"Conducting Urban Research - A One-Day Conference"
Friday, January 12, 2001
Location: Judd Hall Auditorium
Time: 10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Panel 1: How to Conduct Urban Research - 10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Questions: How do we conceptualize an urban research project? What are the necessary elements and procedures that constitute a viable research design? How does a researcher operationalize a nascent project (qualitative or quantitative)? From the experiences of the presenters, what are the most crucial methodological issues that arise when operationalizing and conducting urban research? Are there special methodological problems that arise that are particular to urban research that the researcher must address (e.g. demographic and economic diversity of the subjects)? This panel should reflect on these questions as well as issues that are thematically related but perhaps are particular to their research.
Panelists:
Melissa Harris Lacewell & Quincy Mills (University of Chicago, Department of Political Science): Truth and Soul: Conducting Urban Research by "Hanging Out"
Krizstina Fehervary (University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology): Ethnographic Research in a Hungarian Town
Mary Pattillo-McCoy (Northwestern University): The Politics of Researching Urban Politics
Panel 2: The Ethical Considerations of Urban Research - 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM
Questions: What are some of the major considerations when conducting urban research? Panelists are encouraged to discuss their own personal experiences of any ethical quandaries that they encountered while conducting their research. Some topics to think about include: respect for the subjects of the research, the researcher's place in the community - what do they contribute to the community, both as a researcher and as a "member," the researcher in a position of critique, how researchers reconcile their own assumptions, views, and values in relation to their subjects' perceptions. How does a researcher avoid treating his/her informants as an "end within themselves, instead of a means to an end?"
Panelists:
Omar McRoberts (University of Chicago, Department of Sociology): 'Objectivity' in Urban Ethnographic Research
Leniece Davis (University of Chicago): Ethical Considerations: Assumptions, Views, and Values
Ada Skyles (University of Chicago, Chapin Hall): Researcher/Community-Based Organization Relations: Guidelines for Researchers
Panel 3: Urban Research in Cosmopolitan Settings - 3:00 - 4:30 PM
Questions: How does the cosmopolitan context of cities, including diverse cultures populations, and ethnic enclaves, change the way we conduct urban research. How does the constant and rapid movement of goods, services, geographic borders affect good research design? Panelists are encouraged to reflect on not just these topics, but topics that are salient in his/her research. We also encourage panelists to discuss how his/her own international/cosmopolitan status as a researcher and the importance of understanding this position when designing and conducting good urban research.
Panelists:
Derek Hyra (University of Chicago, Department of Sociology): Community Change in Bronzeville: An Examination of Internal and External Processes
Eduardo Contreras (University of Chicago, Department of History): Community Development, Sexual Politics, and Grassroots Mobilizations in San Francisco, 1965-1980
Matthew Hill (University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology) : Reading Cosmopolitanism in a Heritage Development Project: Notes From an Old Havana
Dennis Judd (University of Illinois - Chicago, Department of Political Science): International Team Research: Achieving a Consistent Methodology
* Coffee & Pastries served at 9:45 AM
