 2018).

- Indirect questions are asked to get a feeling of how the interviewee feels about the actions and thoughts of other people. Interpretation of these answers can be complicated because it needs to be determined if the answers and opinions given are reflective of how the interviewee really feels or if they are answers that the interviewee feels would be correct and expected (Neuman 2018).

- Structuring questions are used to keep the interview focused and on track if it has gone off topic or if the question has already been answered and it’s time to move on (Neuman 2018).

3.  Additionally, I know how to do a literature review. Literature reviews typically begin by defining and refining a topic and then designing a search strategy. Research reports are then located, notes are taken, and finally a review is written. When writing reviews it is important to “critically read articles and other literature.” (Neuman 2018) Good organizational skills  are very beneficial at this stage as well.  Things like keeping track of research in organized documents, effectively tracking URL’s and prioritizing articles you know you’ll be using are some examples of these.

These two things I am still confused by: 

One thing that confuses me is the absence of a real world application of this content if you don’t intend on writing a thesis. It’s unclear to me exactly when I’d use this information outside of the classroom. I’m sure there’s practical applications for this information but it’s not something that was initially clear to me and I am still fuzzy on.

I also wonder why a podcast format and Tumbler posts were chosen over discussion posts and papers. Technology and social engagement methods on the internet move and change quickly and I wonder if they’ll be relevant further down the road. Additionally, I feel that there was a lacking of practical applications on what was taught and that did not help me learn as quickly or easily.

These three things I know for certain about me as an outdoor recreation researcher:

One thing that I learned about myself as an outdoor recreation researcher is that the field of research is not something I excel at or find particularly fulfilling. It is just something that I don’t particularly enjoy and just feels like something I need to do.

I also learned that I prefer working with qualitative data vs. quantitative data. Basically I feel that talking with and interviewing someone is more engaging and rewarding than just interpreting numbers and analyzing data.

It is clear to me that I enjoy researching things I already have an interest in, as I would assume most people do. An example of this is things relating to plants and biology - like the Herbarium I’m working on for one of my classes. I enjoy this topic and put a lot of effort into the project because I care about doing well and producing good work. Although this actually makes me feel anxious (my interest in it makes the stakes higher because I want it to turn out well) it does motivate and encourage me too. In comparison, when it’s a topic I’m not interested in I’ll procrastinate and feel an overwhelming sense of frustration. Obviously the end product suffers in this scenario.

These two areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills: 

One area I would like to improve in is my survey skills. I feel that I could develop more confidence if I had more experience in this area. The more opportunities to conduct interviews the better. Participating in other peoples’ surveys would also be beneficial and allow me the opportunity to gather ideas. I’d also like to better my preparation beforehand so that I feel more prepared and confident going in.

I would also like to improve my organizational skills. Whether it’s as simple as keeping search results on my computer organized or more involved like developing efficient time management skills, there are definitely areas I would like to improve on.

Some things I’d be looking at implementing when compiling research include:

Color coding files and folders

Organizing open tabs on the computers

Utilizing physical folders when necessary

Developing a manageable calendar and scheduling method to chart out goals, deadlines and expectations

Focusing on time management throughout the project

Being flexible and adaptable depending on the method of organization that each individual project requires

References:

Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2018). Chapter 4 Reviewing the Scholarly Literature and Planning a Study. In Basics of Social Research Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (4th Canadian Edition). Pearson.

Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2018). Chapter 6 Qualitative and Quantitative Measurement. In Basics of Social Research Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (4th Canadian Edition). Pearson.

Great Post!

You went into a lot of detail here and I liked how you gave all 9 question types in your answer to the first prompt. I think this shows what you know in a really good and convincing way. I can also really relate to your feelings that you now better understand how to effectively carry out literature reviews. I also really relate to your second response to the second prompt. I wonder how useful the understanding of blogging and podcasts will be to us down the line; while podcasting seems to still be booming and looks like it will continue to do so for at least a few years, blogging has been on its way out of internet relevancy for almost 10 years now. Additionally, the formatting of the Podcasting assignment lent itself to one member of the group having very little to do with research at all. I wonder if the group members that edited audio files rather than engaging with Thunder Bay research will have gaps in their education related to research in years to come.

I did notice that you only included two responses to the second prompt, though I would completely understand if that was due to discrepancies between the required content for this response and the desired length. My blog response this week went well over the 1000 words, just in order to get half of what I wanted to say out.

What is the context? 

