This is a course offered over in the sociology department by Jon Shefner who has worked and is working on a number of CCI doctoral committees.  The course might also be relevant to SIS masters students who are on campus.  The syllabus below is from last year, but it will not change when its offered in the spring.  See Dr. Shefner's note at the end of the syllabus for more details.  Dr. C

Prof. Jon Shefner
Office: 910 McClung Tower; 974-7022.  
Email: [log in to unmask]  
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:30-3:30, or by appointment

Goal of this class:
	The aim of this class is to offer students familiarity with field research methods.  Field methods have a long history in sociology, and they have been practiced to great benefit both within this nation and in others.  Such methods range from long-term participant observation, to intensive interviewing, to oral histories. Generally speaking, the foci of the class will include how field researchers gather, sift through, analyze, and present their data.  The class will address such issues as deciding on a field site, gaining entry and access to that site and the people within it, researcher's roles, researcher responsibilities and ethics, logging data in diverse situations, and analyzing fieldnotes.

Course Readings:
	The reading assignments for this class will alternate between exemplars and "how-to" readings that help to define the method and the dilemmas we confront in the field.  The exemplars will be read as puzzles.  That is, ethnographies often present us with a great deal of important information and analysis of social issues.  This data and analysis will certainly be important for this class, but we will focus more intently on what these exemplars tell us about the data gathering process in field research, and how such data is interpreted.  The exemplars will also serve to instruct students on how this data is presented.
	The tasks of the "how-to" readings are more precisely methodological.  These works offer us guides to address many of the dilemmas listed above.  Finally, one of the selections is a reflection on fieldwork experiences intended to spur students' thinking about many of these same dilemmas.  There are also readings placed on reserve in the library.  I recognize this demands a pretty heavy book-buying investment.  One strategy to reduce the costs might be to cooperatively buy some books and photocopy them, rather than buy every single book.  

Texts:
Philippe Bourgois.  1996.  In Search of Respect.  Selling Crack in El Barrio.  Cambridge University Press.
Mitchell Duneier.  1999.  Sidewalk.  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Robert Emerson, Rachel Fretz, and Linda Shaw.  1995.  Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes.  University of Chicago Press.
Cecilia Menjívar. 2000.  Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America.  University of California Press.
Mary Pattillo.  2007.  Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City.  University of Chicago Press.
Carolyn Smith and William Kornblum.  1996.  In the Field.  Praeger.
Harry F. Wolcott.  2008.  Ethnography: A Way of Seeing.  AltaMira Press; 2nd edition.

Grading:
	The largest share of the course grade will be devoted to a semester-long field study that each student will complete.  You will choose an appropriate field site early in the semester.  This site must yield sufficient data for a research paper.  In addition to the research paper, students will turn in field notes twice over the semester. Students will also be required to give a presentation on their study at the end of the semester. 
	I expect students to read all the materials assigned them, and be ready to discuss the readings in class.  This is a seminar, not a lecture, and the only way seminars succeed is if all participants contribute.  In the beginning, you will only have the readings themselves on which to base our discussions, but as the semester passes, you will be expected to integrate your own emerging fieldwork into our discussions of the readings. 
	Choosing a topic and entering into the field will be the students' responsibilities.  By the second week, students will be expected to have thought about a project and field site that will fulfill course requirements.  The course project requires students to spend at least 30 hours in the field.  Students will turn in a brief proposal detailing their interest and site during the second class meeting, and will meet with me over the following week to discuss the proposals.  Students will also be required to fill out the appropriate IRB (Human Subjects) materials by the second class, and that also will be discussed in the individual meetings.  Attendance at all class sessions is mandatory.


SCHEDULE OF COURSE TOPICS AND READINGS (all readings not from the required texts above can be found in the Library e-reserves)

Jan. 7 - Introduction to the Class.  The Field Work Tradition.  IRB process.  (if you can read Wolcott Chapter 1 before this class, that would be great).

Jan. 14 - Choosing a Study Site.  Research Design, Human Subjects. 
Reading Assignment: Bourgois, Introduction and Chapter 1. Wolcott, Chs. 2, 5, 6. Proposals and IRB forms due.  All students are required to meet with Shefner to discuss their proposals prior to the next class session.  

