We utilized Macalester Colleges resources to identify 474 people who graduated between 1994 and 2014 with a major in Geography. We categorized each individual as participating in one of thirteen fields, listed in the chart below. We used this, along with information about when alums graduated and where they were living, to create a maximum variation sample of alumni. Our goal in doing this was to recruit a group of participants who reflect the broad range of experiences and interests among the larger group of alumni. We conducted 19 one-on-one interviews using a set of semi-structured questions that we created together. We also asked participants to identify “pivotal points” in their journey after graduating from Macalester, which we used to produce a more in-depth discussion surrounding our participant’s experiences. Pivotal points are defined as any event that is deemed significant or pivotal to our participants. This idea of pivotal points and life transitions went on to shape the ways in which our participants framed their life journeys. Once completed, we transcribed our interviews and coded the transcripts. We also received approval from our participants to share their remarks in this website.
Distribution of 474 Geography alumni across 13 occupational fields
Our process of coding involved breaking up the researchers into three groups in order to analyze various parts of our research question in greater depth. We focused on finding meaningful work, education and values, and the association of geography and place in our participants’ lives. Due to various constraints, the decision was made to have individual group members only code a portion of the total interviews and then come together to discuss the various ideas that were presented. Once the analysis was completed, the various groups then produced an outline of their final product in order to share with the group. This outline was then evaluated and feedback was taken into account based on the thoughts of the researchers as a whole. After the feedback was received we produced final editions of our work for distribution.