I chose the Recreational Activities Questions and Answers Trivia Quiz. It asked a variety of questions regarding what is and what isn’t considered a recreational leisure activity. I got 6 out of 10 on this quiz because of the poorly written and ambiguous questions.

How well are the questions written? 

The questions are not written well. A lot of the questions could be interpreted in a variety of ways and the confusion in the wording made me get some questions wrong.

Might there be variety/ambiguity in the responses that lead to poor results?

Some questions are more open to interpretation and shouldn’t have a right or wrong ex. whether watching tv is or isn’t a recreational activity. 

What is considered leisure recreation for one might not be for another. For example, my grandma loves mowing her lawn and it’s her favorite thing to do in the summer. In her case it is recreation. This activity might be non-recreational for some and recreation for others. This is an example of where you can’t have a true or false selection.

The majority of the questions consider it to be a recreational activity only if there’s social engagement occurring as well. This is confusing because in this context, golf, for example, is considered a recreational activity if it’s done in a group setting but not if you’re golfing solo. 

This quiz is flawed because there is so much open to interpretation and many exceptions come up in their scenarios.

What are some strengths and weaknesses? 

Strengths - the type of question is varied. 

Weaknesses - images don’t necessarily match the question (ie. you were supposed to choose the correct recreation in the photo which was a photo of people diving into a pool. The correct answer was “skydiving”.)  Additionally, questions are ambiguous and open to interpretation and therefore can’t be marked right or wrong definitively.

Some of the answers in the quiz were also incorrect. In question 2, for example, it’s stated that there are no recreational/leisure activities that can be bad. Although this is open to interpretation it is also blatantly false. “There are good and bad forms of recreation” (Rossman, Schlatter 2019). Drug use is considered a recreational activity but also harmful and ill-advised.

How might it be improved? 

The quiz could be improved with less ambiguous questions with concrete right or wrong answers. A better introduction explaining their definition of recreational activities would help understand their perspective on the topic.

Consideration should be given to the definition of recreational activity. 

Some things the writers might want to consider to make for a better quiz include: implementing good question writing, not confusing beliefs with reality, and avoiding slang and abbreviations, ambiguity and vagueness. (Neumen, Robson 2018)

References:

https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=mta3njixmq==0ep9

Rossman, J.R., Schlatter, B.E. (2019). Chapter 1 Basic Programming Concepts. In Recreation Programming (8th Edition, pp. 1-20). Sagamore-Ventre.

I find the idea of this quiz very interesting. The idea that some activities/hobbies are not “recreational leisure activities” seems very strange as in theory any activity that you participate in during your free time, for fun, should qualify as recreational and for leisure. I also appreciated your review of the questions, specifically your addition of personal anecdotes. What I think you could have added to enhance the missing pieces of this quiz, would be that from the sounds of it, the quiz was fairly leading. It seemed that it offered pictures and explanations of what could be considered recreations, which would have swayed your opinions. Any kind of communication, implicit or explicit, could have lead to Demand Characteristics, causing subjects to answer differently than they might otherwise.

Another thing I wondered, was: what was the quiz for? Was it intended to be a survey style used for research purposes? In that case, it should not have had right or wrong answers to begin with. Was it intended simply as a trivia challenge? In that case, you are right in pointing out the issues with having such ambiguous, leading, and confusing questions.

Just as a personal interest question, I wonder if even professionals in the Outdoor Recreation world would be able to get full marks on this quiz? I doubt it would be possible, as I feel that the continued practice of Outdoor Recreation would only expand the grey areas exposed in the quiz to relative newcomers. This would be an interesting area of study going forward, as well as looking into misconceptions about recreation and leisure activities in general.

Prompt: Research doesn’t exist inside a bubble, and neither should you. For this assignment you are required to attend at least one event of the Research and Innovation Week Conference. In your blog post, you need to identify the topic being researched, outline the challenges and successes of the methodology, connect it directly to course content, and provide your opinion of the effectiveness of the research approach(es). Note that not all presentations will go into detail on this. 

Answer:

There were a few presentations that I was interested in attending from this week but I was not able to make the time frames they were presented in. (FYI: if you email [email protected] you may potentially be able to get a recording of a presentation) I attended one and asked for the recording so I could better understand the content. As Jill said, I found the presentations quite complex and had difficulty in understanding the world of academic research and jargon. I was also told that all the presentations would be available to watch as recordings by mid-week next week. 

I watched the presentation Strength-Based Strategies for Parents and Educators to Promote Mental Wellness and Resiliencies in Children and Youth by Dr. Ed Rawana. As a teacher candidate it was actually very insightful to listen to what Dr. Rawana had to say about the topic and his comparison of teaching and parenting. 