Jan. 21 - Entry and Access; Ethical and Political Considerations 1.
Reading Assignment: Smith and Kornblum 1-40; Shefner; Hammersley and Atkinson (reserve). 

Jan. 28 - Collecting Data 1 - Observing and Writing Fieldnotes.
Reading Assignment:  Emerson et. al. Chapters 1-3; Wolcott Chs. 3,4.  Agrosino and Maya de Pérez (reserve).

Feb. 4 - Exemplar 1 - Race, Work, and Informal Economies.
Reading Assignment: Duneier.

Feb. 11 - Collecting Data 2 - Interviewing.
Reading Assignment:  Warren; Johnson; Adler and Adler (reserve)

Feb. 18 - Relations in the Field.  Researchers' Roles.
Reading Assignment: Smith and Kornblum  41-86, 119-152; George; Blum; Thorne; Tewksbury and Gagné (reserve)

Feb. 25  - Life Histories.
Reading Assignment: Atkinson; Smith; Horton; Dunham; O'Dell; Gay (reserve).
FIELD NOTES DUE


SCHEDULE OF COURSE TOPICS AND READINGS, continued
Mar. 4 - Analyzing Fieldnotes - Units, Questions, Evidence.
Reading Assignment:  Smith and Kornblum 73-118; Emerson et. al. Chapters 4-6.

March 11 - Exemplar 2.  Working With Diverse/Adverse Populations
Reading Assignment:  Bourgois Chapters 3-9, Epilogue 
FIELD NOTES DUE

March 16-20:  SPRING BREAK - A MARVELOUS TIME TO CONDUCT FIELDWORK!

March 25 - Ethical and Political Considerations 2.  Different kinds of sites and the crisis of representation.
Reading Assignment: Smith and Kornblum 87-118; Tedlock; Fine; Adams (reserve)

April 1 - NO CLASS.  

April 8 - Feb. 25  - Life Histories.
Reading Assignment: Atkinson; Smith; Horton; Dunham; O'Dell; Gay (reserve).
FIELD NOTES DUE

Mar. 4 - Analyzing Fieldnotes - Units, Questions, Evidence.
Reading Assignment:  Smith and Kornblum 73-118; Emerson et. al. Chapters 4-60.

March 11 - Exemplar and Critique 2.  Working With Diverse/Adverse Populations
Reading Assignment:  Bourgois Chapters 3-9, Epilogue 
FIELD NOTES DUE

March 16-20:  SPRING BREAK - A MARVELOUS TIME TO CONDUCT FIELDWORK!

March 25 - Ethical and Political Considerations 2.  Different kinds of sites and the Crisis of Representation.  
Reading Assignment: Smith and Kornblum 87-118; Tedlock; Fine; Adams

April 1 - CLASS CANCELLED

April 8 - Exemplar and Critique 3.  
Reading Assignment: Pattillo.  

April 15 - Writing and Leaving
Reading Assignment:  TBA

April 22 - What Can We Argue from Field Research?  Back to the beginning - what would we have done differently?  Student Presentations - Papers due.

April 15 -Writing and Leaving
Reading Assignment:  TBA

April 22 - What Can We Argue from Field Research?  Back to the beginning - what would we have done differently?  Student Presentations - Papers due.  We may have to add an additional class period during finals week in order to fit all the presentations.


Ed Cortez
Director and Professor
The University of Tennessee
School of Information Sciences
451 Communications Bldg.
1345 Circle Park Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone: (865) 974-2148
Fax:       (865) 974-4967
Email:    [log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Shefner [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 11:50 AM
To: Cortez, Edwin Michael
Subject: Before I forget

  Hi Ed -

I wanted to send you this syllabus for the graduate Field Methods class before I forgot.  It is from 2009, but the class is likely to be very similar.  I am scheduled to teach it next semester on Wednesdays from 3-5:45.  Students generally love the class, if I say so myself.  And I would certainly welcome your students - non-sociologists take the class frequently.  Let me know if you or students have any questions.

best
Jon

-- 
Jon Shefner
Professor and Head
Dept. of Sociology
901 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone (865) 974-7022
Fax   (865) 974-7013