Week 6 – To pair or not to pair
This week was a lot for me physical I had my third intensive and a meet-up with my boss. The intensive for Indigenous Futures was so fun! I really enjoyed learning about the topics that the course covered and it was interesting to learn more about other Indigenous groups. Since there is such diversity among Indigenous groups where I’ve grown up, it is very easy to become complacent in only informing yourself on local/Canadian Indigenous issues and successes. It was a refreshing course that reminded me to remain flexible and open in my thinking.
Another topic that was brought up this week was searching out a partner organisation to address my topic with me. I have worked with a handful of NGOs that focus on women’s homelessness, but I’m nervous of the commitment. Has anyone else planned to work this a partner on their final project?
Hi Meghan! It’s perfectly fine to hold off on working with a partner for now (and also perfectly fine to still be juggling several different project ideas, if that’s helpful for you to keep things open.
Your impulse to think about research methods already as you discussed in a previous week is a good one. Looking at data gaps sounds great at first, but maybe not so much if you’re not enjoying python and quant methods. So let’s carry on this train of thinking and brainstorm what other methods you might enjoy, and see if that can help reverse engineer a specific focus. For example, collecting life histories can be a really rewarding and impactful experience for both researcher and participant, and this can give you rich data into the circumstances that led to homelessness. Or perhaps you could compare the philosophies, approaches, and theories of change among the NGOs you’ve had contact with before, and do staff interviews and discourse analysis of their programme documentation. There could be a social policy related angle too. What kinds of things call to you the most?
Hey! I have also been thinking about maybe pairing up with a partner. I have two project ideas on the table and if I go for the one to do with disability payments I think pairing up with an organisation will help me get access to more of the relevant community. I already have some access to those who apply for the payment (PIP) but I do not necessarily have good access to those who don’t use it, whereas a organisation who supports those with specific disabilities or independent living might.
What are your concerns about pairing up with a partner?