Identify the research topic: The research topic of this presentation was promoting the development of strengths and resilience in children and youth through parenting and educators. One of the key points he kept coming back to was the idea that adults are role models. As a teacher, parent, caregiver, they have to demonstrate the strength and skills they want these children to grow up to possess. He references it much like an apprenticeship program. Training and preparing children to have the strength based skill they need as an adult. 

Challenges and success of the methodology: Unfortunately this presentation did not go into much depth regarding how this research was done and mostly a research overview. However, I did find a lot of really interesting points of information that were made. I have come up with some challenges and success ideas although not directly discussed in the presentation. Some challenges I saw were in the measure of success, how do you measure if leading (teaching/parenting) with a strength based model is effective? I am having difficulty wrapping my brain around this. I think it is qualitative research as Dr. Rawana said something along the lines of: it is not about the amount of time you spend with the children but the quality of the time spent. I am not sure how you measure the factors that make someone resilient as this could come from a lot of different factors. My grade 9 geography teacher had us take an online survey to see how much grit we had but I do not think online tests and quizzes in these ways are accurate representations or good ways to conduct research. One of the successes of this methodology is it forces people to choose and think about their decisions to make a conscious effort to use their strengths and not just choose randomly. 

Connection to course content: A few areas that I thought connected to course content where in relation to an ethics approval as this research is focused on children and Dr. Rawana even mentioned you are not really supposed to do research on children so this would require a strong, thorough plan to be able to follow these children to see the effects of adults in their lives using strength based approaches to promote resilience.  Additionally, I thought of a literature review and review of sources and planning the research you are talking about. He mentioned a few times the work of Dr. Epstein and personally I have never looked at his research so it could very well be fundamental but the negative connotations around that person himself threw me off into listening to those connections. Lastly, I made a connection to sampling. I do not know the sample size or the demographic of people chosen but I think this would definitely affect the research as these kinds or role models look and appear differently in a low income neighborhood vs a high income neighborhood and geographic location, etc. 

Opinion on effectiveness of the model: I had a hard time pulling out the information to answer these questions from the presentation but I did gain some interesting parenting/teaching tips. Honestly after writing all of this I am not sure what the model of this research was but I think it was effective as there was information that I thought was strong and believable. It was a well done presentation. 

I really like how deeply you looked at your chosen research presentation and your decision to focus on the ethical side of challenges in research. I agree that the combination of the TCPS ethical difficulty with having children be your subjects, and the quantitative difficulty of an online longitudinal study would make this either a very interesting research question or an impossible one. I wonder how Dr. Rawana has intended the survey/questionnaire/research to be conducted long term? Will the benefits be judged only now and in the near future, or over a longer period of the child’s life? There are a lot of questions left here, due to the brief nature of the research videos, but I think you do a great job of outlining the major considerations with this research.

Another one of your points that I found interesting centered around the idea of “choosing and thinking about their decisions to make a conscious effort to use their strengths” being a beneficial side of this methodology. This raised a few questions for me. Could this emphasis on existing strengths force children into a fixed rather than growth mindset, which wouldn’t afford them as much personal growth? Could the increased praise of children’s strengths persuade them that they are more talented than they may actually be, setting them up for heartbreak later on? All of these are questions that I hope Dr. Rawana can answer in their research somewhere.

This week’s blog post references the blog prompt from week #3 and subsequently my post “Embracing Autism in the Forest School Setting”. Please refer to this for more thorough background information.

Who Am I Interviewing:

I am interviewing a parent whose autistic child attends an inclusive forest school program with neurotypical children. This child attends the program with a respite worker. I have chosen to interview this parent because I believe that caregivers know their children best. As parents spend many hours with their own children, I believe that a parent of an autistic child would be best suited to speaking about changes in behaviours experienced by their child attending forest school.

Interview Questions:

Five interview questions I would use are:

1. Why did you decide to register Robby in forest school?

· This is an introducing question (Neuman, 2018, p. 265). We already understand that Robby is registered in forest school. We do not know the background reasoning for the caregiver’s choice to register Robby in the program. This question helps to us to understand underlying factors and themes that we as researchers may miss by starting with more specific questions.

2. How do you believe that forest school has impacted Robby?

· If the parent interviewee starts by speaking to the goals that she had in registering Robby for the program but does not go into depth as to whether these objectives for enrolment are being reached, we can dive deeper through the usage of a follow up questions (Neuman, 2018, p. 266).

