VTPEH 6171 - Applied Ethnographic Assessment in Public Health Practice

Fall. 2 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: Research methods course strongly advised; VTPEH 6181 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to MPH students; others with permission of instructor.

E. Fox.

This course will introduce students to applied ethnographic assessment. Such assessments use rapid, focused data-gathering techniques and both quantitative and qualitative analyses to address specific questions relevant to social and cultural conditions of individuals and communities, including those relevant to public health practice. They involve describing contexts, processes, preferences, motivations and/or relationships, and can be used for formative research, needs assessment, intervention design, and/or program evaluation (Sangaramoorthy and Kroeger, 2020:3). In this course, we will discuss theoretical underpinnings and data collection and analysis procedures for ethnographic techniques such as direct observations, and social mapping, free listing, and pile sorting, which can be employed in interviews and/or focus group discussions. For each method, students will practice using these methods to explore a community-identified need.