Amy Binder, Ph.D.

“As a fellow, I would like to work on improving an existing course, Sociology 110: Qualitative Research in Educational Settings. This course enrolls 20-25 students each time I teach it (Spring 2019 most recently; I will teach the course again in Fall 2019). The students who take my class do primary research in San Diego schools. Most of the schools in which they have placements are under-served schools, and my students come to understand, at a deep level, cultural and structural inequalities that many students and teachers in our community face. They also learn to question initial assumptions about the meanings of race, gender, and class, as they look beneath the surface using ethnographic methods. Finally, they come away with a deep appreciation for how they are connected to the San Diego community.

The impact of doing primary research has enormous impact on my students. At first, many are intimidated to reach out to schools. They have to get over that, which all of them do in the first two weeks of the quarter. Many then have to overcome tricky challenges to create a schedule of visits or negotiate with teachers over what they should be doing in class besides simply observing. Many are reading or math tutors or informal mentors over the course of the quarter. In the data collection phase (weeks 3-8), they find themselves inundated with the data they have collected, trying to figure out what they are seeing in their settings. They learn how to code a large amount of data to narrow their focus and to use sociological concepts to clarify their analyses. They learn to use data excerpts to inductively build up to their conclusions. All the while, they know they are representatives of UCSD and must behave professionally and respectfully in their settings. They complete the class by writing a paper with original data--something they simply cannot do without having "been there." Most are very proud of their work, having navigated social and intellectual challenges at each step along the way.”