3. Can you tell me more about how Robby’s behaviour has changed at home?

· This question dives deeper into something that the interviewee will likely cover in the follow up question or introducing question. It asks the interviewee to explain what she has noticed more thoroughly. This is referred to as a probing question (Neuman, 2018, p. 266).

4. What elements of forest school do you believe has helped Robby with his self-regulation skills?

· This question is used to help prompt the interviewee to provide more depth in prior questions about behavioural changes noticed at home. It helps the interviewer to gain a full picture of the link to behavioural changes and the elements of forest school having a positive (or negative) effect. This type of interviewing question is called a specifying interview question (Neuman, 2018, p. 267).

5. Would you encourage caregivers of other autistic children to consider forest school?

· This question is a direct question (Neuman, 2018, p. 267). It is used to ensure that if only positive experiences are being outlined, that any negative experiences also have an opportunity to be highlighted and vice versa. It also provides an opportunity for the interviewee to add anything last minute that the prior questions did not ask for.

Adventure On,

Laura Flett

References:

I like the direction you chose to go with your post. It seems like the implementation of forest schools is really important to you.

I see that you mentioned briefly in your last question explanation that you wanted to allow for more negative stories to be shared as well, and I think that is missing a bit from your fourth question. I think in your pursuit of making the question specific, you may have ended up on the side of leading the interviewee. The question implies that the parents agree that their son’s self-regulation skills have not only been impacted, but been impacted in a positive way. I can see how this response could flow from the previous question, and in that case, I think it would be a great question. Out on its own as a primary question it may lead the participants too much in the direction you are hoping to go.

One other area I had questions about was the question about behavior at home. As a neurodivergent person, I find that I act very differently at home compared to at school, unless the school environment is so extremely good that I carry home excitement or so incredibly bad that I carry home the burnout. Not knowing much about forest schools, I wonder if the focus on behavior at home might not get the kind of answers that will help legitimize or give perspective on the student experience.

All that said, I think your questions are well thought out and interesting. Great job!

The article I chose to critically analyze for this week’s blog post is Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough prepares to move world’s largest canoe and kayak collection by Caley Bedore, a Global News reporter. (Link to the article is below in my references.)

Canadian Canoe Museum. Photo Credit: kawarthaNOW.com

This article focuses on Peterborough’s Canadian Canoe Museum and their preparations to move their 600+ piece collection to their new location. Currently the museum is located at 910 Monaghan Rd, and is moving to 2077 Ashburnham Drive (Bedore, 2022). They are moving buildings as they would like to showcase more of their collection, as right now the current building can only house and show less than 20% of their collection (Bedore). The new building will not only showcase more canoes, but also “…have a full outdoor campus, a full new suite of exhibitions, [and] a café” (Bedore). Some staff members are also interviewed and asked about the move and their work, such as how they are carefully cleaning each canoe and making sure it will be safe on its journey across the city to the new building. The museum is also “…working with many Indigenous, First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities to also support the exhibit development” (Bedore). The museum is currently open to the public on weekends from 10am-4pm, and plans to close their doors in September of this year to finish their prep work for the move (CCM, 2021). The new building is set to open in the summer of 2023 (Bedore).

Model Picture of the inside of the new building. Photo Credit: kawarthaNOW.com

The article does not directly list their sources, but some sources they might have used could included the following:

The Canadian Canoe Museum website, and their page on their new building

https://canoemuseum.ca/

https://canoemuseum.ca/new-museum/the-building/

Other Global News articles about the museum, that were linked on the page as ‘Read More’ options

https://globalnews.ca/news/7607438/canadian-canoe-museum-purchases-land-johnson-park/

https://globalnews.ca/news/4910464/canadian-canoe-museum-hires-director-to-develop-relations-collaborate-with-indigenous-communities/

https://globalnews.ca/video/7821252/canadian-canoe-museum-unveils-new-details-on-new-museum

Museum Staff Members

Carolyn Hyslop, Executive Director

Jeremy Ward, Curator

Dane Allendorf, Staff member cleaning the canoes

The information gathered from the museum staff interviews are primary sources of information, and the information from the other Global News articles are secondary sources.

References:

Bedore, C. (2022, February 17). Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough prepares to move world's largest canoe and kayak collection . Global News. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://globalnews.ca/news/8627255/canoe-museum-move-collection-new-location/

This past week has been a little rough and there has been a lot on my mind. There is so much going on in my mind that I sat here for an hour just trying to think of what specific thing I could share. I have a lot going on with school, my family, and my personal life, but the main thing that has bothered me the most is the fact that I’ve been having issues with my vehicle.

