Anticipating The Trip.

Mar 12, 2024

Main thoughts.

The trip is nearing ever so close and the excitement is growing as it does. As sociology students, we are about to explore Amsterdam for this research. I’m intrigued by the chance to understand Dutch society, culture, and social dynamics up close.

I can’t wait to walk through the city, talk to people, and learn about the different aspects of how they live. This trip will be a great learning experience, giving us insights that will help us in our sociology studies. I’m eager to start this adventure in Amsterdam, a city known for its progressive and open-minded atmosphere.

Our narrowed topic.

With the feedback we got from a recent presentation, we have narrowed down our research topic to “Green Spaces and Biodiversity” only. For this topic we have thought that we can use ethnomethodology as we can immerse ourselves into the participants setting and possibly develop a relationship with the participants around us at the time¹. I believe this is going to be an enjoyable method for us to partake in as we can gather as much info as the we need and this method shows the importance of being close to the participants personal life². We are going to need to make field notes on relevant information for our study, conduct interviews with open ended questions and analyse images and the structures in the area³.

One of the main considerations we have is to do with any interviews we conduct as we must adhere to the ethical guidelines to ensure not to cause any distress to the participants, such as being aware of sensitive topics. Where we are able to hand out, we will have participant information sheets, however we understand that some will not want the forms that we hand them.

The three questions we are focusing on and wish to have the answers of by the end of the trip are as follows:

How does the presence of biodiversity in urban green spaces contribute to the overall well-being and mental health of Amsterdam’s residents?
How do residents perceive and respond to sustainable practices in green space management, such as ecological restoration, wildlife conservation, and sustainable landscaping?
Are there any disparities in access to and utilization of green spaces among various socio-economic, ethnic, or demographic groups within the city?

Our general plan for when we get there:

Monday: Arrive and get our bearings of where we are.

Tuesday: Spend time in green spaces where we will possibly make conversations with those around us.

Wednesday: Go to Museums and ask people within them about the green spaces and how they affect them.

Thursday: Go through the data we have collected, to see if there is anything else that we should look into or answer. if there is nothing to be done then we will use this time to ourselves to visit the museums that aren’t to do with our topic and be tourists.

Friday: Tick the last few boxes on our Amsterdam bucket lists.

interview question