Kiely Hall 312 | Mondays & Wednesdays | 3:10-4:25
Course website: https://urbst200f22lilli.commons.gc.cuny.edu/

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will introduce students to a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods for contextualizing, interpreting, mapping and presenting available information. Along the way we will develop critical skills in reading and interpreting social science research in both academic (textbooks, professional journals, lectures, etc.) and public contexts (popular media, government reports and documents). Based on both quantitative and qualitative research findings, students will prepare a cogent neighborhood profile and presentation.

Students will complete a series of assignments that will be the basis for a baseline study of a New York City neighborhood (as defined by the US Census) of their choosing. Students will select one neighborhood as their unit of study for all course assignments, then synthesize their quantitative and qualitative research findings in a neighborhood narrative or profile that includes neighborhood background and physical observations, demographic composition, other neighborhood characteristics, and key institutional and neighborhood stakeholders.

These place-based narratives or profiles are essential for community organizing and participatory planning, and city planning and policy-making. The skills and data sources introduced in this class are also applicable to developing baseline studies or profiles of other geographical levels such as census tracts, counties, cities, and regions.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
Over the course of the semester, students will:

• be introduced to the process for constructing a research question
• gain basic skills in conducting data analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, and interviews;
• learn to access, analyze, and present publicly available quantitative data from the US Census and American Community Survey, and municipal and public data resources;
• develop competency in Excel to conduct basic empirical analysis and construct data tables and charts; and use PowerPoint to present their findings; and
• achieve competency in: public data access, software (e.g. Excel, PowerPoint), interview techniques, and written and oral presentations of research findings upon successful completion of the course.

MEET YOUR  LECTURER

Adjunct Instructor: Erin Lilli, M/MS.Arch  Email: elilli@gradcenter.cuny.edu
Office Hours: By appointment (in-person or via zoom). 

Erin is a PhD candidate in Environmental Psychology at The Graduate Center, CUNY and adjunct lecturer in Urban Studies at Queens College since 2016. She is completing her dissertation on the material conditions and experiences of gentrification had by long-term Black renters and homeowners in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Situating the work within a racial capitalist framing, Erin is interested in how these residents maintain footholds in the neighborhood, both economically and socially.

Additionally, Erin is a member of the Public Space Research Group, WRAC certified through Kingsborough Community College, and recipient of an Open Knowledge Fellowship to create Open Education Resources courses. She is currently teaching Methods in Urban Research and Introduction into Housing/Dynamics of Housing and Homelessness. 

View Erin’s CV here. 

 

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