I bought my van last February with the plan of converting it into a camper and live in it during school. My grandpa and I worked very hard on it and we built a bed in it, a counter, put a fridge in it, added a vent, added solar panels, and did electrical work. Shortly after that I began having issues. I had to have new brakes put in and a new steering box put in. During the summer and fall everything was great, but then winter came around and with the snow came a flurry of problems. A loud screaming noise started coming from my van whenever I revved up and I brought my van to a mechanic, but they didn’t know what it was. After hours of searching, the mechanic determined that I needed my exhaust gasket fixed.

Now to the most recent issue. I wanted to drive home to Schreiber for the weekend, but as I was a few minutes outside of Thunder Bay, my van began to shake and lose acceleration. I pulled over and checked everything and thought I would see what would happen if I drove a little further, but I couldn’t get my speed over 5 kilometers per hour. I had to call a tow truck for them to bring my van to my mechanic in Schreiber.

I got a ride home and had my van checked. My catalytic converter is plugged up and I need to get it disassembled and cleaned. I'm hoping I can get my van into the shop tomorrow because I have an in person class on Tuesday. Also, if I can’t have my van fixed in time to go back to Thunder Bay, I will temporarily be homeless since it’s what I'm currently living in . That’s okay though, because my friend will likely let me sleep on their couch for a little while.

I loved the part where you talk about fixing up the van with your grandfather. Two summers ago, my dad and I converted an old tool shed behind our cottage into a little hangout spot/guest house using old building supplies and electrical equipment and it was one of the most fun and rewarding projects we had ever done together. Your post really reminded me of that, so thank you!

Topic of Inquiry

     Ensuring the success of students with disabilities in the mainstream classroom is important to me. I have noticed that the hands-on and therapeutic features of outdoor settings provide many benefits to those with developmental and cognitive disabilities. As someone that believes that “the greatest classrooms and richest cupboards are those that are roofed only by the sky (McMillian)”, it is my goal to use the forest school environment to help students that struggle in the regular classroom setting.

     As the usage of forest schools for autistic individuals is under-utilized, research in this area would provide opportunities to advance the supports for students living with Autism. Therefore, if I had the opportunity to complete a research study as a PhD candidate, I would want to focus on the benefits of the usage of forest schools for Autistic youth. This topic does require further narrowing and specification.

Photo Description: This is my absolute favourite quote. It highlights the importance of using the outdoors as a classroom for learning.

Qualitative or Quantitative?

           I think it would be hard to decide as to whether my research would be a better fit for qualitative or quantitative methods.

     Qualitative methods would allow me to focus on individual testimonies to highlight successes of forest school programs for Autistics. Qualitative research would also allow me to shine a light on problems and solutions that could then be implemented by educators to support their own work.

   One limit of qualitative methods would be the ability to look for depth of impact of forest school programs due to the limited amount of case studies that could be utilized for the study. This is important because the quantitative method of statistics may be vital in gaining funding for supporting forest school programs for Autistic youth.

      In recognizing the limitations of qualitative and quantitative methods in this study, I would want to examine the pros and cons of different research frameworks more deeply with a focus on choosing a research framework that reflects the importance of equitable opportunities for Autistic individuals.

Why Autism?

           Autism has become known as a disability that faces chronic unemployment and a lack of educational institutional successes. Features such as social and communication deficits, sensory integration problems, and chronic anxiety are common features of autism. Forest school practices provide a safe outlet to practice weak skills that are often not associated as well with traditional classroom learning. As forest schools are outdoors, opportunities are provided for students to engage their body in sensory based needs while considering that loud and bright indoor spaces can often be triggers for dysregulation. Flexibility in forest school programming also allows for differentiated learning. It can be easily seen that there are many benefits of forest school teaching pedagogy that are not otherwise available in the traditional classroom setting. The increasing prevalence of autism in the public school system creates a need for programs that provide supports to students that enable them to learn in ways that work for them.

     Meaningful programs that embrace autism’s opportunities versus creating interventions for challenges are rare. There are many examples out there of autistics benefiting from forest school practices because of the teaching methodologies used. By showcasing these stories and their successes, I would be able to create a world in which there is less stigma about autism and instead initiate a celebration of the successes of programs that focus on individuality.

    Research can be used to create a better world. My hope in researching this would be to show that autistic individuals need to have access to meaningful schooling opportunities that work for them. Forest school is one area where more research is needed to be able to advocate for its approach to educating autistics. Research provides the opportunity to show where change is needed. This is especially pertinent to finding solutions to educating students with disabilities – autism or otherwise.

Photo Description: Austin Riley is one of my heroes. He is a young adult race car driver from Ontario that is raising awareness about what it means to live with autism “one step at a time”.

References: 

Instagram. (n.d.). Margaret McMillian Photo. Forest School Education. photograph. Retrieved January 26, 2022, from https://www.instagram.com/p/BMoHtJNBsah/.

Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years is a case study that was done by Vice in 2013 and sponsored by the North Face. The youtube documentary follows 70-year-old Agafia Lykov, the final surviving member of the Lykov family. The family of Old Believers fled into the remote taiga of Siberia in 1936 to escape violence and persecution at the hands of Stalin. Agafia was born in the mountains in 1944, where she lives to this day, living off the land, self-sufficient, and pleased with her life in the remote taiga near the Erinat river, 160km from the nearest city (Vice, 2013). 

The case study was done by Americans from Vice in collaboration with Vice Russia. The study would be considered a microsocial theory since it studies a concrete, small-scale, and narrow level of reality - the study focuses on an individual (Agafia), and her actions. 

Based on the description of qualitative research as discussed in class, I would argue that the case study falls under the category of qualitative research. Qualitative research is descriptive and involves field work. Qualitative researchers are interested in meaning and are the primary instrument for data collection and analysis.

The filmmakers do carry quite an extensive invisible backpack that isn’t fully addressed in the film. Many of the aspects however, can be inferred from the content and form of the film. The film is sponsored by the North Face, meaning the crew obviously has access to funds and to high quality expedition gear. The production quality of the film implies a full camera crew with high quality cameras. It is noted at the beginning of the film that although there is a language barrier, they have Gleb along as not only a host, but a translator (Vice, 2013).  

There are several key ethics considerations that should have been taken into account with the production of this film. The first to address is how limited the knowledge of the researchers was - they spent very little time in Russia, and very little time in the remote taiga. I believe this brings into question the level of understanding that the researchers had when it comes to the way of life and culture of the region. Agafia’s lifestyle is very obviously different from the cultural norm, but when they described her life, they seemed to have gleaned little from their time with her, citing the experience as “very interesting and sometimes it was depressing and sometimes it was fun. In any case we should never forget this experience” (Vice, 2013). The researchers don’t seem to have a full appreciation of Agafia’s religion, culture, and relationship with the land. She says herself that she has no desire to live in the city (Vice, 2013). 

The next point to bring up is free and informed consent. One of the barriers to free and informed consent is language - there is a language barrier present between the researchers and Agafia. They have a translator, but Agafia’s isolated lifestyle calls into question whether she truly understands the scope of the research and the documentary. She has only been into the city five times (Vice, 2013), which makes me wonder whether she understands that the information she discloses will be available globally. 

The documentary to me feels somewhat exploitative - the researchers came for a brief period of time, asked rather prying questions, shot a documentary and left. I have to wonder whether Agafia benefitted from taking part in this research in any way, other than the animals she received.

If I was given the same opportunity to research and communicate my findings, I believe I would approach the research assignment with a more positive lens, rather than focusing on the more negative and traumatic parts of Agafia’s life. As a student researcher who is enamored with the idea of life in the far north, I would want to spend far longer staying with Agafia and learning her way of life. I would ask more questions showcasing aspects of her life such as her tools, medicine, garden, spirituality, and ways of being. She is one of the remaining Old Believers, so if her religion is included in the film, I think it should be properly explained and honoured. Before the video was released, I would make sure that Agafia had the opportunity to view it and decide whether it was a candid representation of herself. I would also collaborate with her to create a project that would help her, should she so desire external support. (ex. Resupply of essential tools, livestock, etc.)

Reference

I also agree with the idea that her faith was not handled properly. Throughout the video, we watch her pray with no guidance on what she is doing or why, and I couldn’t put my finger on why it was making me uncomfortable. Reading your post made me realize that the lake of understanding made it feel more like an invasion that an educational opportunity. 

I also like how you were able to articulate why the researcher’s lack of prior knowledge would be harmful, as this is an idea that I tried to include in my response, but I was not able to find the right way to incorporate it. I would have loved to hear during that paragraph what specific kind of differences you thought would come from having a more knowledgeable and experienced research group.